Blog Stories

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...

A wise man once said, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” For Erika Heyliger, this quote embodies her experience working at YAI. While being a DSP is challenging, she also thinks it's one of the most rewarding fields she's ever been in. She loves knowing she's having a positive impact on the lives of other people. In fact, the people she supports motivated Erika to go back to school and pursue an M.S.W. at Adelphi University's School of Social...

Back in 2015, Wendy L. began her journey toward employment. DSP Lorraine Myers and Supervisor Petal Morris worked with Wendy to procure an internship at CVS. After successfully completing the interview and hiring process, Wendy's internship lasted from January 2016 through June 2016. At the end of her internship, she was interviewed again and was hired as a stock clerk! After this accomplishment, Wendy set her sights on her next goal. She asked staffers Siddiqua Alleyne and Licha Leonce to be...

Did you know that falls are a leading cause of injury for seniors and people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD)? Falls cause more than 90% of all hip fractures, and 80% of those who survive a hip fracture lose their ability to perform many of the functions of everyday living.

Last Tuesday, 33 people from across YAI went to Albany to join the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation in their lobbying efforts. With such wide representation from the agency, we were able to meet with 40 different elected officials or their chiefs of staff! The group was able to thank their elected officials for supporting a living wage for Direct Support Professionals. YAI's representatives advocated for our elected officials continue to support the #bFair2DirectCare Campaign and...

Julie M. first moved into a YAI residence in 1978. In 1982, she began fundraising for YAI. Ever since, she’s been one of the biggest individual fundraisers each year for Central Park Challenge , raising an astonishing total of $29,051! In 2017 alone, she raised $4,164.