Roger
Ideishi, JD, OT/L
Roger Ideishi (he/him) is the Director of Occupational Therapy and Professor of Health, Human Function and Rehabilitation Services at The George Washington University.
Dr. Ideishi has worked over three decades developing and researching community programs for people with disabilities. He has developed a particular focus on arts and disability for the neurodiverse community.
He is a co-founder of the Chinatown Disability Advocacy Project in Philadelphia. He is an investigator on national and international projects including two Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute projects to study how people with developmental disabilities become the driving initiators of community research; a Canadian Institute of Health Research project to study engagement outcomes of therapeutic processes; and a Pennsylvania Department of Education project to study cultural and linguistic facilitators and barriers among immigrant families of children with autism navigating healthcare, education, and social systems. He is a recognized advisor and educator on arts accessibility and inclusion for neurodiverse communities having partnered with over 80 arts organizations across the United States as well as globally including in Ireland, Sweden, Russia, Romania, China, South Korea, and Japan. He is the recipient of the 2017 Art-Reach Philadelphia Cultural Access Individual Impact Award and the 2019 Kennedy Center Achievement of Leadership in Accessibility Award.