The disability field considers disability as a social group, with a focus on the way in which disability is constructed culturally, politically and economically rather than the traditional emphasis on the physiology of impairment.
The Interdisciplinary Leadership in Disability Studies (ILDS) Graduate Certificate Program is housed in the School of Graduate Studies for students seeking to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on disability in the workplace.
Students graduating from this program will be able to:
The ILDS Graduate Certificate has accompanied the following degrees:
The Vivian Shepherd and Merrill Joslin Scholarship was established by the Rehabilitation Institute Foundation in 2023 and annually gifts two ILDS students full tuition towards their certification.
This scholarship honors Vivian Shepherd, who served as the first director, and Merrill Joslin, who served as a board member and President of the board of the initial Rehabilitation Institute in Kansas City, first established in 1947 to serve returning veterans of World War II and polio survivors with disabilities. Under Merrill's leadership, the Rehabilition Institue Foundation was organized in 1990 to support ongoing medical and vocational services for individuals with disabilities in the Kansas City area. The scholarship was established to support education in the field of rehabilitation and now also supports education for advocates and those going into the disability field.
The Shepherd-Joslin Scholarship is awarded only to students who are enrolled in the ILDS Graduate Certificate Program.
Candidates must:
Preference is given to those affiliated with AbilityKC in some way.
Covers full tuition for the ILDS Graduate Certificate for the upcoming Fall and Spring semester.
Must maintain a 3.0 GPA (B-) in ILDS courses.
You may apply for the Shepherd-Joslin Scholarship once you have been accepted to the ILDS program. Please contact the ILDS Program Coordinator for more information on how to apply.
Deadline to apply is July 31st.
Vivian Davis was born on December 30, 1905 and spent much of her childhood in Jefferson
City, Missouri. After receiving her degree from Central Missouri State University, she taught for
several years in elementary schools. She married a fellow teacher, James R. Shepherd and the
family settled in Kansas City.
After several years of working as an office manager for a telegraph company, Vivian took a job
in the Kansas City office of the Missouri Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. In response to a
suggestion by Shepherd and others, a coalition of social service agencies conducted a survey in
1946 analyzing services available to Kansas Citians with disabilities. World War II had just
ended, and thousands of returning servicemen struggled to live with war wounds and lost limbs.
Meanwhile, in the time before a vaccine, many polio survivors faced the challenges of physical
paralysis. The resulting plan created a new organization, among the first of its kind nationwide,
known as the Rehabilitation Institute.
To serve as its first director, Vivian Shepherd took a year’s
leave of absence from her state job, which lasted over 25 years. She received a master’s degree
from UMKC in 1953 and distinguished alumni honors from the school in 1959 and 1982.
With the goal of developing self-sufficiency and independence, the Institute served 141
individuals in its first year with an annual budget of $30,000; by the time of Vivian’s retirement
in 1974 the budget had grown to nearly $1.5 million with staff serving about 3,000 patients in a
state-of-the-art facility at 3011 Baltimore. Mrs. Shepherd enjoyed an active retirement of
volunteerism and service, and passed away April 8, 1992.
[Source: profile written by David Conrads for the Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley
Special Collections]
Merrill A. Joslin was born July 28, 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri. After service in the United
States Navy as a radioman/gunner during WW II he was awarded the US Navy Air Medal and
the Distinguished Flying Cross. Merrill graduated from the University of Kansas City (UMKC),
earning a Bachelor Business Administration degree, with honors.
Merrill’s business career included management positions with Hallmark Cards and Trans World
Airlines before he joined Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co. where he became the Partner in
Charge of Management Consulting, retiring in 1984.
In addition to numerous other charitable and civic activities, Merrill served as a board member
and President of the board of the Rehabilitation Institute, and also as a director and the initial
President of The Rehabilitation Institute Foundation. It was Merrill’s leadership that initiated the
formation of a separate legal organization for the Foundation in 1990 resulting in a
significant corpus in its endowment and ownership of the building and property at 3011
Baltimore. Had this strategic direction not been taken, it is likely that the Rehabilitation Institute
(now named Ability Kansas City) would have ceased to exist in 2005 when Health Midwest
System closed some of its hospitals. He received the Oscar D. Nelson award for his many
humanitarian contributions and an award of appreciation for his dedicated work as President,
both from The Rehabilitation Institute. He passed away on March 20, 2013.
[Source: Merrill A. Joslin obituary, Kansas City Star]