“Disability is a core justice issue, with the highest barriers to full inclusion and equity being a general lack of visibility, understanding and fluency about disability,” says M.S. Nonprofit Management alumna Nicole Zerillo.
Zerillo explores this premise, provides insight from experts in the field, and recommends a path forward in her article “Person First, Disability Second: The Road to Full Inclusion,” which appears in Nonprofit Quarterly released digitally in March 2022.
“I explore how as a consequence of these disparities, certain issues continue to persist, from underfunded services to outright discrimination in Covid-19 treatments, even the legal use of electric shock devices on U.S. children with disabilities,” says Zerillo.
“The path forward requires not only increased investment, as in legislation like the Better Care Better Jobs Acts, but meaningful inclusion in the public and private sectors and advocacy from typical citizens,” Zerillo explains.
Zerillo is a 2021 graduate of the M.S. Nonprofit Management program and Brooklyn Law School. She currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Community Resources Department of AHRC Nassau & Its Family of Organizations and a Research Associate to M.S. Nonprofit Management Academic Director Cindy M. Lott, Esq. She has been writing for NPQ since October 2020.
Read the full article: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/person-first-disability-second-the-road-to-full-inclusion/.
