University Center for Excellence In Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service
We are on a mission to promote all abilities across the lifespan through interdisciplinary training, research, service, and dissemination.
The Center on Disability Studies (CDS), College of Education, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa is an Organized Research Unit recognized by the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents. Founded in 1987 as a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), it is authorized under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (DD Act). As one of the 68 UCEDDs, it continues its commitment to support people with disabilities and their families through research, training, and demonstration activities, and disseminating the results of its work to community members, professionals, students, and policymakers.
CDS is a valued partner with state and regional organizations and responds to their needs for technical assistance. CDS designs and offers many training programs; provides community-based demonstrations to build local capacity to improve services to individuals with disabilities; and conducts numerous statewide, national, and international dissemination activities.
Through numerous education and early intervention, employment, and community living projects, the Center on Disability Studies serves thousands of underrepresented people, including those with disabilities and their families, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and other underserved people, helping provide them pathways to empowered lives of full participation and access.
CDS Updates
Resources and Message of Support for Maui
CDS would like to express our deepest condolences and heartfelt support for the people of Maui amid these horrific wildfires that have claimed lives and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and beloved home to many.