Timothy Nugent | |
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Born | January 10, 1923 |
Died | November 11, 2015 92) | (aged
Education | Tarleton State University University of Wisconsin–La Crosse University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Timothy Nugent (January 10, 1923- November 11, 2015), who is best known as the "Father of Accessibility," founded the first comprehensive program of higher education for individuals with disabilities in 1948. He served as Professor of Rehabilitation Education and Director of the Rehabilitation Education Center and the Division of Rehabilitation Education Services (DRES) at the University of Illinois. [1] He retired in 1985. He founded the National Wheelchair Basketball Association in 1949 and served as Commissioner for the first 25 years. He also founded Delta Sigma Omicron, a national rehabilitation service fraternity. He was President of the National Paraplegia Foundation (now National Spinal Cord Injury Association) for four terms. He has been an international lecturer and consultant, as well as an advocate, publisher, and researcher on behalf of people with disabilities. He was a leader in the development of architectural accessibility standards, public transportation, adaptive equipment, and recreation activities for people with disabilities. He has been and continues to be active in many professional organizations, including the American National Standards Institute, the Illinois State Legislative Commission on the Hospitalization of Spinal Cord Injured, the Committee on Technical Aids, Housing and Transportation of Rehabilitation International, and the Institute for the Advancement of Prosthetics. [2]
Timothy Nugent was born January 10, 1923. He holds degrees from Tarleton State University, Texas; University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, Wisconsin; and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wisconsin. He also has honorary degrees from Springfield College in Massachusetts, Mount Mary College in Wisconsin, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Timothy Nugent's work was committed to making the educational benefits of the GI Bill available to all veterans.
Nugent founded the first, and for many years the only, comprehensive program of disability services in higher education. By refusing to abandon his vision for veterans with disabilities, Dr. Nugent made the University of Illinois an institution of firsts: the first curb cuts, the first buses equipped with wheelchair lifts, and research that developed architectural accessibility standards that were later adopted nationally. He also created a comprehensive program of adapted sports for students with disabilities, leading to the founding of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. He served as commissioner of the association for 25 years. Dr. Nugent also founded Delta Sigma Omicron, the first rehabilitation service fraternity.
In 1948 the University of Illinois was the first college in the United States to establish a collegiate wheelchair basketball team, the University of Illinois Wheelchair Basketball's Gizz Kids. Under the management and coaching of Dr. Timothy Nugent the U of I wheelchair basketball team held the first National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in April 1949. Later in 1970, the University of Illinois formed the Ms. Kids, the first women's wheelchair basketball team in country. [3]
In 2019, Nugent was inducted into the United States Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame as a "special" contributor, the only one to have such an honor. [4]
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a public land-grant research university in Champaign, Illinois, and Urbana, Illinois. It is the flagship institution of the University of Illinois system and was founded in 1867. With over 56,000 students, the University of Illinois is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the United States.
Richard Marvin Hansen is a Canadian track and field athlete, activist, and philanthropist for people with disabilities. Following a pickup truck crash at the age of 15, Hansen sustained a spinal cord injury and became a paraplegic. Hansen is most famous for his Man in Motion World Tour, in which he circled the globe in a wheelchair to raise funds for charity. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He was one of the final torchbearers in the 1988 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was profiled and spoke during the 2010 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony.
Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelchair basketball worldwide. FIBA has recognized IWBF under Article 53 of its General Statutes.
Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It addresses common barriers to participation by creating things that can be used by the maximum number of people possible. Curb cuts or sidewalk ramps, which are essential for people in wheelchairs but also used by all, are a common example of universal design.
Sigma Alpha Iota (ΣΑΙ) is a women's music fraternity. Formed to "uphold the highest standards of music" and "to further the development of music in America and throughout the world", it continues to provide musical and educational resources to its members and the general public. Sigma Alpha Iota operates its own national philanthropy, Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Inc. Sigma Alpha Iota is a member of the National Interfraternity Music Council and the Professional Fraternity Association.
Alpha Gamma Sigma (ΑΓΣ), commonly known as AgSig or AGS, is a national collegiate social and professional agricultural fraternity in the United States.
Rehabilitation engineering is the systematic application of engineering sciences to design, develop, adapt, test, evaluate, apply, and distribute technological solutions to problems confronted by individuals with disabilities. These individuals may have experienced a spinal cord injury, brain trauma, or any other debilitating injury or disease. Functional areas addressed through rehabilitation engineering may include mobility, communications, hearing, vision, and cognition, and activities associated with employment, independent living, education, and integration into the community.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an academic research institution that is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois System. Since its founding in 1867, it has resided and expanded between the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana in the State of Illinois. Some portions are in Urbana Township.
