Disability Inc.

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.

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.

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.

Hear Mark Alter, a Professor of Educational Psychology at NYU and founding Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, tackle the hard questions about the state of education for young people with disabilities.

Sandra Alfonzo started AdaptAbility: a program in Park Slope, Brooklyn that provides free bicycles for young people with disabilities. 

INCLUDEnyc's Jean Mizutani interviews Rebecca Cort about the continuum of special education services in New York State. She is a former Associate Commissioner of the Office of SE within the NYS education office, and also served as Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities. She led the initiative to integrate the State’s Office of Special Education into the Office of P-12 Education, merging all adult services — including Vocational Rehabilitation — into the Office of Adult, Career, and Continuing Education Services, now known as ACCES-VR.  

INCLUDEnyc's Lori Podvesker interviews Celia Green, PLAN (Parent Leader Advocacy Network) advocate and parent of six — four of whom have autism — and advocate, president of the Citywide Council on High Schools, and the Brooklyn Borough Representative.

INCLUDEnyc's Jean Mizutani interviews Kristen Booth Glen, who wrote many groundbreaking decisions as Surrogate Judge of New York County on the matter of guardianship for people with intellectual disabilities and who has written and lectured widely on the human right of legal capacity and supported decision-making. She serves on the advisory boards for the Center for Public Representation/Nonotuck Supported Decision-Making Pilot Project, the New York State Bar Association Disability Rights Committee, and is a former Commissioner on the American Bar Association Commission on Disability Rights.

INCLUDEnyc's very own Jean Mizutani interviews Miguel Salazar about Jose P: A lawsuit filed and won in 1979 by a group of students that forced the Department of Education to follow laws that give all students with disabilities the right to evaluation, proper school placement, and services. Miguel Salazar, M.A Philosophy of Education, NYU, School of Education, is a veteran Program Director of public education, lecturer, professor, former Impartial Hearing Officer and independent parent advocate. Following a stint as a NYC DOE Impartial Hearing Officer, Miguel joined Resources for Children with Special Needs (RCSN), now known as INCLUDEnyc, in 1987. He quickly became known as the NYC premiere non-attorney special education advocate, an unparalled reputation he enjoyed from 1990 until he retired from RCSN in 2011.

Madison Zalopany, Coordinator of Access and Community Programs at the Whitney, speaks to Jane Heaphy, INCLUDEnyc's Deputy Executive Director for Programs, about art, activism, and Mars.

Dorothy Siegel — an early pioneer for inclusive educational programming for students with disabilities in NYC — tells us the story about how the idea of inclusion for people with disabilities was fought for and won. Beginning in 1990, Dorothy has innovated and advocated for new special education reform models that led to the launching of NYC’s first Inclusion Program at the Children’s School in Brooklyn, NY. In 2002, Dorothy’s collaboration with Shirley Cohen Of Hunter College and The NYC DOE led to the development of NYC’s well regarded ASD NEST program which now serves 1,100 children with autism spectrum disorder all over NYC.

INCLUDEnyc's Director of Communications and Outreach Gennarose Pope interviews writer, public speaker, and rockstar Emily Ladau about activism, dating, and Sesame Street. Check out Emily's website at http://wordsiwheelby.com.

INCLUDEnyc's Senior Manager of Disability and Education Policy Lori Podvesker chats with Kathleen Downes, graduate student in social work at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, fierce advocate, and writer for her hilarious and fierce blog, The Squeaky Wheelchair, about disability and identity, inclusion, and much more.

INCLUDEnyc's Senior Education Specialist Jean Mizutani talks with disability rights pioneer and Director of Travel Training at the New York City Department of Education Peggy Groce about the history of the disability rights movement, and the role and importance of travel training within that movement.

In INCLUDEnyc's premier podcast — Disability INC. — INCLUDEnyc intern Kathleen Downes interviews Jessica De La Rosa, Ms. Wheelchair New York 2016, about growing up with a physical disability, what it's like to have a parent with a disability, what it's like to attend a mainstream school, and her dog Mayim."