Scholarships, Internships, and Job Opportunities

Lime Connect offers a wide range of programs and opportunities for high potential university students and professionals – including veterans – who happen to have any type of disabilities via The Lime Network.  Much more than just about careers, members grow and develop both professionally and personally, and can give back to – and benefit from – a community of like-minded individuals who rebrand disability through achievement every day.

Lime Connect Programs include:

• Recruitment Receptions: Lime Connect hosts receptions for individuals across the U.S. and Canada for current university students (undergrad, grad, and Ph.D.), new grads, and experienced professionals who are seeking internships, co-ops, and full-time/mid-career opportunities – or who are building relationships for future career growth. Lime Connect’s recruitment receptions are great opportunities to network one-on-one and develop relationships with corporate executives and recruiters.
• The Lime Connect Fellowship Program For Students with Disabilities: The Lime Connect Fellowship Program For Students with Disabilities is Lime Connect’s flagship program in the U.S. designed for highly accomplished rising juniors with disabilities. The Fellowship Program kicks off with a leadership and development symposium in New York in July and offers individual coaching, webinars, mentoring, and Fellows community discussions throughout the year. Upon “graduation” from the program, Fellows become part of the larger Lime Connect Fellows Community and have access to ongoing professional development, community and networking opportunities throughout their careers.

• The Lime Connect Foundations Program For Young Professionals with Disabilities: This program is designed to engage young professionals in the Lime Network who are seeking to develop their skills and advance their careers. This five month program is offered twice a year and focuses on helping participants become more self-aware and develop as professionals, analyze and develop their personal strengths and challenges, set and achieve professional goals, and learn to network and nurture professional relationships.

The Disability Inclusion at Microsoft program has inclusive hiring opportunities for candidates with disabilities in general with a hiring program for candidates with autism. “At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Having a diverse workforce that includes people with disabilities is paramount to this mission. We host Ability Hiring events, inclusive interviews, train and educate our teams on disability etiquette, and provide interview accommodations to increase the diversity of our teams, positively impact the culture of our workplace and the way we develop our products.”

Learn more about Microsoft’s multi-day Neurodiversity Hiring Program.

Disability Lead is a network of people with disabilities who use their power to create an equitable and inclusive society. Their mission is to increase civic engagement and diverse leadership in the Chicago region by developing and building a network of leaders with disabilities — consistent with the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Institute

The Institute is a year-long program for emerging leaders with disabilities. Fellows participate in intensive retreat sessions, year-long mentoring, and additional networking events to grow leadership skills and disability identity. Following successful completion of the Institute, Fellows become lifetime Members of the Disability Lead Network. All Members engage in networking opportunities, professional development, exclusive events, and leadership opportunities. They influence disability inclusion in all spaces.

Learn more about the Disability Lead Institute

Disability Lead Institute Application

RespectAbility is a nonprofit organization that works collaboratively with employers, elected officials, policy makers, educators, self-advocates, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, philanthropists and the entertainment and news media to fight stigmas and advance opportunities. Led by diverse people with disabilities and allies, RespectAbility knows that people with disabilities and their families have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else.

RespectAbility accomplishes our mission with a three-part strategy:

1. Fighting stigmas by promoting diverse, authentic and accurate portrayals of people with disabilities.
2. Advancing opportunities by identifying and promoting best practices in education, employment, civic engagement and access.
3. Leadership development to strengthen a talent pipeline of people with disabilities.

Our free tools and factual resources inform stakeholders so people with disabilities can achieve the education, training, jobs, security and wellness that everyone needs and deserves.

National Leadership Program

The National Leadership Program trains leaders who are committed to disability issues and plan to go into careers in public policy, advocacy, communications, diversity, equity and inclusion, fundraising, nonprofit management or faith-based inclusion. The program enables participants to gain skills and contacts while making a positive difference for people with disabilities.

The Fellowship is for seniors in college and graduate students, as well as graduates and those in the early stages of their careers. It also is for people with disabilities who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently are seeking new opportunities.

disABLEDperson, Inc., is a 501(c)3 public charity with a mission to reduce the unemployment rate of people with disabilities. They have a national job board for people with disabilities and hold two national scholarship competitions annually for college students with disabilities and through Microsoft Imagine Academy. (See the Scholarship section for more information about their current scholarship competition.)

Their website receives thousands of new jobs daily from proactive employers looking to hire from our community from across the U.S. With their longevity and authoritative content, their site has become the Premier National Job Board for PWDs. They are partnered with many federal and state agencies as well as private organizations.

The objective of the Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) program is to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, or persons with disabilities, who are enrolled in graduate studies in the fields of computer science and computer engineering.

DREU is a highly selective program that matches students with a faculty mentor for a summer research experience at the faculty mentor’s home institution.

DREU interns have the opportunity to be directly involved in a research project and interact with graduate students and professors on a daily basis. This experience is invaluable for those who are considering graduate school; DREU will provide a close-up view of what graduate school is really like and increase interns’ competitiveness as an applicant for graduate admissions and fellowships.

For more information, please see the DREU website.

AccessComputing, a National Science Foundation funded project, aims to increase the participation of people with disabilities in computing careers. AccessComputing has funding for undergraduate students with disabilities to participate in summer research internships. 

For a list of potential financial resources, please see DO-IT’s website.

University Headquarters (UniversityHQ) is a resource for finding top rated colleges, scholarships, potential salaries and helping you find the right career. Their resources include collecting a list of scholarships for students with disabilities.

Lime Connect offers distinct scholarships with their partners that support the education of current university students and open the door to potential internship and co-op opportunities. Lime Connect also offers their own Pathways Scholarship that supports current high school seniors’ pursuit of a university/college education. All scholarships are awarded based on merit, and financial need is considered for Pathways.

Learn more about Lime Connect scholarship opportunities.