Illinois LEND

Celebrating . Join us on July 20th for the annual Disability Pride Parade. Hope to see you there.

Tell us what means to you. Put it in the comments to this post. :)
UIC Disability Resource Center UIC Disability Cultural Center Lend Self-advocates Illinois LEND Illinois Self Advocacy Alliance Statewide Independent Living Council of Illinois Best Buddies Illinois Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition Chicagoland Autism Connection-CAC The Arc of Illinois Going Home: A Full Life in the Community Equip For Equality Bodies of Work

Three of our LEND trainees, Angie Murthy, Abby Caughman, and Madison Turner have been working with Claire McNorton at Planned Parenthood of Illinois to host a Disability and S*x Ed Story telling workshop! Disabled individuals will have the opportunity to develop their own sex-ed stories to be used as a tool for advocacy! The workhop will take place on Zoom this Wednesday, March 27, at 1pm. Disabled individuals who want to participate can sign up using the QR code below, or by following this link: https://www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/a/storytelling-advocacy-share-your-disability-sex-ed-story

Check out this new disability podcast! Two of our LEND trainees, Cydney Liebenberg and Hannah Brandt, have been working alongside the hosts, Rocco Catrone and Christy Bloemendaal, to create a disability podcast! This podcast is focused on connecting, educating, and raising awareness around disability, accessibility, and related concerns.

The Disability Tangent Podcast · Christy Bloemendaal and Rocco Catrone · All things Disability. Many things not. Join us to learn, to vent, to network, to find out about cool people doing cool advocacy work, and a whole lot of other stuff. We laugh, curse, cry and generally carry on about the policies, procedures, and p...

This week for Black History Month, we are highlighting the life and legacy of Lois Curtis! She was an amazing artist and advocate for the disability community.

We have two more blog posts! Check them out on our website!

It’s Black History Month and LEND will be posting short biographies to highlight important Black disability activists. First up is Brad Lomax and his impact on the 504 Sit in!

We have new blog posts! Our trainees always write about such interesting topics and perspectives. Check them out on our website, link in bio!

“Imagine if one day you woke up and all the doors to your houses were gone and you couldn’t get out, because that’s how it is for us,” she said. “We’re locked in.”

Clear sidewalks, crosswalks, and curbs are incredibly important to everyone, including disabled individuals. Whose responsibility should it be to clear them? Private citizens or the city of Chicago?
Read the article below ⬇️

Disability advocates: City can do more about snow While T.J. Gordon has used a walking stick consistently for the past two years due to chronic leg pain, he typically relies on his legs and public transportation to get him where he needs to go in the summer.

We have three new blog posts on our website! These blogs are from our 2023-24 LEND trainees. Click the link in our bio to check them out!

While at the AUCD conference, our RA and current DHD PhD student, Hope Sparks, had the opportunity to present her research on supporting families across aging and developmental disability networks! Hope presented alongside another DHD faculty, Dr. Sumithra Murthy. They are both engaged in meaningful work researching how to improve the lives of disabled individuals and their families.

New blog post alert!! You can read the whole post on our website. Link in bio