Disability INC.

Superando más de una barrera

Para Alma, madre mexicana de dos niños con autismo, la primera barrera que tuvo que superar fue el diagnostico de su hijo mayor, luego la barrera idiomática, siguiendo por la falta de información que hay para padres inmigrantes y finalmente, el estigma que hay sobre el autismo. Hoy conversa sobre cómo aprendió a navegar el sistema de educación especial de NYC y cómo fue que INCLUDEnyc la ayudó a informarse para poder representar a sus hijos.

http://es.includenyc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/Alma-Gopar-Transcript.pdf

From Customer to Innovator: Why Disabled People Belong in the Technology Field

Beth Rosenberg is the Founder/Executive Director of Tech Kids Unlimited, not-for-profit educational organization that teaches 21st century computer science thinking and technology skills to neurodiverse youth ages 7 to 21. She is a multiple award-winning teacher, consultant, author, and frequent contributor to conferences, publications, and events.

To read the transcript for this episodes, please visit https://includenyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/From-Customer-to-Innovator.pdf

Nobody Knew What I Could Do: My Fight for Competence, Respect, and Equality

Nate Trainor is a passionate advocate for the acceptance of people with disabilities and, although non-verbal, is a powerful "voice" for inclusion. Nate has experienced firsthand what rejection, exclusion, and assumed incompetence feels like. He is an author and provides many presentations throughout the country, advocating for people with disabilities, and volunteers his time to help others understand that everyone has many abilities. He lives in Waverly, Iowa.

To read the podcast for this episode, visit https://includenyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Nobody-Knew-What-I-Could-Do-Transcript.pdf

Reframing Disability: Creating Cultural Change and Access Through the Lens of Beauty

Rick Guidotti, an award-winning photographer, has spent the past twenty-five years collaborating internationally with nonprofit organizations, hospitals, medical schools, educational institutions, museums, galleries, advocacy groups, and communities to enact a sea-change in societal attitudes towards individuals living with a genetic, physical, behavioral, or intellectual difference. His work has been published in newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Rick is the founder and director of Positive Exposure, a non-profit organization that promotes a more inclusive world through award-winning photography, film, and educational programs. Positive Exposure has significantly impacted the field of human rights, mental health, medicine, and education by providing new opportunities to see each individual as a human being and a valued member of our society.

You can find the transcript for this episode here: https://includenyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Reframing-Disability-transcript.pdf

A Brooklyn Story: How Lou Ferrigno Changed My Life

How a chance conversation between two NYPD cops on the beat in Brooklyn changed one man's professional and personal trajectory.

Donny Swanson is the principal of Pathways to Graduation in Staten Island, NY, where he utilizes a unique blend of beliefs, adaptations, and flexibility which he developed growing up in NYC with a disability. Pathways to Graduation supports at-risk students who have not been successful in traditional schools. Donny just completed his 18th year in education in February 2022, but his educational journey is not complete.

 

You can find the transcript for this episode here: https://includenyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/A-Brooklyn-Story-Transcript.pdf

Exploring the Sibling Story Through Writing and Film

Art allows us to process our lives and complex emotions individually, and to come together collectively while building community. Join our conversation on why having brothers and sisters with disabilities stimulates the creation of art. 

Allan B. Goldstein is a distinguished NYU Tandon School of Engineering Senior Lecturer, whose Disabilities Studies course teams up students and community members with disabilities to create digital stories and discuss disability readings. Goldstein is the older sibling and guardian of his brother Fred, a survivor of the notorious Willowbrook State School. Goldstein’s writing explores the social barriers impeding an inclusive society. Allan also serves on the Pace University Disability Film Festival screening committee, which features films by and about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Liz Sargent has an extensive background in dance, theater and film, which informs how she tells her stories. Liz is an award-winning producer for Cyprian Films. She is one of 12 children and in her work often draws upon her experiences having siblings with disabilities. Liz is producing “12 Turtles,” a feature documentary exploring who will care for her parents as they get older and who will inherit the responsibility for the siblings who cannot care for themselves. The Sargent family navigates the hard truths of aging, disability, adoption, and an evolving definition of family.

To read the transcript of this episode, visit www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/Exploring_the_Sibling_Story_through_Writing_and_Film.docx.pdf.

Disappearing Private Special Education Schools

Approved, publicly funded special education schools are facing an existential threat.

Hear about their history, the challenges they face, and how one school stayed true to its mission by discontinuing public funding. Donna Kennedy guided the Gillen Brewer School, a NYC private school providing special education services in a private school in NYC since its inception in 1992, serving as Head of School since 2003. Donna serves as a Commissioner of Accreditation for NYSAIS and Treasurer of the Guild for Independent Schools. Donna received her Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Bank Street College of Education and a Master of Science in Special Education focusing on Learning Disabilities from Hunter College. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Nebraska.

 

To read the transcript of this episode, visit www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/Disappearing_Private_Special_Education_Schools.pdf.

Access & Activism: Why We Need to Talk about It

What will mental health care look like going forward? Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Since 2001, he has been listed every year as a Top Addiction Psychiatrist in New York Magazine’s Best Doctors issue. He is the recipient of a George Foster Peabody Award for his PBS and HBO films educating the public about medicine and psychiatry, and has been recognized by both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy

of Television Arts & Sciences. He is an author and filmmaker and is well known for his book and film “Bedlam.”

To read the transcript of this episode, visit www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/Access__Activism.docx.pdf.

The Legacy of Bloomberg & de Blasio on the NYC School System

Dr. Tom Liam Lynch is Director of Education Policy at The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School and Editor-in-Chief of the website InsideSchools. A former educational technology professor, English teacher, and school district official for the New York City Department of Education, Lynch has written dozens of articles and presented the world over on educational technologies, online learning, school reform, new literacies, and K-12 computer science. He holds a doctorate in education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. To view the report referenced in this interview, visit www.centernyc.org.

To read the transcript of this episode, visit www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/The_Legacy_of_Bloomberg__de_Blasio_on_the_NYC_School_System.docx.pdf.

Before We Knew Autism

Autism didn’t appear in the DSM until 1980 or as a disability category under IDEA until 1990. Meet the woman who began building the autism advocacy movement on Staten Island in 1981.

Donna Long is a dynamic Staten Island community leader who has been advocating for the needs and services of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and autism since the early 80s--and her impact is still felt today. She is recently retired as Executive Director of The GRACE Foundation, a non-profit that works with individuals and families impacted by autism. Donna currently serves as Director of External Affairs for Crossroads Unlimited Inc., an agency that provides comprehensive services for individuals with I/DD.

To read the transcript of this episode, visit www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/Before_We_Knew_Autism.docx.pdf.