[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4989]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            35TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CENTER FOR DISABILITIES

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, today I congratulate the 
University of South Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences 
Center for Disabilities in Vermillion, SD, which will celebrate its 
35th anniversary in 2008.
  Started in September of 1973 as the Developmental Disabilities 
Evaluation Center, the Center for Disabilities has a long and 
distinguished history of providing training, service, information, and 
research not only to South Dakota but to the entire region. My wife 
Barbara worked on the DDEC staff during those initial years. Thirty-
five years later, the school continues to serve those needs of South 
Dakota through current projects, such as the Autism and Related 
Disorders Program, Birth to 3 Connections, Cheyenne River Reservation 
Rural Health Outreach Project, Deaf-Blind Program, Dietetic Internship, 
the Upper Midwest Public Health Training Center, and the Pine Ridge 
Developmental Clinic, which was established in 2008. The Center for 
Disabilities is also working with other States to provide service in 
projects such as the Four-State Consortium on Studies in the Prevention 
of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Fetal Alcohol Effect and the Upper Midwest 
Public Health Training Center.
  Over the last 35 years, the University of South Dakota School of 
Medicine and Health Sciences Center for Disabilities has provided 
quality services to the people of South Dakota. Their goal, to help 
those with disabilities live without limitations, has been demonstrated 
through the citizens with whom they have worked. Those ideals have also 
been carried out by the students who have graduated and gone on to 
excel in their careers.
  Not only has this center encouraged learning and research, but the 
University of South Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences 
Center for Disabilities also strives to bring together communities. 
Indeed, one of the core functions of the center is community education. 
The center works to provide training and assistance, not only to 
individuals with disabilities and their families, but also to 
professionals, paraprofessionals, policymakers, students, and any 
member of the community who chooses to get involved.
  I am proud to honor the University of South Dakota School of Medicine 
and Health Sciences Center for Disabilities for its 35 years of 
outstanding service. It is an honor for me to share with my colleagues 
the exemplary leadership and strong commitment to education and 
research the University of South Dakota School of Medicine and Health 
Sciences Center for Disabilities has provided. I strongly commend their 
years of hard work and dedication, and I am very pleased that their 
substantial efforts are being publicly honored and celebrated.

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