UIC Department of Disability and Human Development

04/27/2026

Join us in congratulating Claudia Diaz as the new Director of the Great Lakes ADA Center!

Claudia previously served as the Center’s Associate Project Director. She joined the Center in 2004 and has played a key role in directing and supervising its overall operations, including overseeing the Center’s information technology team, which develops and maintains web-based programs and services, including online and live distance learning.

Claudia serves on multiple national leadership committees within the ADA National Network, addressing issues related to social media, knowledge translation, disability inclusion, and Network member collaboration. She also lends her knowledge and expertise to efforts aimed at reaching underserved populations, particularly Spanish-speaking communities.

We’re excited for this next chapter and look forward to her leadership.

04/08/2026

04/01/2026

Yesterday, March 30, 2026, the Great Lakes ADA Center celebrated 35 years of Robin Jones’s leadership as she retires as Director of the Great Lakes ADA Center. The Center’s staff had a chance to reflect on what we’ve accomplished under her leadership, think about the big goals the organization will pursue moving forward, and wish Robin well in her next adventures.

Over the years since the establishment of the organization, Robin has been the focal point of the organization and a leader in educating the communities she serves about the ADA, accessibility, and disability inclusion.

03/27/2026

Robin Jones has made a profound and lasting impact on the Department of Disability and Human Development through her years of leadership advancing ADA education, access, and inclusion. We are deeply grateful for her dedication, expertise, and service, which have helped shape the future of disability rights.

You will be missed, thank you, Robin!

03/09/2026

Join Access Living, Disability Rights California, and The Arc Minnesota for on March 11: Being an Immigrant and Disabled in the U.S.: Defending Civil Rights Under Escalating Federal Enforcement.

This webinar will focus on coordinating support between disability and immigration advocates to provide more wholistic support to immigrants and their families.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hG2kuGtqSDu7gdOqy5qgPA #/registration

02/25/2026

02/03/2026

Please join us for CED Ability Grand Rounds next Tuesday, February 10 from 2-3 p.m. EST as we welcome Dr. Robert Gould from the University of Illinois Chicago Dept. of Disability and Human Development!

Dr. Gould will be presenting on "Disability Inclusion, Corporate Responsibility, and Workplace Flexibility: Analyzing Theory and Practice."

All are welcome to join the discussion!

Register for free: https://wvu.zoom.us/meeting/register/cqlQaWQdRa-ixx-cbIEeBw #/registration

UIC Department of Disability and Human Development

02/02/2026

A DHD Colloquium — Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Care, and the Medical Imaginary

Join us for a conversation exploring the concept of hospital aesthetics—how medical spaces, technologies, and systems shape embodied experience, representation, and care—through the lens of contemporary disability art. The event will feature a presentation by Amanda Cachia, introducing key ideas from her book Hospital Aesthetics, followed by responses from artists Riva Lehrer and Sandie Yi, both of whom are featured in the publication. Together, the speakers will consider how disability artists challenge dominant medical narratives, reframe clinical and institutional environments, and propose alternative aesthetics rooted in access, interdependence, and care, drawing on both artistic practice and personal encounters with the medical industrial complex.

Thursday, February 19
4:00–5:15 PM
DHSP Room 166 (Auditorium)
1640 W. Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL 60608

11/06/2025

Join Bri in exploring disability-affirming care in the helping professions through the lens of her exhibition "[From-Within]."

Opening November 14th - 5-9pm
The Center for Mad Culture
410 S Michigan Ave, Suite 419
Chicago, IL

With a virtual artist talk on
Nov 17th - 6-7pm
https://go.uic.edu/From_Within

10/13/2025

The Chicago International Film Festival is teaming up with UIC to spotlight LUISA, a moving story about life, identity, and disability inclusion.

Catch it Oct. 19 or 20, with post-screening discussions led by the director and cast!

Want to go? UIC students can snag free tickets for the Oct. 19 screening, details in the QR code!

10/10/2025

We're excited to announce a cluster of innovative disability cinema programming scheduled for mid-October, organized in collaboration with and by UIC.

Come engage with the films and join the conversation!

Chicago Showcase of Superfest Disability Film Festival
Friday, October 17, 3:30-6:45pm
Daley Library 1-470 (801 S. Morgan Street)
Captioning, ASL, Audio Description.

Including!
Code of the Freaks Reunion Panel & Superfest Talk-back
Friday, October 17, 6:00-6:45pm
Daley Library 1-470 and on Zoom
Captioning, ASL.

UIC DHD professors Carrie Sandahl, Aly Patsavas, and Azadeh Safaeian will be joined by Chicago filmmaker Salome Chasnoff for a panel about disability representation in cinema and the Superfest films. Join us in person or online via Zoom!

Learn more about the Chicago Showcase of Superfest & the Code of the Freaks Reunion Panel & Superfest Talk-back.

10/09/2025