The Center for Disability Resources (CDR), formerly known as the Office of Disability Services’ (ODS) mission is to engage the University Community to empower students, enhance equity, and provide a platform for innovation and inclusion.
We achieve this by:
mitigating competitive disadvantages and environmental barriers that impact learning;
- supporting faculty in the classroom and our colleagues across the university to strive for universal design and full inclusion.
- providing individual accommodations when environmental barriers cannot be eliminated and assistive technology that fosters independent, self-determined learners.
CDR Embraces Disability as Diversity
CDR embraces the concept of disability as diversity and is committed to creating a new context for disability; to redefine the term disability and the culture that surrounds it. A student’s success may not be in spite of their disability but perhaps because of it.
The existence of a disability provides an opportunity/motivation to enhance other skill sets that may not have been otherwise enhanced, such as:
- Better at communicating (self-advocacy)
- Empathetic
- Technical skills
- Social skills
- Time management skills
- Adaptable/flexible
- Leadership