MS/C student Wedderburn receives Ruth Hadra Scholarship

Johnny Wedderburn, MS/C ’07, was selected as the first recipient of the Ruth Hadra Scholarship from the Department of Occupational Therapy.

The $1,000 scholarship, named in honor of a former faculty member and UIC Medical Center clinician, supports first- and second-generation students who have overcome difficulty.

Coming back to school at age 35, Wedderburn has proven he deserves the award. He pioneered a process to involve adults with intellectual disabilities in conducting accessibility audits themselves. He developed a video training tape for use by other agencies. He has used teams of adults with intellectual disabilities to conduct access audits of the Chicago Park District, which he then presented to park district officials. Also, Wedderburn has, on his own time, provided accessibility audits for El Valor, one of our community partners, to assist them with recertification and accessibility improvements.