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John Stone is director of the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE).
What is the mission of CIRRIE?
CIRRIE's mission is to facilitate the sharing of information and expertise between
rehabilitation researchers in the U.S. and those in other countries. It has
three principal programs. The first is an on-line database of international
rehabilitation research that CIRRIE developed in cooperation with the UB Health
Sciences Library. This database currently contains 16,000 citations to rehabilitation
research conducted in countries other than the U.S. CIRRIE also conducts a travel
grant program through which rehabilitation-research centers in the U.S. can
bring experts from other countries for collaborative activities. Likewise, centers
in other countries may bring rehabilitation experts to their countries to collaborate
with them. Lastly, CIRRIE provides training and information about the cultures
of foreign-born persons in the U.S. to rehabilitation service providers through
workshops, conferences and educational materials. We have developed a monograph
series that focuses on the cultures of the 11 principal countries of origin
of the foreign-born population in the U.S. CIRRIE conducted an international
conference on this topic in Washington, D.C., last May. Information about these
programs can be found on our Web site, http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/.
How are you funded?
CIRRIE is funded through a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Institute for Rehabilitation and Disability Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education. We began our fourth year in September. CIRRIE is classified by NIDRR as one of its Knowledge Dissemination and Utilization projects.
What is meant by "rehabilitation research?"
We include in that term research from all areas of rehabilitation, including vocational rehabilitation (employment for persons with disabilities), medical rehabilitation to restore function or compensate for the loss of function, rehabilitation engineering that develops technology for persons with disabilities, mental health, independent living and community integration, as well as many other areas. One of the reasons why UB is a good home for a center like CIRRIE is that there are significant programs in all these fields in various departments across the university.
Why is it important to share this kind of information with researchers in other countries?
Great progress has been achieved in the U.S. through research to meet the needs of persons with disabilities. Rehabilitation researchers in the U.S. have much to share with colleagues in other countries. However, an equally important question for CIRRIE is why is it important for rehabilitation researchers in the U.S. to have access to information about research in other countries. Rehabilitation practice changes rapidly, partly as a result of investments in research. However, many rehabilitation researchers in the U.S. are not fully aware of research performed in other countries. This often results in duplication of research efforts and an inefficient use of resources. While information sharing is a two-way process, CIRRIE's priority is to improve rehabilitation practice in the U.S. Consequently, the majority of CIRRIE's travel grants are for experts from other countries who come to collaborate on needs identified by rehabilitation researchers in the U.S. Likewise, the CIRRIE database of research consists of research performed in other countries, enabling researchers in the U.S. to access rehabilitation information from around the world. Often, this information is published in foreign journals that may not be indexed in the major commercial databases. For example, one third of the citations in the CIRRIE database are not found in MEDLINE. In addition to the database, which is a gateway to current research in rehabilitation science, we recently posted on our Web site a special collection on disability and rehabilitation in the Middle East, compiled by a scholar in the United Kingdom. This annotated bibliography contains 1,060 items that may be difficult for researchers and practitioners to locate elsewhere, and provides a gateway to material from historical, religious and cultural sources that often are poorly understood in the Anglophone west. The CIRRIE monograph series on the cultures of 11 major immigrant groups also is directed at a U.S. audience, with the goal of enabling rehabilitation professionals to strengthen their services to this population.
CIRRIE has an address in Kimball Tower. Are you part of the School of Health Related Professions?
Yes. CIRRIE originally was developed in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Health Related Professions and recently was administratively moved to the Dean's Office. Other sectors of UB also have participated in CIRRIE's work, most notably the Health Sciences Library and the School of Nursing.
Tell me about your background. I understand you spent 17 years in Brazil. How did you get from South America to Buffalo?
I was born and raised in Buffalo, but worked in India as a Peace Corps volunteer (1967-69), and in Greece as director of a study abroad program (1972-73). After 17 years in Brazil, I returned to Buffalo in 1991 and took a position in the Department of Occupational Therapy and the Center for Assistive Technology. I originally went to Brazil to work in the Brazilian Institute for Space Research, which in 1974, was conducting an educational radio and television project using the NASA satellite. I thought I would stay in Brazil for a year or two, but ended up staying much longer, working as a faculty member at universities in different parts of the country. Although there is quite a climatic and cultural contrast, I now feel at home in both places.
What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have answered it?
I wish you would have asked me about the international conference that CIRRIE conducted in May in Washington. The conference was entitled "Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services to Persons Born in Other Countries." About 25 percent of the 146 registrants came to the conference from other countries. The concurrent sessions and panels described problems and best practices in meeting the rehabilitation needs of immigrants with disabilities. We often point to the fact that one in 10 persons residing in the U.S. was not born here. However, Canada, Australia and many European countries have similar rates of immigration, so it was useful to obtain information on programs and practices that they have developed to meet the needs of this growing and often under-served population.