Scholarship winner Benjamin Case

The Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (Ann Arbor CIL) is proud to award Benjamin Case, a senior at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, the 2010 John Weir Scholarship.

The Ann Arbor CIL annually awards the John Weir Scholarship to outstanding students with disabilities for their achievements in academic and extracurricular activities.

“I’m proud to have my disability; it has shaped me into who I am,” Case said. “I wouldn’t be the same without it.”  Case said advocacy has played an important role in his life and in getting to where he is today.   “[As a young kid], I started asking for the accommodations I needed [in school], making sure I got them, and getting notes from lectures.  This made a difference that showed in my academic success.”

The John Weir Endowment Fund, which supports the scholarship, is held in trust and managed by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.  Graduating high school seniors with disabilities in Washtenaw, Livingston, and Monroe Counties are eligible to apply for the scholarship, which the Ann Arbor CIL administers.

The late John Weir, whom the scholarship is named for, was a pioneer for individuals with disabilities in many ways and a founder of the Ann Arbor CIL in 1976.  “Back then, CILs were a new idea designed to provide resources to people with disabilities and to assist in ways that facilitated a more active life,” Lou Weir, John Weir’s brother, said.  The scholarship is intended to carry on the mission and beliefs that John Weir had.