That might sound impossible, but it's not. It's all happening this fall at the center, which has been renamed the Western Michigan University Center for Disability Services. After one year of discussion, the WMU center, which serves over 150 county residents with disabilities, has switched to a new and easier name that better describes its new directions. The old name tended to emphasize a person's disabilities rather than their positive attributes, center administrators say.
Some people happen to have developmental disabilities.
The name change comes after numerous meetings with the center's board of directors. The new name has been approved by the dean of the College of Health and Human Services and the University provost and vice president for academic affairs. In addition to the new name, many other changes have come about in recent years since the center's founding in 1981. CDS has continually and actively responded to changing consumer and community needs. For many years, CDS operated as a center-based day program for people with complex disabilities.