The University Record, March 19, 1996
Nominations open for Neubacher Award
The Council for Disability Concerns is asking for nominations for the 1996 James Neubacher Award.
The award is given annually to individuals who serve as advocates for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities.
Now in its seventh year, the award is a memorial to Detroit Free Press columnist James Neubacher, who died in 1990 of multiple sclerosis. In his column for the Free Press, “Disabled in Detroit,” he exhorted readers in a column shortly before his death “to stay informed, write or call politicians about issues pertaining to the disabled. Find out what is going on and support it or oppose it. Let your voice be heard.”
To be eligible for the award, nominees must be affiliated with the University in some way and must have made significant achievements in one of more of the following areas:
Removing barriers to full participation by people with disabilities in programs and services.
Promoting acceptance and awareness of people with disabilities in all aspects of community life.
Advocating for the civil rights of people with disabilities to increase their participation in the life of their communities and nations.
Brian Clapham, Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in the Affirmative Action Office, notes that nominees must “demonstrate their commitment to the concept that all people, regardless of the nature or degree of an individual’s disability, have the right and obligation to become full and contributing members of society.”
Nomination forms, due May 1, are available from the Affirmative Action Office, 4005 Wolverine Tower 1281, 763-0235.
The award will be presented at the Council’s annual meeting the first week of October, commemorated on campus as Investing in Abilities Week.
