Disability INC.

Unstoppable: Ms. Wheelchair NY's fight for accessibility, inclusion, and representation

Ketrina Hazell is 23 years old. At 9 months old, she was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. She describes her experience in the health and education system as hopeless because she felt everyone in those systems expressed very low expectations and outcomes for her. Despite the feeling of hopelessness, she persisted. She is a college student and an advocate for herself and other students with disabilities. She graduated from Partners in Policy making in 2014 and has served on the Youth Advisory Panel for Special Education and the Access A Ride Paratransit Committee. She is the founder and president of her own advocacy group called Voices of Power. She is an educator, volunteer, mentor, friend, aunt, and sibling. Currently, Ketrina serves as Ms Wheelchair NY 2018 with the platform of bringing self advocacy into schools and building an inclusive environment within schools and local communities for all students.

Designing with a Heart

Cara McCarty, Director of Curatorial at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, speaks with INCLUDEnyc Senior Family Educator Ruth DiRoma about the history of the museum, accessible design, and their favorite pieces from the latest exhibitions.

McCarty oversees the museum’s curatorial vision and leads exhibition planning. She played a lead role in the 2014 renovation and transformation of Cooper Hewitt into a 21st-century museum, from the overall master plan to the creation of new gallery spaces and participatory visitor experiences. Previously she was curator and head of the department of decorative arts and design at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she established the museum’s 20th-and 21st-century design collection, and was instrumental in the museum's expansion. Prior to that, McCarty held curatorial positions in the department of architecture and design at The Museum of Modern Art. Her numerous exhibitions and accompanying publications include Access+Ability; Tools: Extending Our Reach, National Design Triennial: Why Design Now?, Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles, Masks: Faces of Culture, and Information Art: Diagramming Microchips. She received a bachelor's degree in Architectural History and East Asian Art from Stanford University and was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.

Getting Unstuck: Parenting, support, and treatment for youth with OCD

Kelly Anderson's documentaries include My Brooklyn, about the redevelopment Downtown Brooklyn, and Every Mother’s Son, about mothers who lost sons to police violence. She is currently the Chair of the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College. Kelly discusses UNSTUCK: An OCD Kids Movie, which she made with a fellow parent of a child with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Chris Baier. This documentary presents the experiences of youth with OCD and the skills and supports they develop. She explores the topics surrounding it--from the specific nature of OCD in youth, to parenting a child with this unique disability--and sheds inspiring light on the advocacy and support that both parents and youth alike have built through their experiences with OCD. For more on the film and great OCD resources, visit ocdkidsmovie.com.

The Ultimate Test: Travel Training on 9/11

The skills learned in travel training by students with disabilities were put to the ultimate test on 9/11/2001. Hear Peggy Groce, creator and former director of the NYCDOE Travel Training program recount their extraordinary experience. 

Navigating Life: Thoughts on education, ableism, and advocacy

Tyrese Alleyne-Davis is currently a graduating senior at the Henry Viscardi School in Long Island, NY. He has triplegic cerebral palsy which requires him to use a wheelchair. For the past 10 years, he has been a public speaker, giving keynote addresses for many children's organizations such as the Starlight Children's Foundation, S.K.I.P. of NY, New Alternatives for Children, and INCLUDEnyc. Earlier this year, he had the distinct pleasure of addressing legislators in Albany, NY advocating for 4201 State Funded Schools. Additionally, Tyrese has had the opportunity to address the Black Law Student Association at Harvard Law School and speak at Columbia University's Disability Caucus. Last summer, Tyrese was one of twenty high school students chosen out of 500 applicants to intern at the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.

 

Academically, Tyrese has soared, being inducted into the National Juniors Honor Society and receiving multiple college scholarships from CACNY, The Options Center, and the Henry Viscardi School. In the fall, he will be attending NYU on a full scholarship and intends to study communications and sociology. Tyrese has dreams of becoming an advocacy lawyer, concentrating on elevating the rights of the disabled community.

 

Doing Disney with a Disability

Learn how to prepare, how to fly, and how and where to stay to make your Disney vacation with your child with a disability the best it can be. In addition to being a travel guru, Millie is INCLUDEnyc's Intake Coordinator, she is a Certified Lactation Consultant, Postpartum Doula, former AmeriCorps Volunteer, and has a BA in Anthropology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. 

Art and autism: How one man made his son a superhero

Brooklyn born native Led A. Bradshaw is a talented comic book artist/writer, graphic artist, and Technical Writer who has been captivating children and adults alike with his exceptional artistic abilities from the time he was three years old. Wanting to inspire his son Jacob, an autistic child, to learn, create and be his own hero, Led created the children’s comic book series, "The New Adventures of Jake Jetpulse." A true partnership, this series explores Jacob's imagination and chronicles his superhero and his characters' adventures. You can find the comic book, along with other resources, at jakejetpulse.com.

 

Fighting for a more accessible NYC: Part 2

INCLUDEnyc's Senior Family Educator Ruth DiRoma has been fighting for a more accessible NYC for people with disabilities since her mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's in the 1960s. Ever since, she has fought to bring both fundamental and life-enriching access to transportation, art, and education to the disability community and the community as a whole.

Fighting for a more accessible NYC: Part 1

INCLUDEnyc's Senior Family Educator Ruth DiRoma has been fighting for a more accessible NYC for people with disabilities since her mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's in the 1960s. Ever since, she has fought to bring both fundamental and life-enriching access to transportation, art, and education to the disability community and the community as a whole.

Due Process: Special Education Law and its History in NYC

INCLUDEnyc interviews Neal H. Rosenberg, the founder of the oldest, largest, and most iconic law firm devoted to the practice of special education Law in NYC.

As a former teacher and certified school principal, he began his law career working as an attorney for the NYC Board of Education, followed by two years with the New York State Department of Education, codifying the laws and regulations of PL 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children's Act. He opened the Law Offices of Neal Howard Rosenberg upon his return to the city, and has been advocating on behalf of students with disabilities for 40 years.