New publication takes a full view of disability

People passionate about understanding what it means to live a full life with a disability will be interested in a new book co-authored by Sarah Parker Harris, PhD, assistant professor, and Tamar Heller, PhD, professor and head of the Department of Disability and Human Development. Disability Through the Life Course charts the research and reality about living a lifetime with a disability, or caring for someone who is doing so.
 
Examining each phase of life, beginning in the prenatal stage, the book looks at how disability is affected by interaction with social and environmental constructs, as well as political and legislative contexts, to deliver a unique experience for each person with a disability.
 
The book is one of eight in the “Reference Series on Disability,” written by various authors and published by SAGE Publications. Learn more about it on the website of our Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities.

Two grants build capacity in DHD

While the national unemployment rate hovers around 9 percent, that number is considered by experts to be dramatically higher among minority youth with disabilities. DHD professor Fabricio Balcazar, PhD, (below) wants to see that change, and now he’s secured a two-year, $550,000 grant to help ensure it does.
 
“Helping them start their own small businesses has become a key anchor of the whole initiative,” Balcazar says. Study participants will get training as needed in order to submit business plans to a review panel. If approved, the plans will get start-up funding for their businesses.
 
The study will target youth with disabilities who have dropped out of the Chicago Public Schools, young people who sustained spinal cord injuries from violence, and Asians with disabilities.
 
Read more about Balcazar’s study in UIC News.



The Great Lakes ADA Center, housed in our department and led by Robin Jones (below), will continue its outstanding work with a $6 million, five-year renewal of its grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The center has been continually funded since 1991.

The Great Lakes ADA Center aggregates and disseminates the most current and accurate information regarding compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. In keeping with its eternal mission to promote voluntary ADA compliance among all entities that are covered or impacted by the law, the Great Lakes ADA Center will use this grant to educate public and private entities about the newest regulations implemented in recent years. For example, the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design outlines sweeping changes to architectural construction. Also, the ADA Amendments Act has broadened the definition of disability, meaning more people are considered disabled and more accommodations need to be offered.

It’s difficult to quantify the enormous value the Great Lakes ADA Center provides to agencies obligated to the ADA, as well as to the people with disabilities served by those agencies. Visit the center online to learn more.

We make the most of funding

Our Institute on Disability and Human Development is a federally created University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities—the only one in Illinois. UCEDDs exist in every state as resources for Americans with disabilities, and as such, they receive their core funding from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2011, the $542,000 we received from the ADD was money well spent by the government—because, from that, we got $9,810,496 in additional grants funded by federal, state and other agencies (see chart). That means we leveraged each $1 from the ADD to bring in another $18.10 to fund our good work. View our entire annual report online.

 

DHD mourns the loss of Carlos Drazen

The disability community in Chicago and around the nation lost a passionate advocate and activist when Carlos Clarke Drazen passed away on Dec. 3, 2011. Carlos (below) earned her master's in our Disability and Human Development program, and was preparing to defend her dissertation in our Disability Studies PhD program at the time of her death. The many of you who knew Carlos will remember her charm, ambition and commitment to the causes she was called to. The Department of Disability and Human Development will host a memorial service for Carlos in the new year. Please stay tuned to our website for details.


Photo by Jeremy Martin reprinted from The Chicago Maroon.

Your support of our department goes a long way

The Annual Fund for the UIC Department of Disability and Human Development provides us with current-use funds that are put toward immediate program enhancements. You’ll feel great about your gift that helps us:

• upgrade instructional technology in classrooms
• enrich scholarship funds and award programs
• send students to professional development conferences
• purchase professional journal subscriptions for students to share
• improve student learning spaces
• support many more vital endeavors in the department

To give, please visit us online or call Jon Santanni at (312) 413-9180. Thank you for your generosity!