April 24, 2024 | Ethan Simmons Susan Chaplinsky’s $3.4M estate gift funds endowments supporting disabled Illinois students To honor their sister’s time at the University of Illinois, the siblings of Susan Jane Chaplinsky thought a memorial bench in the open-air plaza of Disability Resources and Educational Services would be a fitting tribute. Because the work […]
Category: Disability Resources & Educational Services
Illinois wheelchair basketball prepares to play for home crowd
Feb. 02, 2024 | Ethan Simmons Illini wheelchair basketball teams take on competition at Activities and Recreation Center For the first and only time this season, the Illinois men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams are facing the competition in their home court at this weekend’s Illinois College Tournament. A total of 22 games will be […]
Wheelchair basketball alums band together for worthy cause
July 20, 2023 | Ethan Simmons A scholarship formed by recent Illini wheelchair basketball players supports today’s athletes In the heat of an Illinois men’s wheelchair basketball season, intense morning practices roll into sociable team meals and lively late-night gaming sessions. The hours spent between busy student-athlete schedules—on buses and dorm rooms—are where teammates became […]
How Joe Rank became a Chez Center guide
June 20, 2023 | Ethan Simmons Joe Rank is helping sustain a campus resource he could’ve used as a military Veteran who returned for further education: The Chez Veterans Center By the fall of 1965, the conflict between North and South Vietnam had escalated, as had the United States’ military involvement. With the draft looming, […]
Stout Leadership
Jan. 15, 2024 | Bruce Adams Alumna’s return to DRES provides continuity at a pivotal pointry of the article that hooks the reader When Disability Resources and Educational Services, better known as DRES, began advertising for a permanent director of operations in 2023, it was apparent to current employees who would be a great fit. […]
Illinois’ McCammon selected for inaugural Team USA wheelchair competition
March 27, 2023 | AHS Staff Morgan McCammon of the University of Illinois has been selected to participate in the inaugural Team USA vs. College All-Star competition taking place at the NCAA Women’s Final Four, as announced Monday by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and National Wheelchair Basketball Association. McCammon will compete for […]
Expert Q&A: DRES Accessibility IT Group
Oct. 28, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo Vince Lara-Cinisomo in the AHS office of communications spoke recently with Jon Gunderson and other members of the DRES Accessible IT Group. VINCE LARA: Jon, what does the DRES Accessibility IT Group do? JON GUNDERSON: Our mission on campus is to help the university understand the accessibility of the […]
Paralympians get sendoff before heading to Tokyo
Aug. 09, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo Illinois Paralympians made up a large part of Team USA Half of the 20 University of Illinois-affiliated Paralympians headed to Tokyo for the 2020 Paralympic Games made an appearance Monday at the Division of Disability Resources & Educational Services for a ceremonial sendoff. One set of athletes—who were supposed to […]
SHS alum Anjali Forber-Pratt named director of NIDILRR
May 24, 2021 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo Forber-Pratt’s research is focused on disability identity, inclusion, disability sport, and work related to disability activism Anjali Forber-Pratt, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, has been named as director […]
Bleakney and collaborators want to disrupt the wheelchair market
Sept. 22, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo Adam Bleakney and colleagues are pioneering a transformative wheelchair technology designed to increase independence, reduce injury risk, and reframe how society perceives mobility disability. As coach of the Illinois wheelchair track team, Adam Bleakney knows about the chronic overuse of shoulders and elbows by his athletes. But as a […]