CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Families of University of Illinois students with physical disabilities are pushing for the return of services that the U of I cut for the fall semester.
Ethan Olson, 19, from Geneva, has cerebral palsy, and before finding the Beckwith program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he wasn't sure going away for college would have been possible.
“When I was young, I didn’t think this was possible,” Olson told CBS 2.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where Olson will be a sophomore, has one of the best programs in the country for students with physical disabilities.
“I hoped and prayed I would get in, and I did,” Olson said. “It got me out of the house. And I was able to figure out how I could live on my own with some support.”
Although U of I has agreed to reopen a specially-equipped dormitory floor for students like Ethan Olson, the services usually offered through the Beckwith program will not be made available.
But students and their families are fighting the school.
“A month or two before classes actually start, we get shut down,” he said. “It didn’t seem right to us.”
According to CBS 2, the Olsons got a letter from the university in July explaining Ethan Olson’s accessible, specially-equipped floor would be closed. The Beckwith program, which drew the Olsons and others to the school, was to be canceled for the fall semester because of staffing issues related to COVID-19.
Families like Olson’s got together to fight that, with thousands supporting a petition online. The school agreed to open their dorms, but still won’t open the Beckwith program.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign told families that federal matching dollars have been cut, and also told CBS 2, “As an institution, we have long been committed to serving students with disabilities, including through our Beckwith program. That program has many components and offers a range of services. As part of the Beckwith program, the university provides Personal Assistant (PA) care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite a great deal of effort by both the university, the students and their families, we have not been able to secure enough PAs to operate the Beckwith program this semester...There is a shortage of human service workers, and the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened that...The university is not turning down state funding. Funding for people with disabilities goes directly to them. Our students who have been able to secure PA coverage are eligible for the funding, and we have assigned those students who have been able to secure PA coverage accessible rooms in our residence halls. But we cannot provide the level and quality of care necessary to operate the Beckwith program this semester.
"We will continue to try to secure PAs for the spring semester in hopes we can restart the Beckwith program then. Not offering the Beckwith program this semester has been the most heartbreaking impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for all of us. But as with all of our students, the health and safety of the students in the Beckwith program has been and continues to be a top priority for the university.”
Ethan Olson, his peers, and their families have taken it upon themselves to secure the personal assistant staff – filling shifts for each student’s needs.
“The students rallied right after we were notified they were closing the programs, and within a week they had 90 perfect coverage of all the PA shifts,” Mike Olson, Ethan's father said.
The Olson family is prepared to pay for a personal assistant on their own to make up for services no longer covered by federal dollars, because they believe Ethan Olson and his peers should have the same opportunity to go back to school that thousands of other U of I students will next week.