Resource Directory /

Health Condition and Disability-Specific Resources

  • Reeve Foundation Virtual Support Group for Individuals Living With Paralysis

    The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation offers virtual support groups to help individuals who are living with paralysis or caring for a family member who is living with paralysis. The support groups provide an opportunity for members to connect with others who understand what they are going through and to gain support, insight and guidance.

    Group meetings are led by a mental health professional and a peer with lived experience and are conducted in an open forum/conversational format. Separate groups are held for individuals living with quadriplegia, those living with paraplegia and family members/caregivers.

  • Reliance Children’s Health Center

    Reliance Children’s Health Center in Plainfield, Ill., provides specialized care in a home-like setting for children who are medically fragile and technology-dependent and under the age of 22. The center has a maximum capacity of 12 children and offers skilled nursing care, respite care, transitional care, therapies, medical daycare and more. Reliance Children’s Health Center services include:

    • Respiratory care
    • Medical day care
    • Respite and transitional care
    • Weekend camps
    • Diagnostic studies

    For more information, contact Reliance Children’s Health Center at:

  • Rush Autism Resource Directory

    The Autism Resource Directory is an online resource guide to help families find service and support referrals in the following counties: Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage, Cook, Kendall, Will, Grundy and Kankakee.

    For more information or if you have any questions about navigating the directory or finding a referral, please call (312) 563-2272.

  • Russian Resources for Families and Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

    Hands & Voices is a nationwide, parent-driven organization supporting families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing without a bias around communication modes or methodology.

    Hands & Voices working in partnership with the St. Petersburg Early Intervention Institute provides a Russian translation of materials aimed at improving services and child outcomes.

  • Seizure Action Plan Examples and Resources

    A seizure is a medical emergency. A Seizure Action Plan (SAP) contains tailored guidelines on how to respond during a seizure, based on the patient’s medical history. It includes health and medical information specific to the patient and helps others recognize seizures and the appropriate steps to take to keep them safe from injury or damage caused by prolonged seizures.

    The Seizure Action Plan Coalition has several Seizure Action Plan examples and resources in English and Spanish to help you create your own plan. Resources are also available in other languages.

    Epilepsy Alliance America manages the Seizure Action Plan Coalition.

  • Sertoma Organization for People Affected by Hearing Loss

    Sertoma provides information and support to people at risk of or affected by hearing loss. National and local chapters across the United States support hearing health through a variety of programs and activities. Sertoma services include annual scholarships, access to amplified hearing devices, teen and college-level service programs, the “Adopt-an-Agency” program and more.

    Sertoma offers two scholarship programs:

    • The Scholarship for the Hard of Hearing or Deaf is open to students with clinically significant bilateral hearing loss. Graduating high school students or undergraduate students pursuing four-year college degrees in any discipline are eligible for the scholarship.
    • The Communicative Disorders Scholarship is for graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in audiology or speech-language pathology from institutions in the United States. The program awards these scholarships in the spring to help offset the cost of tuition, books and fees incurred during the following school year.

    See Sertoma’s website for eligibility requirements. The program accepts applications between Nov. 1 and March 31 each year.

  • Service Animal Resources

    The Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission has a list of Service Animal Resources. Information includes Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, programs that provide animals and more.

    For questions, please contact the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission.

  • Sign Language Interpreter Directory

    The Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission maintains a directory of sign language interpreters. You can search the directory by an interpreter’s name or by region/county.

  • Signed by Stories

    Signed By Stories aims to raise mental health awareness, advocacy, education and support for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, late-deafened and deaf-disabled through storytelling.

    Signed By Stories is working to create a community where deaf and hard-of-hearing people can:

    • Join together and share their mental health stories
    • Receive validation for their experiences
    • Learn how to better support their own and the larger community’s mental health needs
    • Have a platform where both deaf and hearing people have the knowledge, tools and feel empowered to take action to improve the current state of mental health care for deaf people

  • Sleep Help for Individuals With ASD

    Autism Speaks offers parents helpful tips for establishing good sleep hygiene and tool kits targeting sleep strategies for children, teens and adults on the spectrum.