Alice Wong at the Center for PAS

Alice Wong's Story - Excerpted From Success Stories 2004: Consumer Perspectives published by NIDRR

"I personally know how hard it is to find attendants and apply for personal assistance services," says Alice Wong, a graduate student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Wong uses that personal knowledge as a student researcher at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Personal Assistance Services (PAS), which is supported by NIDRR and based at UCSF.

The center plays a main role in her training as a researcher. There, Wong organizes and conducts focus groups of people who use personal assistance services. "People with disabilities want to have the same range of choices as everyone else when it comes to housing, education, and employment," she said. "Living independently with adequate personal assistance, people with disabilities have more control over how they want to live and opportunities to participate in society. Our focus groups reflect those sentiments, and it has definitely been true in my own life as well." She also conducted focus groups and interviews of people with disabilities as a research assistant at the UCSF Disability Statistics Center for their New Measures project.

Wong's main research interests are qualitative methods, disability studies, and women's health. She finds the center to be a good fit for her life experience and her future goals. "The center provides an invaluable experience for me as someone committed to conducting research about disability," she said. "When I first came here to UC-San Francisco, I knew that a health sciences campus would expose me to a number of experts from various academic disciplines that fit my interests. The faculty at the center examines the most current and salient issues facing people with disabilities regarding PAS-the data produced by the center can have a considerable impact in the way policymakers understand PAS issues."

She emphasizes that the inclusion of people with disabilities who are PAS users is crucial to valuable research and dissemination efforts. "By including the voices of consumers in our advisory board and producing qualitative research about people with disabilities, the center involves the life experience of people with disabilities into every aspect of its research. This can only enrich the quality of data that is produced," Wong said.

She finds her work at the center not only rewarding but also a strong basis for her future. "The center will help prepare me for a future in academia by introducing me to various research methods and how to disseminate that research to diverse communities. It is my goal to share knowledge with my colleagues at the center and use my research skills to help expand the field," she said.

The PAS project focuses on the relationship between formal and informal personal assistance services (PAS) and caregiving support and the role of assistive technology in complementing PAS; investigates policies and programs, barriers, and new models for PAS in the home and community; and develops workplace PAS models that eliminate barriers to formal and informal PAS and assistive technology at work including recruitment, retention, and benefits. This story was submitted by Lewis Kraus.