The Disability and Learning Resource Center

The Disability and Learning Resource Center (DLRC) supports a universally accessible educational community that fosters the full participation and contribution of every member. The DLRC carries out its mission by delivering innovative and high-quality services to students who identify as having a disability —approximately 25 percent of our student body. DLRC staff ensure that all students have equal access to all programs, activities, and services of the institution. Classes like Lecturer Megan Euker’s Intro to Designed Objects and exhibitions such as Come/Back encourage all students to create, reflect, and be compassionate toward people of all backgrounds and abilities. Euker’s class used the collections at Chicago’s International Museum of Surgical Science to identify medical or bodily constraints that could be alleviated through a thoughtfully designed assistive device. Come/Back encouraged viewers to think about what it means to “come back” in a time of profound loss, inequity, and uncertainty. With $2,000,000 in philanthropic funding gifted between 2020 and 2021, the DLRC was able to invest in an additional disability specialist to continue providing expert student support while also pursuing expanded programming opportunities.