Bonnie O’Day, Ph.D. in Social Welfare Policy, Brandeis University (1997) is the past Interim Director of Research at the American Foundation for the Blind and is a consultant on other projects. During her tenure with AFB, she conducted several projects related to blind and low vision adults, including a literature and policy review on employment, a study on transportation for older adults, and a study of hospital patients’ experiences. She was a Senior Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research for almost ten years. She has extensive experience conducting research and providing intellectual leadership to research and evaluation studies, including financial health, health care, employment, and independent living for people with disabilities.  Dr. O’Day has led or participated in various evaluations funded by the Social Security Administration. For example, she directed Employment Experiences of Young Adults and High Earners Who Receive Social Security Disability Benefits: Findings from Semi-structured Interviews (2016). She also led or participated in the Benefit Offset National Demonstration, the Youth Transition Demonstration, Ticket to Work, and The Role of the Child SSI Program in the Changing safety Net.  She also led a project to examine best practices in providing services and supports to people with mental health conditions and how these services could be funded under the Affordable Care Act. She collaborated on an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) study to explore the barriers people with physical, sensory, and psychiatric disabilities face in obtaining primary care and to educate medical providers about their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which culminated in a book on this topic; More than Ramps: A Guide to Improving Healthcare Quality for People with Disabilities, Oxford University Press, 2006.

Dr. O’Day is skilled at using focus groups, in-depth interviews, site visits, and other research methods to assess the implementation of innovative strategies for serving individuals with disabilities. Her experience as a person with legal blindness provides her with insight into the issues people with disabilities face in accessing government programs and public accommodations.

Dr. O’Day was appointed by President Clinton to the National Council on Disability in 1994, which advises the President and the Congress on disability policy. She has served on boards and commissions at the national, state, and local levels.