Overview

The Beach Center has focused on research for and about families who include individuals with disabilities for over 25 years. Individuals with disabilities of all ages are part of a family. Families may be a family of origin, an adopted family, or a family comprising people who are not biologically related. Former Beach Center Co-Directors Ann and Rud Turnbull and their colleague, Jean Ann Summers, have presented information and research for and about families worldwide. The Beach Center research team served as the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Families and Disability for over 20 years. The focus was on development of measures such as Family Quality of Life and measurement of Family-Professional Partnerships, evaluating family support policies such as person-directed funding and choice and control, investigating the impacts of family support programs such as parent-to-parent and family-centered service coordination models, and developing training and support for practitioners serving families and their children with disabilities.