A first-generation Mexican American and Chicago native, Hugo Trevino participated in MIUSA’s 2008 U.S./Costa Rica Disability Rights and Leadership Exchange Program. After attending the MIUSA program, Hugo gained the skills and felt empowered to pursue his passion for education, student affairs, and travel, which inspired him to continue to study abroad in China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Italy while completing his bachelor’s and master’s degree.
He credits these experiences with strengthening his confidence as a leader and self-advocate. He often recalls using the program to counter ableist assumptions in job interviews:
“If I can go to Costa Rica which is thousands of miles away and make it to my program and be a delegate, I can travel 7 miles every day to work.”
That mindset helped propel him into a career focused on expanding access and equity for disabled students.
Today, Hugo serves as the Assistant Director of Health Science Disability Resources at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he ensures students with disabilities have the tools and accommodations they need to be successful. As an avid study-abroad participant, he is also committed to expanding international exchange opportunities for disabled students, which includes co-founding the Enabled Abroad Scholarship.
Hugo’s leadership also extends beyond campus to the greater community. He is a public speaker on ableism and intersectionality, serves on multiple disability and LGBTQ+ committees, and recently received the UIC Chancellor’s Award of Merit. He also continues to invest in his community by helping plant more than 34 trees, supporting green-alley initiatives, and running for his local Library Board to advance inclusion and access.
We proudly celebrate Hugo’s tireless dedication to building a more inclusive world—one in which disabled people not only access opportunities, but take the lead!