Institute gets $1.3M for veterans' history project

The Corporation for National and Community Service has granted $1.3 million to the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at IU to be primarily used to document oral tales and recollections of disabled war veterans in the state of Indiana.\nDisabled students ages 14 to 21 will be involved in both planning and carrying out the program. \nStudents will interview disabled war veterans in Indiana, Vermont and Maryland, said Sandi Cole, the director for the Center on Education and Lifelong Learning. \nCole said Sen. Richard Lugar has been active in the program, which is run through the Library of Congress, for several years. \nTeresa Grossi, the IIDC director of Center on Community Living and Careers, said the benefits of the program for the students were plentiful.\n"Youth will learn how to participate in collaborative partnerships, improve their work-related skills, increase their self-determination and self-advocacy skills, improve their communication and other critical life skills," Grossi said in an e-mail. \nBoth Cole and Grossi said they hoped the veterans and students could build connections and form "a reciprocal relationship."\n"(One benefit) will be the relationships that we hope to build, it will be providing students with disabilities to advocate for themselves," Cole said. "We also hope that (the program) can begin to make connections for students with disabilities for them to make the transition into adult life."\n"This program supports the mission of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community ... to foster communities that welcome, value and support the participation and contributions of people of all ages and abilities through research, education and service," Grossi said in an email. \nThe program is not limited to recording veterans' histories. It also helps to connect the students to other community service opportunities they are interested in pursuing. \nCole said this project would not be the only focus of the grant. She said the IIDC is always looking for new opportunities to involve disabled students in service projects, especially in high school. \n"What we'll probably do is connect to (other) service and learning activities that already exist in these states," Cole said. \nGrossi said her hope is that this and other similar programs would help students involved prepare to enter the world later in life.\n"(Students) will also have the opportunity to build relationships with people who have dealt with similar issues that they face as they finish school and enter the work force or further their education," Grossi said.