Partnership for People with Disabilities

What is your role at the Partnership?

Communications Specialist at the Center for Family Involvement.

How long have you been at the Partnership?

Nearly a decade!

What does your job entail?

Utilizing all forms of media to reach individuals with disabilities and their families. The Center for Family Involvement provides informational and emotional support to anyone who needs it. We're constantly sharing what we're doing along with the work of our community partners. We promote our Family to Family Network which provides one on one support, matching trained staff and volunteers with similar lived experiences. I also collaborate with colleagues at the Partnership so we can share the amazing research and work being done here.

My communications colleagues and I are constantly changing our outgoing messaging based on data, trends, and analytics. We use social media, websites, podcasts, and more. Where and how we access information is always evolving, and we change our strategies to meet folks where they are.

What do you like best about your job?

So many things. Big picture - creating content that validates both how hard and beautiful our existence is. Having a disability, caring for someone with a disability in a world where ableism is so embedded - it helps to know we're not alone in our struggles. More specifically, I am loving hosting our podcast, The Odyssey: Parenting. Caregiving. Disability. There are so many powerful stories to share. I wish I could do an episode every week!

What is one thing you would like for everyone to know about the Partnership?

Everything. The Partnership is doing groundbreaking work to improve the lives of people with disabilities and the communities we live in. Choosing just one aspect of all that amazingness is impossible for a communications person to answer. 

How do you define success?

I don't. Not anymore, at least. I'm old enough to know that conventional definitions of success are largely based on luck. Life is hard. 

When you have a child or children with disabilities, your wishes, hopes, and dreams change drastically. I'm lucky to be surrounded by people who love me. I feel content most of the time. I suppose that's success.

What inspires you?

My children. Their insight, innovation, resilience, and love for those around them is inspiring. They challenge me to be better every day. And they forgive me when I fall short.  

What is one new thing you learned in the last month?

If someone mistakes nail polish for lipstick and slathers it all over their mouth, you can remove it with apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar, but apple cider is prefered). Follow up with an exfoliating lip scrub and hydrating balm and you are good to go! :)

What is one step that everyone can take to foster inclusiveness?

Try stepping out of your own existence and look at the world from the perspective of someone who is disabled.  Imagine moving through your day with physical, mental, and/or emotional obstacles and roadblocks. Universal implementation of universal design for living and learning is, unfortunately, a long way off. Think about how we can demolish those roadblocks in our infrastructure and our mindsets.