Center for Disabilities Studies

Delaware is piloting an internet-based voting system for people with physical disabilities and others voting absentee in the June primaries that CDS Director Beth Mineo says can provide a convenient, private way to cast a ballot. Mineo cautions that the system, designed by Democracy Live and using Amazon Web Services secure cloud technology, must be trusted or else the votes of people with disabilities may be called into question. While Delaware Elections Commissioner Anthony Albence describes the system as “ideal,” cybersecurity experts contend any online-based system is vulnerable to hacking.

CDS’s interim director of health and wellness, Brittany Powers, offers recommendations to people with disabilities and their caregivers on how to navigate the coronavirus pandemic in a new posting at the Center’s Inclusion blog.

Presenters from CDS and its partners report that offering autism evaluations at the state’s early intervention program clinics – one part of a collaborative initiative called Building Bridges – significantly reduced barriers to receiving a diagnosis and accessing early intervention services.

Applications are now available for the Special Education Administrative Leadership (SEAL) program, a collaboration between CDS, other UD education centers and the Delaware Department of Education. The program, funded over five years by the U.S. Department of Education, offers special education administrators leadership training, disability-specific instruction and internship opportunities. SEAL will hold four 18-month courses with a total enrollment of approximately 55 educators.

Nowhere Else to Turn, a CDS program helping Delawareans with paralysis afford home modifications, facilitated the purchase of equipment enabling 11-year-old Cole Thorne to travel up and down stairs without relying on his mother to carry him.