Jo’s Blog

The article below appeared in Commonweal – a magazine in New York for which I am a regular columnist. It’s a strange time for people with disabilities. Among the general public in most developed countries, there is more knowledge, [...]

The quote I chose to go with the photo in my high school yearbook was:  “With joy shall you go out and in peace shall you be led. Mountains and hills shall bow down before you and all the trees of the world shall clap their hands!” I [...]

Writing at the end of a long and trying day in which our work was maligned and our integrity questioned may not be the best idea. But writing is therapy and – usually – the only way I can make sense of anything. This morning, for [...]

A little girl was raped in our neighborhood a few months ago. She is a child with a mental handicap and so, even though we didn’t know her until this happened, she’s one of ours. The bare bones of the story (and all our bones feel [...]

We got a strange letter at the Foundation this week. You can read it yourself: Uh oh. Looks like we’re being accused of poaching. And nobody likes a poacher. I have great respect and sympathy for elderly people living on their own. With a [...]

Normally, at our annual all-staff meeting, we keep things positive and upbeat. We share good news, celebrate achievements, announce pay hikes; we remind everyone how important what we do is; we rouse the troops and spur ourselves on to greater [...]

Little things mean a lot. The “keystone species” theory proves it. A keystone species is one whose presence is crucial to a particular ecosystem and whose destruction can damage it irreparably. Keystone species are seldom the ones we think of. [...]