TACE Presenter
Fabricio E. Balcazar, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Fabricio E. Balcazar, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His primary interest is in developing methods for enhancing and facilitating consumer empowerment and personal effectiveness of individuals with disabilities. Dr. Balcazar has conducted research over the past 23 years on the development of systematic approaches for effective involvement of people with disabilities in consumer advocacy organizations. He has directed several federally funded projects to develop and evaluate intervention models to increase consumer empowerment in vocational rehabilitation service delivery; to prevent dropout and promote successful transitions among minority youth with disabilities graduating from high school; to promote compliance with the ADA in the community; and to provide access to high school graduates with disabilities to college training and career advancement and to disseminate the model among several high schools in the Chicago area. Dr. Balcazar is currently the director of the Center on Capacity Building for Minorities with Disabilities Research and in this capacity he has lead an effort to promote culturally competent service provision for minorities with disabilities. Dr. Balcazar has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and recently published a co-edited book entitled “Race, culture and disability: Issues in Rehabilitation Research and Practice.” Dr. Balcazar is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA).