Disability Support

A not-for-profit organization of caregivers and respite providers dedicated to advocating support for families by ensuring access to quality respite services for the residents of Illinois.

 JCFS Chicago strives to enhance social-emotional well-being for adults, children, teens and families, and to maximize potential for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They provide a wide range of services, from counseling and psychological evaluation, pediatric therapies, autism and disorders, early childhood development, to legal advocacy and more. Informative website blogs include tips, stories and strategies.

Helps businesses meet the needs of customers or employees with disabilities by incorporating disability-aware best practices into core business strategies and providing meaningful career paths in communications, technology and digital marketing to people with disabilities.

Learning Disabilities OnLine, a national educational service of WETA-TV, the PBS station in Washington, D.C., provides accurate and up-to-date information and advice about learning disabilities and ADHD for all school aged children.

Celebrates and supports fathers and families of children with special health care needs by providing news, resources and event information.

Supports scientific discovery and broadly disseminates research results to the public and to medical and health professionals.

Through more than 30 projects, PACER provides individual assistance, workshops, publications, and other resources to help families make decisions about education and other services for their child or young adult with disabilities. Parents can find free, helpful publications, workshops, and other resources to help make decisions about education, vocational training, employment, and other services for their children with disabilities. Also in Spanish, Hmong, and Somali.

SMA and the Childhood Anxiety Network works to increase public awareness of selective mutism and related childhood anxiety disorders, to promote greater understanding of these disorders through education, support of research and to provide support to professionals, affected individuals and their families.

Selective Mutism Parent Support meetings are held periodically in Arlington Heights. Contact Kathy Slattery at kslattery@cntrmail.org for more details.

S.I.B.S. champions siblings of people with disabilities in Illinois, through Sibshops, sibling support groups, and relevant resources to enhance the quality of life for siblings and families alike.

Information about applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) child disability benefits. A fact sheet answering frequently asked questions, the definition of disability,  a checklist to gather needed documents, and a worksheet to prepare for the disability interview.