Nahime Aguirre Mtanous, a student at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, is a winner of the 2021 Heumann-Armstrong award.
More about Nahime:
Nahime Aguirre Mtanous is a San Juan, Texas native currently residing in Chicago, IL. She attends the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice as a second year Master’s student in the Social Work Program. Nahime identifies as a psychiatrically disabled Arab Latina First Generation/Low Income (FGLI) student. Her work as a disability justice activist focuses on the development of person-centered living strategies and access supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Autism. She is passionate about disability justice due to her experiences facing academic ableism as an undergraduate student. This passion has led her to work within the Illinois Medicaid Waiver Program for Developmental Disabilities for five years. She continues this work with clinical therapeutic training at the Illinois Masonic Pediatric Developmental Center. She is also proud of her work as an IL LEND Fellow and as part of the UChicago Accessibility Advisory Board for the 2021-2022 school year. The Heumann-Armstrong Award is an important achievement for not only her, but for all minority disabled students hoping to build a better world through disability justice.