Blog Stories

The eight people who lived at the Ridgeway IRA moved to a brand new home in Medford on Monday, April 9th. It is a beautiful home that is on one level, fully wheelchair accessible, and ADA compliant. This is a dream come true for all of the residents, and everyone was excited about the move.

Consuelo Senior, YAI’s Assistant Coordinator of Sex Education and Clinical Curricula, recently presented on Puberty, Sexuality, and Behavior: How to Guide Young People with Disabilities. Co-presented with INCLUDEnyc’s Kaitlin Roh, the hour-long live stream covered everything from setting manageable goals, to building up your child’s self esteem, and much more.

What drew me to Nursing? I was hospitalized when I was eleven. Next to me was a five year old boy. He was badly burned over his upper body and had difficulty using the call bell. I became his voice. The nurses were so kind though I’m sure I drove them crazy with the frequency of calls. They actually thanked me and made me feel good about helping him. Then in High School I volunteered to go on visits in the community with the Nursing Sisters. When we would enter the patients’ homes, I saw such a...

I have two relatives who I have great respect for, who are both nurses and always spoke of the satisfaction they felt in taking care of people. I always enjoyed taking care of people and thought that becoming a nurse would afford me a greater opportunity. As a nurse I know that I have helped people and their loved ones overcome many obstacles in their lives. In my career I have worked in many different fields of nursing from hospital nursing to nursing homes to private duty to where I am now...

What attracted you to nursing? I fell in love with nursing because of my mom. She is a retired Registered Nurse. She worked in the local hospital in the community in which I grew up. She was a constant source of support to our neighbors and anyone who needed her. We would often be in our local supermarket, mall, gas station etc.. and someone would come up to us and say to her “Hi do you remember me?” She would always respond “You look familiar” and they would tell a story of how my mom impacted...

Starting in March, the YAI Westbury Long Island Employment Services program has been partnering with the Microsoft Store at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City to participate in private courses to introduce the people we support to technology to enrich their personal and professional lives. Through this initiative, YAI has been able to collaborate with the Microsoft Community Educators in selecting and tailoring Microsoft's curriculum for people with I/DD. Examples of courses that YAI...

Proper alignment of bones and joints is essential for stabilizing body motion during standing and walking. People with ASD have a reduced perception of their body movement or shift relative to their own postural orientation and equilibrium. At the clinic we often hear of issues such as fatigue, awkwardness, clumsiness and instability of their foot, ankle and hip joints. When we assess people with ASD at our P&O clinic (“P” for Prosthetics and “O” for Orthotics) it becomes clear that foot...

Kathy T., who resides at Glenwood, has always expressed her desire to travel and one day be able to go on a cruise with her family. Using person center thinking tools, staff members met with Kathy to walk through the process of obtaining a passport. Staff reviewed all the steps with Kathy, which included the passport application, getting a money order for payment, documentation to establish identity, and getting passport photos. Once Kathy understood everything, she and her support staff...

The students at Manhattan Star Academy wanted to give back to the community, and New York Therapy Animals has been volunteering at MSA for the past two years. It seemed like a natural next step that the proceeds from MSA's Valentine's Day dance-a-thon would go to support New York Therapy Animals. The dance-a-thon raised over $700! The students recently gathered to present the check to Nancy George-Michalson, Executive Director of New York Therapy Animals. The students were also excited to see...

Sexuality refers to the total expression of who you are as a human being. Our sexuality begins in the womb and ends at death. (Freud, 1986) Everyone is a sexual being, babies, children, teens, adults and the elderly. Sexuality is therefore experienced throughout the developmental lifespan. So why is social-sexual education for people on the autism spectrum and with other developmental disabilities (DD), still taboo? The American Academy of Pediatrics states, “Sexual development is a...