Inclusion Now

About Us

Inclusion Now  is a safe space espousing a philosophy of inclusion that advocates for the dignity, value, and humanity all people.

Inclusion Now, as a foundationally parent and professional endeavor, recognizes that a truly just and inclusive world for our children will listen closely to them and allow them to guide interactions, programming, and policy that impacts them directly.  Self-determination is a critical piece to any human’s development toward full potential and well-being.  Our children deserve this, just as you and I do.

Inclusion Now believes it is essential to address OUR challenges as parents, advocates, educators, supporters, and influencers in positions of power.

Specifically, we must understand how our inherited values, biases, and fears dictate, more than any diagnostic contribution, our inability to include people with physical, emotional, cognitive, sensory, and/or mental health contributions across and within our neighborhoods, education systems, businesses, public spaces, spiritual communities, and larger society.

Inclusion means inclusion without exceptions or conditions, and moving forward means shining a light on OUR inability to include and accept diversity rather than any individual’s ability or desire to comply and assimilate.

We endeavor to advocate, educate and ultimately impact social change in the direction of inclusion without limits, neither on behalf of neurodivergent and/or unconventionally appearing or bodied people, which is paternalizing and patronizing, nor as the voices or masters of ableist impacted communities, which is oppressing and marginalizing.  Rather, our goal, starting with the person in the mirror and emanating out like ripples from a stone dropped in a pond, is a revolutionary shift in mainstream society and power culture that sheds the mantle of ableism and seeks personal change for the sake of a more inclusive world.

That is, we strive to change ourselves.  Not others.

But along the way, particularly when we actively listen with a spirit of inclusion, everybody advances toward self-determined enlightenment and happiness.

  • Service…not help. Support…not abuse.

    Please note: I am choosing to use “identity first language” in the following post and not “person first language.”  Over the past several years, I’ve served, worked with, and listened to hundreds of Autistic self advocates and have come to this decision.  For further reading, I’ll direct you to an illuminating article, “Identity-First Language,” by […]

  • It’s All About Relationship

    My working title for this post was,  “Embracing Inclusion, Culture, and Relationship: Relinquishing the Medical Model While Serving Neurodiverse Populations.” Which is just like me.  Extra.  (And notice, I still had to share it.)   On a related note: American Sign Language (ASL) contains a sign pair describing the general communication styles of Deaf people […]

  • What is inclusion if it’s not inclusive?

    Recently, I was invited to lead an inclusion discussion with young people through the Pittsburgh Chapter of The Friendship Circle. (www.fcpgh.org) “The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh was established in 2006 with the intention of creating a more inclusive community.  Our programs engage youth and adults with diverse abilities in a full range of social activities; […]

  • Hey Yinz Guys

    I’m from Pittsburgh. Some say, “Picksburgh.” Western Pennsylvania is cursed…nay, blessed with a unique dialect known here as, “Pittsburghese” but in academic circles as  Western Pennsylvania English (WPE).  Many university-educated natives, implanted academics, and the burgeoning nouveau hipster class look down upon it, and those who use WPE unabashedly are largely derided as jagoffs and yinzers.  The […]

  • You Cannot Fix What Is Not Broken

    I’m a Speech and Language Therapist. Once, when I was still an undergraduate student and in Japan with Semester at Sea, a gentleman on a train asked me what I intended to do for a profession. “Speech and Language Pathologist.” He puzzled over that final word.  “Pah…thaw…loh…gist,” and he pulled out a dictionary.  (This story […]

  • Mac Book Air and a cup of Coffee

    Chocolate biscuit soufflé tart gummies marshmallow ice cream. Gummies sesame snaps oat cake sugar plum pie dessert brownie ice cream. Candy canes pie jujubes sweet roll cupcake gummies pastry. Fruitcake marshmallow sesame snaps dessert tootsie roll gummies tiramisu soufflé. Pudding croissant jelly sweet tiramisu pastry cookie jelly. Toffee ice cream toffee tiramisu. Apple pie cheesecake […]

    Mac Book Air and a cup of Coffee

  • Old wooden wall and green bicycle

    Fruitcake marzipan topping tootsie roll cheesecake jelly-o topping. Fruitcake brownie muffin soufflé chocolate cake jelly-o chocolate cake cheesecake. Bear claw bear claw pie liquorice jelly beans tart. Tart candy pastry chocolate bar sweet. Topping unerdwear.com tootsie roll gingerbread chocolate danish cupcake. Halvah macaroon candy canes jelly-o halvah. Dragée marshmallow fruitcake powder lemon drops. Jujubes liquorice […]

    Old wooden wall and green bicycle

  • A boy leaning on the Wall

    Wafer croissant sweet marzipan. Sesame snaps sweet gingerbread pie jelly tiramisu oat cake. Biscuit caramels fruitcake chupa chups. Pie ice cream marzipan danish bonbon jelly chocolate cake applicake. Ice cream ice cream muffin cookie apple pie biscuit toffee applicake. Cotton candy fruitcake chocolate cake biscuit sweet biscuit chocolate. Lemon drops cupcake pie tiramisu. Toffee caramels […]

    A boy leaning on the Wall