Steven Serio is a wheelchair basketball player. As a co-captain of the USA Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team, he led the American men to their first Paralympic gold medal since 1988 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games and defended the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He currently plays for the New York Rolling Knicks in the NWBA Championship Division.
Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, including leg amputees, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy. Athletes are classified in accordance with the nature and severity of their disability or combinations of disabilities. Like running, it can take place on a track or as a road race. The main competitions take place at the Summer Paralympics which wheelchair racing and athletics has been a part of since 1960. Competitors compete in specialized wheelchairs which allow the athletes to reach speeds of 30 km/h (18.6 mph) or more. It is one of the most prominent forms of Paralympic athletics.
Spinal Cord Injury BC is a not-for-profit organization that helps people with spinal cord injuries and related injuries adjust, adapt and thrive by providing answers, information and community experiences in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Robert Daniel Steadward, is a Canadian retired sports administrator, professor, sports scientist, and author. Steadward helped organize the first Canadian wheelchair sport national championships in 1968, and later coached Canada in wheelchair basketball at the Summer Paralympics. He became a professor at the University of Alberta in 1971, later served as chairman of the Department of Athletics, and published more than 150 papers about disability sport. He was the founding president of the Alberta Wheelchair Sports Association in 1971, founded the Research and Training Centre for Athletes with Disabilities in 1978, served as president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee from 1984 to 1990, and later became a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, part of Jefferson Health, founded in 1958, is a 96-bed specialty medical rehabilitation hospital providing physical and cognitive rehabilitation services. Magee's flagship facility is located in Center City Philadelphia. In addition to the main campus that offers comprehensive services for spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, orthopaedic replacement, amputation, pain management and work injury, Magee provides an expanding outpatient network serving the surrounding communities. In 1985, Magee's brain injury rehabilitation program became the first in the nation to be accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. Magee partnered with Jefferson Hospital to create one of the nation's 14 federally designated centers for spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Magee has been rated one of America's leading rehabilitation hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. Magee provides treatment to more than 5,000 individuals annually. Magee is authorized to treat wounded military personnel returning from war. Magee is not an Obligated Group Affiliate.
Tau Phi Sigma, (ΤΦΣ), is a multicultural college fraternity, founded in 1992 at the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, now with eight Midwestern chapters and colonies.
Arthur Cutts Willard was the ninth president of the University of Illinois and an innovator in the field of heating and ventilation. Known for being approachable, a gentleman and well-dressed; he was known and admired by many. He received worldwide acclaim for his research and contribution to the heating, ventilating field; in particular for his contributions to the Holland Tunnel. In addition to his contributions to heating and ventilation industry, Willard was an educator in heating and ventilation and mechanical engineering between 1906 and 1933. He taught at George Washington University and the University of Illinois. Willard was appointed president in 1934 and served until 1946. Although he served as president during a difficult time for the university and the nation, he continued to have the highest expectations of his students. During his time as president he obtained funding for construction and addition of many buildings on the University of Illinois campuses. Willard strongly believed education needed to be more broad and focus on the social and economic problems facing the nation. At the end of service to the university, the Institute of Aviation was established at University of Illinois Willard Airport, and it was named in honor of A.C. Willard.
The Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association is the peak body for sport, recreation and fitness for people with a physical disability or vision impairment in the Australian state of Queensland.
Wheelchair sport classification is a system designed to allow fair competition between people of different disabilities, and minimize the impact of a person's specific disability on the outcome of a competition. Wheelchair sports is associated with spinal cord injuries, and includes a number of different types of disabilities including paraplegia, quadriplegia, muscular dystrophy, post-polio syndrome and spina bifida. The disability must meet minimal body function impairment requirements. Wheelchair sport and sport for people with spinal cord injuries is often based on the location of lesions on the spinal cord and their association with physical disability and functionality.
Pi Alpha Xi (ΠΑΞ) is a national honor society for horticulture founded in 1923 at Cornell University.
Evelyn Marie Mulry Moore was an American athlete who won two gold medals in swimming events at the 1964 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo and a gold and two silver medals at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv. She also competed in field events at the National Wheelchair Games in the 1960s and 1970s. She was inducted into the National Wheelchair Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1978.
Sharon Rae Hovey Wilkin was an American vocational rehabilitation counselor and disability rights activist. She was named an Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee of the Year in 1977.