Center for Disabilities Studies

COVID-19 and the disability community 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.

Joining forces makes early autism evaluations more accessible, panel says 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.

UD gets $1 million grant for special education training 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.

Leveling the playing field When the University of Delaware’s Spectrum Scholars college-to-career program for students with autism launched in September 2018, President Dennis Assanis noted that it personifies the university’s goal of “inclusive excellence,” which is all about “leading every student to success, both in and out of the classroom.”

Safely accessing their home 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.