Through the Looking Glass is The National Center for Parents with Disabilities and their Families. This is the only national center that addresses parents with disabilities across all disability categories and who have children from birth through adulthood. This National Center is funded by NIDRR, U.S. Department of Education. The Center targets three national populations: (1) parents with diverse disabilities; (2) family members; and, (3) service providers and trainees who have a particularly critical impact on parents. The Center's activities focus on priority issues facing parents with disabilities and their families: custody and parental evaluations; family roles and personal assistance; paratransit; and, intervention with parents with cognitive and intellectual disabilities and their children.

The overall goal of this project is to Improve the quality of life among parents with disabilities and their families To meet this long-term outcome, we have identified four project objectives that incorporate the project's research, development, training, technical assistance and dissemination activities: (1) Increase the national availability of accessible and disability appropriate resources for parents with diverse disabilities and their families; (2) Increase knowledge of parenting with a disability among diverse parents, family members and providers; (3) Increase informed practice and informed decisions regarding parenting with a disability among providers; and (4) Increase legislative and policy changes to decrease discrimination against parents with disabilities and their children.

This Center will (1) conduct eight separate research projects and seven new development projects; (2) provide technical assistance to parents and providers; (3) conduct trainings to diverse parents and providers; (4) offer a scholarship program for high school seniors and college students whose parents have disabilities; (5) nationally disseminate project materials and products from Center activities and other NIDRR-funded projects.

The National Center is staffed by nationally recognized experts regarding parents with disabilities, most of whom have personal or family experience with disability or deafness.

The National Center builds upon Through the Looking Glass's nationally and internationally recognized expertise and leadership in working with parents with disabilities, their families, and their providers -- 27 years of groundbreaking research, services, training, and resource development. TLG has been serving ethnically diverse families in which parents have all categories of disability: physical, vision, cognitive/learning, medical, psychiatric, as well as deafness. TLG is a disability culture and Deaf culture-based agency which is part of the independent living movement. Its staff has trained more than 70,000 professionals regarding parents with disabilities and deaf parents, from all U.S. states and 44 countries. Since 1993 it has provided technical assistance to over 25,000 parents with disabilities, family members, and professionals. In recent years TLG has provided custody technical assistance during 1500 contacts annually. Its expertise has contributed to the passage of legislation in three states to decrease discrimination against parents with disabilities.