A Fund Supporting Research into Technology to Help Learners with Special Needs

"Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it."

-Viktor E. Frankl

Nobody likes feeling like they are a burden but this is one of many challenges faced by students with special needs every day. Now imagine technology, a device or piece of software has changed the game so that now, not only do you no longer feel like a burden, but you know you have real and meaningful contributions that only you can make for your family and for society.

How would that change how feel about yourself or relate to the world? How might it provide a sense of meaning and profound purpose to the things you do? Absolutely no one is useless. We all have our contibutions to make and technology has the power to enable us beyond our abilities.

Prof. Lillian Campbell, lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at York University in Toronto dedicated her academic life to developing assitive technology to help those who could use it most. On May 15th, 2015 (a year since the starting of this campaign), Dr. Campbell succumbed to a rare form of cancer.

In her memory, The Lillian Campbell Scholarship Fund (unofficially known as the "Chickadee Fund") is being established in order to support graduate students at York University in Toronto who are engaging in research to find, develop and use technologically based tools and solutions to enhance and enable performance in education and ultimately in the workplace and in greater society.

This fund is designed to help not only the individual researchers in their noble efforts but of course,for those countless students with special needs who will benefit enormously from that research.

The fund was established in 2015 and requires an endowment of C$25 000 so that an annual amount of C$1000 can be awarded to qualifying applicants. Please donate generously and help us to achieve that goal of helping others achieve their goals.