Hello. My name is Eddie Brown and I’m a self-advocate in the IL-LEND program. I’ve had learning disabilities my whole life, as well as a hearing disability. In school my main trouble is with reading and writing. It has never been easy and still isn’t. My high school teachers only saw my limitations. This really became clear as I was finishing high school and trying to figure out what was next for me. I think this is a common experience for people with disabilities. Either there is no support or there is only support for people who need daily life support. But a lot of us fall between the cracks and don’t have too many choices.
The first program that was recommended to me was the ELSA (Elmhurst Learning and Success Academy) program at Elmhurst College. This program is designed to support students who have learning and intellectual disabilities. They offer a lot of support to their students, but I found that a lot of it was too focused on things like consumer skills, independent living and how to interact with others. These were not skills that I needed support with. I felt like I would be back in high school with this program and not reaching my potential.
I decided to enroll at Harper Community College. Here I could take college courses, but I found that they couldn’t accommodate my academic needs. So the ELSA program gave me too much support but a community college didn’t give enough. It was a hard time because I knew what I wanted, but I was starting to think that it didn’t exist. I couldn’t be the only person who needed something in the middle.
I am very fortunate that I have a family that completely supports me and through their searching they found the Co-Op program at UIC. It gives me the chance to take college course without being separated into a space just for people with disabilities. I can interact with other students in class and they don’t see me as just my disability. At the same time the support I get is personalized to my own needs. One of the best things about the Co-Op program is that I feel like I’m the captain of a winning team. I have people I can turn to with questions about classes, about clubs, about academics and about my future. I’ve never felt so in control of my own choices. They really live by the slogan, “Nothing about us without us”. The Co-Op program is opening up more doors for me than I even knew existed.
The UIC Co-Op program should be a model for other schools to follow and I hope that happens because there are a lot of people like me who struggled to find a place that was just right.
To learn more about the Co-Op program, here’s the link: https://ahs.uic.edu/disability-human-development/admissions-and-programs/co-operative-career-experience-certificate/
