Randy D. Colón
PIF Fellow
About
Randy D. Colón is a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Disability Studies program and a Research Assistant at ADA PARC. His research focuses primarily on disability, housing, and policy. Randy is working on a tool that communities can use to assess whether and to what extent people with disabilities are attaining affordable, accessible, and integrated housing. Additionally, he is working on expanding the tools and frameworks available to study disability policy in the United States. As a disabled scholar himself, Randy believes in using participatory methods such as Appreciative Inquiry to create tools for and by the disability community.
Besides working on disability housing research, Randy is also working with Chicago Street Medicine (CSM), a nonprofit that provides healthcare to people experiencing homelessness. Randy is working with CSM to conduct a needs assessment, co-leading a small team looking to help CSM expand its services and increase collaboration with other service providers. Additionally, Randy currently serves on the Blind Services Association Powerhouse Pioneers Strategic Planning Committee, and is an ADA 25 Advancing Leadership fellow.