American Airlines has ended a policy, first reported in October, banning wheelchairs that weigh more than 300 pounds on some of its smaller jets. Many power wheelchairs exceed that weight, which had led advocates to criticize the policy as discriminatory.
UD has grouped several diversity-related offices and centers across campus into a new Office of Institutional Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, which will be led by Interim Chief Diversity Officer Fatimah Conley. The new Office will include the Office of Disability Support Services; the Vice Provost for Diversity; the Division of Student Life’s Student Diversity and Inclusion initiative; the Center for Black Culture; and the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
Fifty teams of people with disabilities and researchers who have been developing assistive devices competed last week in the second Cybathlon, a global event organized to showcase advances in technology for those with disabilities. This year, participants included a team that had developed a wheelchair that can be controlled by eye movements and a prosthetic arm that can provide sensory feedback about certain textures.
A coronavirus spike in Newark, Del., has caused the town to pass 1,000 diagnosed cases of Covid-19 and the University of Delaware to set record highs in new cases two weeks straight. A UD spokesperson says the uptick is partially due to UD student Halloween parties. University courses will be entirely remote starting after the Thanksgiving break and carrying through the Jan. 2021 winter session.
The judge in a Delaware lawsuit over property taxes – which fund a significant portion of Delaware public schools and charters – rejected arguments for delaying property value reassessment made by lawyers representing the state’s counties. The counties have already been found to be in violation of Delaware state law and the state constitution for not reassessing property values in decades, which has caused underfunding in some districts. There will be a hearing in March 2021 to determine the procedure and deadlines for reassessment.
