| Scholarship
Award of UCP Chicago Women's Board
2007 Scholarship Award Winner
Kushal Parikh, a recent Hinsdale South High School graduate, has been named this year’s UCP Women’s Board Scholar. While in high school, Kushal sustained an impressive grade-point average of 4.64, placing him on the honor roll every year. He now attends University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where he hopes to study business. His positive attitude, determination and self-advocacy have helped to bring Kushal to where he is today.
Kushal has a diagnosis of muscular dystrophy. However, he does not let his disability slow him down. He has stated, “Everyone has some sort of disability or weakness, but that does not make people weak. These weaknesses allow people to mature.”
Kushal uses a laptop computer with Co:Writer word-prediction software to help reduce the fatigue he experiences when doing written work. Co:Writer will intelligently predict word choices based on grammar and cont ext, using “smart technology” and linguistic word-prediction™. To learn about Co:Writer, see: http://www.donjohnston.com/products/cowriter/product_tour.html.
Kushal says assistive technology has positively impacted his life by giving him more independence, and by being actively involved in writing. Also, Kushal’s manual wheelchair gives him mobility.
His academic excellence and community service has earned him a place in the National Honor’s Society. Through his volunteer work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), Kushal has mentored and encouraged other young children diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. He has also participated in a variety of fundraising events for the MDA, including one he assisted in organizing at his high school.
We are proud to present Kushal Parikh as the fourth recipient of the UCP Women’s Board Scholarship for Assistive Technology. Kushal joins our Assistive Technology Scholarship winners of 2004, 2005 and 2006.
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