The Unfinished Business of the ADA: Financial Security for People With Disabilities

• By: Gyasi Burks-Abbott, MS Author, Educator, Autistic Self-Advocate
• September 25th, 2026
• ADA anniversary, autism self-advocacy, disability policy, disability poverty, Fall 2026 Issue, financial security, HCBS, Medicaid cuts, SSI asset limits
• 185    1

On July 26, 2026, the 36th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the National Council on Disability (NCD) announced the "Plan for Disability Middle Class Framework." The NCD is the independent federal agency that first recommended the creation of an ADA and wrote the initial...

A Presumption of Competence: Empowering Disability Advocacy and Independent Living

• By: Gyasi Burks-Abbott, MS Author, Public Speaker, and Autism Self-Advocate
• October 4th, 2024
• actually autistic, advocacy, disability pride month, Fall 2024 Issue, self-advocacy
• 3586    1

On June 18, 2024, the White House hosted an Olmstead 25th Anniversary Observance to commemorate the Supreme Court decision (Olmstead v. L.C.) that ruled institutionalizing people with disabilities who were capable of community living was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). One...

Putting My Lived Experience to Good Use

• By: Gyasi Burks-Abbott, MS Author, Public Speaker, and Autism Self-Advocate
• December 23rd, 2022
• actually autistic, advocacy, congress, lawmakers, legislation, personal story, policy, self-advocacy, Winter 2023 Issue
• 26257    0

As an autism self-advocate, I wear many hats: writer, public speaker, advisor, educator. One of my roles is LEND Program Faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital and UMass Boston’s Institute for Community Inclusion. The LEND Program (an acronym for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and...