Finding herself a parent of a child with autism in 1985, she soon realized that advocacy was a necessity, not a choice. Follow her transition from parent to advocate as she embarked on a personal mission, eventually becoming an advocate for people with developmental disabilities (DD) and the professionals who support them.

How do people become advocates? Sadye’s evolution as an advocate and community organizer began as a young teacher in Harlem. Listen as she recounts her experiences and shares her belief that everyone has the ability to contribute in some way to the causes they care about. “We need you urgently, exactly as you are,” Sadye says. “Your obstacles are your path.” 

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To view the transcript for this episode, visit https://www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/David_Bloomfield_transcript.pdf

To view the transcript for this episode, visit https://www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/Dr._Connor_Transcript.pdf

To read a transcript of this podcast, visit https://www.includenyc.org/images/uploads/content/Maureen_Podcast_Transcript.pdf

Steve Alizio is a special education attorney in private practice and former INCLUDEnyc Junior Board member. He taught in a public high school on Long Island for 7 years before earning his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Matt Conlin was previously the Digital Accessibility Fellow for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, adjunct professor and speaker at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. From the arts to higher education, Matt has advised how to create inclusive spaces. He is a Fordham University and CUNY School of Professional Studies alumnus and is currently enrolled in the advanced certificate for youth studies for youth development work.

The Sibling Support Project is a nation-wide project dedicated to the concerns of and support for siblings of individuals with special health, developmental, and mental health concerns: www.siblingsupport.org.

For more information on Rachel Simon and her writing, check out her website: www.rachelsimon.com.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.