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Our Story

For over 60 years, the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment and Disability in the Cornell University ILR School has conducted a unique combination of research and outreach. With a mission of advancing the inclusion and full participation of people with disabilities in the workplace and community, our research, training, and technical resources expand knowledge about disability inclusion, leading to meaningful change.

About the Institute

Our Work

Businessman in a wheelchair is using a digital tablet while having a discussion with a colleague in the corridor of a co-working space.

Our Areas of Focus

Benefits planning

School-to-work transition

Disability inclusion at work

Systems-based work & collaboration

Emerging work & innovation

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YTIOnline Learning

Learn from YTI’s experts to improve your knowledge and gain practical skills in benefits planning and employment services for people with disabilities. Earn professional credentials and certificates though a wide variety of courses and classes, both in-person and virtually.

Visit YTIOnline

Our Impact

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Wendy Strobel Gower Challenges Assumptions at Work

With a professional mission of challenging assumptions about limits around disability, Wendy Strobel Gower is the new Thomas P. Golden Executive Director of the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability.
Wendy Strobel Gower
Wendy Strobel Gower Challenges Assumptions at Work

New Disability Benefits at Work Website

A new free website explains work incentives that assist people who receive government disability benefits with moving ahead in their careers.
Three workers seated around a high-tech machine
New Disability Benefits at Work Website

Career Successes Inspire at YTI

After a decade of training supported employment specialists in New York, the Yang-Tan Institute shares some successes and looks to the future.
Instructor Jeffrey Tamburo wears a long sleeve light blue button up shirt with a necktie and blue sweater vest and stands in front of a podium while lecturing seated participants
Career Successes Inspire at YTI

Our News & Events

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Celebrating Value and Talent: Supporting Employees through Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work Programs

Free webinar about effective stay-at-work/return-to-work programs
Two workers wearing hard hats. One holds a tablet and is supervising the other.
Celebrating Value and Talent: Supporting Employees through Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work Programs

Disability Rights Employment Awareness Month (DREAM) Symposium

Free, in-person, two-day event in Albany, NY
DREAM 2025 logo, including text saying 2025 New York State DREAM (Disability Rights & Employment Awareness Month) Symposium
Disability Rights Employment Awareness Month (DREAM) Symposium

When the Employer Requests Documentation of Disability

Free webinar about employer requests for medical documentation to verify disability
An office worker reviews a sheet of paper while seated at a table.
When the Employer Requests Documentation of Disability

YTI Newsletter - September 2025

Read our September 2025 newsletter online or subscribe to our monthly mailing list.

Read the September Edition

Our Team

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It’s not possible to determine what somebody can achieve based on some disability or diversity characteristic that they have. Everyone has a right to participate in society to the best of their ability.
– WENDY STROBEL GOWER, THOMAS P. GOLDEN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Wendy Strobel Gower Outdoors

Get in Touch with YTI

Yang-Tan Institute
ILR School, Cornell University
201 Dolgen Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853 

Phone: 607-255-7727 
Email: ilr_yti@cornell.edu

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