Support student accessibility at U-M with your donation
Your gift helps remove hurdles and create a welcoming place for every student at U-M. All donations, big or small, make a difference.
- Tools for Success: Your donation gives students with disabilities new tech for schoolwork.
- Learning Help: Your money goes to one-on-one help to make learning better for students.
- Money for School: You can help students with disabilities who need extra financial help.
- Friends and Fun: Your support provides fun group events where all students feel welcome.
For more information or to discuss your contribution, please contact Anya Cobler at anyaleah@umich.edu.
Support SAAS
Make an impact by donating to a specific cause
Adam Miller Memorial Fund
The Adam Miller Memorial Fund, created in 1999 by his parents, Alex and Marlene Miller, gives students with hearing, sight, or physical disabilities the tools and opportunities to connect and have fun.
Though diagnosed at the age of seven with Neurofibromatosis type 2, Adam neither knew nor accepted boundaries or limitations. While the disease gradually robbed him of his hearing and vision and impaired his mobility, it left his brilliant mind untouched and his spirit undaunted. Adam believed it was important on both a personal and professional level to be actively engaged in life—to have achievability. And achieve he did!
At the University of Michigan, Adam earned numerous academic and journalistic awards. He was a member of several Honor Societies including Phi Beta Kappa, Golden Key Society, and Kappa Tau Alpha (Journalism Honor Society). He received the John Rich Award for Journalism Excellence and was twice honored with the prestigious Columbia Gold Circle Award for Journalism for his work on the Michigan Daily. Adam spent four years as a sports writer for The Daily, where he also served as Night Editor, Senior Editor for Sports, and as a byline columnist, writing "Miller's Crossing" his senior year.
During his undergraduate years at Michigan, he authored several articles on masculinity and disability. He and his co-author Professor Tom Gerschick are considered national authorities on the issue of the effects of physical disabilities on masculine identities. Their articles appear in many books and magazines, as well as sociological journals and textbooks. Adam was active in the university's Hearing-Impaired Students Organization and helped to maintain the Barrier-Free Computer-Users Group as well. He believed that it was vital for people with disabilities to communicate with and support one another. To further that end, he created and maintained the website for the NF2 Crew, an international group of people affected by his disease. Because NF2 is such a rare disease, Adam believed it was vital for The Crew to provide a forum where information, treatment options, medical developments, and personal support could be obtained.
After earning his master’s in journalism from the university in 1996, Adam concentrated his efforts on computer-assisted reporting. As founder and president of WebCrossings. Ltd, Adam developed and maintained a variety of award-winning websites for clients ranging from WDIV-TV4 to Michigan Ear Institute. He served as the technology writer for HOUR Detroit magazine and was a frequent freelance contributor to the Ann Arbor News.
He was also a passionate and devoted fan of the Michigan Wolverines and proud to be a True Blue MICHIGAN MAN.
Adam S. Miller passed away in 1999.
The Knox Fund
The James Edward Knox Memorial Fund was endowed in 2010 in honor and memory of Jim Knox. Funds are dedicated to providing adaptive computer technologies for students in need.
Wolens Speech and Language Fund
Help students with speech disfluency through therapy, awareness, and advocacy support. For more information or to donate, please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities office at (734) 763-3000 or ssdoffice@umich.edu.
I don't worry about the meaning of life—I can't handle the big stuff. What concerns me is the meaning IN life—day by day, hour by hour, while I'm doing whatever it is that I do. What counts is not what I do, but that I DO IT at all.
–Adam Miller