Rick Guidotti

BJ Stasio has spent more than two decades advocating for self-determination, voting rights, person-centered planning, and the inclusion of people with disabilities. Through leadership, education, and the Art of Advocacy, he continues to amplify self-advocate voices and promote more equitable communities.

Matthew A. Weed, Ph.D.

Drawing on his own experience with blindness and type 1 diabetes, Dr. Matthew Weed argues that healthcare training should better prepare professionals to understand the practical barriers patients face outside the exam room.

Rick Rader, MD, Editor in Chief

Medical students rely on mnemonics to retain enormous amounts of information. Dr. Rick Rader argues that disability-inclusive care deserves the same treatment and proposes the P.A.T.I.E.N.T. mnemonic as a practical reminder for clinicians.

Seth M. Keller, MD & Doreen Bestolarides, RN

For people with IDD, the hardest part of a medical procedure may happen before the procedure even begins. Seth Keller and Doreen Bestolarides call for accessibility planning across the entire patient journey.

Dr. Janice Ryan

Dr. Janice Ryan explains how seemingly unrelated behaviors, reactions, and life experiences can connect into a larger sensory story that helps families and practitioners better understand and support someone with SPD.

Samantha Thumma

Value-based payment could reshape how Medicaid funds home and community-based services—but measuring “value” becomes complicated when quality of life, autonomy, and individual goals cannot be reduced to a simple score.

Elisabeth Thompson

TeamSmile is expanding inclusive dental care for children with IDD by combining individualized support, sensory accommodations, family input, and interdisciplinary collaboration to create opportunities for every child to participate successfully.

Natalie Stagnone

Inclusive friendships can shape more than a student’s social life. Natalie Stagnone reflects on how relationships with peers with IDD influenced her confidence, career path, and commitment to building more inclusive communities.

Seth M. Keller, MD, FAAN

Too many physicians receive little training in caring for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Dr. Seth Keller examines how stronger disability education, better communication, and more coordinated transitions can improve care across the lifespan.

Kevin Larragy and Michele Iannuzzi Sucich, M.D.

Self-advocates from the Arc Greater Hudson Valley are helping future physicians learn how to communicate more respectfully and effectively with patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Their message is simple: good care begins by listening to the person in front of you.

Antonio “Tony” Torres

For Tony Torres, accessibility means more than being able to enter a space. Through wheelchair motocross, he found confidence, community, and a new way to think about mobility, inspiring him to create opportunities for others to do the same.

Jamie Pirowskin

Global health leaders gathered in New York for Mouth Matters 2 to advance equitable access to oral healthcare and strengthen the role of civil society in shaping policy, accountability, and universal health coverage.

Elena Salgado

Elena Salgado reviews Cross-Cultural Quality of Life, a book examining how quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities can be understood and improved across different cultural and social contexts.

Elena Salgado

A chance meeting between a boy with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome and a racehorse named Cody’s Wish grew into an extraordinary bond. Elena Salgado reviews the story and the larger lessons it offers about friendship, advocacy, community, and the impact one relationship can have.

MAKOM has created an inclusive Passover Haggadah designed with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in mind, making the traditions, stories, songs, and rituals of the Seder easier for everyone to understand and participate in.

Upcoming opportunities include disability-focused webinars, conferences, workshops, advocacy events, professional education, and family resources covering accessible healthcare, dementia care, financial planning, AI and enabling technology, rural health, and more.

This month’s From Our Friends features resources and perspectives on dental care for people with IDD, inclusive research, caregiver support, dementia clinical trials, menstrual health in autistic girls, and delirium related to urinary tract infections.

Recent research and commentary on autism diagnosis trends, preventive care for women with cerebral palsy, oral and systemic health, medical education, healthcare accessibility, rare genetic disease, and the risks of psychiatric misdiagnosis.