Trish Wasburn: The United States of Autism

Trish Washburn ('06) and her family from the Albany area is one of 19 families from around the country who will be featured in the upcoming film The United States of Autism.

See news footage of the filming in Albany.

Read about the filming at Camp Colonie and Hippotherapy .

The film's website is here.

Wretchers & Jabberers: The Partners Connection

Partners Grad Jennifer Russo (2007) is the Marketing Director for the Syracuse University School of Education and of the newest film from award-winning producer and director, Gerardine Wurzburg and producer Douglas Bilken, PhD from Syracuse University. Jennifer designed the t-shirts, banners and promotional materials. She will get to travel with the film when it premiers in other parts of the country.

Partners Grad Jennifer Seybert (also 2007) was also involved in the screening. She is attending Syracuse University for a Masters in Disability Studies and was handing out literature when I saw her. Her typed comments added much to the Q&A session after the movie.


The film, Wretches and Jabberers, tells the story of two men who have autism and, after years without a communication system, learned in adulthood to communicate by typing. The two men, Larry Bissonnette and Tracy Thresher travel with their support people, Pascal Chang and Harvey F. Lavoy, and a film team to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland to "bring people's understanding of disability to a positive place."

The movie primiered October 16, 2010 during the Syracuse International Film Festival and was followed by a panel discussion with the film stars and team. In the spring the movie will show in major cities like New York and Chicago.

For my review of the film click .here.

Attention Partners: This movie needs to show in your town!!

This is What Happens when BOTH of Your Parents are Partners Grads!

Meeting Governor Patterson!

Daven Whalen: Town Hall Trainings

Dave Whalen, Partners Graduate Class of 2007 started a new initiative this past spring.

A couple years back Dave proposed that his town, Amherst (outside of Buffalo) create a disability committee, the town did and appointed Dave to it. It turns out that every town government can have a disability committee to help them address physical accessibility, accessibility of civic participation, access to leisure, as well as training for emergency first responders. Dave found that creating a committee was a great way to build relationships in his town and he was able to help his town avoid hefty DOJ fines for inaccessiblity.

In the process Dave met and became friends with Dan D'Andrea, a citizen in his community who uses a wheelchair and is very interested in access, especially in town parks and recreation. The two put their heads together and together with Aimee Levesque, D'Andrea's Charitable Trust, and The Advocacy Center developed a training for people in other communities wishing to build access in their towns.

The first training was held at People First in Buffalo this spring and other trainings will be scheduled around the state this fall and next spring. Dave hopes that soon every community will have a disability committee giving input and increasing access as a matter of course.

You can read more about the formation of Town Hall Trainings and one of Dave's other projects, accessbuffalo in this article.

The Inaugural Town Hall Training Class (4 Partners in attendance!)

Trish Washburn 2006

Trish Washburn has been very active advocating for people with Autism. She is pictured here with her children CJ and Buddy volunteering at the Albany Chapter of The Autism Society of America 5K Walk/Run this past September. The second picture is CJ and Buddy with State Senator McDonald at the walk.

Trish was also very active advocating against the Autism Insurance Bill that is currently on the desk of Gov. Patterson to be signed. She feels that this bill will actually make it more difficult to get needed services for people with Autism. She and her family were also featured in a documentary about families impacted by Autism this summer,--read the articles about it here and here.

Partners Grads and the Media

Partners Grad, Bonnie Watson (2006), addressing the media about the sold-out conference about Autism and Social Skills for Upstate New York For Effective Autism Treatment that she helped organize. (Partners grad Julie Buick, also from the class of 2006, can also be seen in the right background!)

NY Partners in Policymaking: Plans for 2011

February 2010

Dear Fellow Partner,

You have probably heard about the new developments in the Partners in Policymaking Program. Yes, change is indeed in the air. After a brief hiatus, the program will begin again in 2011 with program components redesigned and delivered in a way to allow for outreach to a much broader and larger population. The original purpose and philosophy are intact and the program will continue as an exemplary leadership development opportunity for parents and self-advocates.

In response to a request from the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council to develop and evaluate an interactive distance learning format, The Advocacy Center and the Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell University have joined forces to design and test an interactive distance learning format for the Partners in Policymaking program. Some participants may meet face-to-face for a few of the sessions but the majority will be participating from their own homes or an independent off-site location.

This model complements the diverse learning styles and needs of the typical Partners audience and addresses barriers to participation that existed with the previous delivery format. The importance of social networking and community building as part of the Partners experience will be embraced and encouraged through quality instruction and opportunities using different modalities.

A common core curriculum will be used; however, three ways of delivering the training will be tested and evaluated:
one group will meet at Cornell University three times and on-line four times,
one group will meet at Cornell University one time and on-line six times,
one group will meet entirely on-line with no face-to-face encounters.
At the end of a three year period there will be an analysis of comparisons between the three groups and past Partners trainings. Recommendations will be made to the DDPC about the best possible delivery format for the training going forward.


Cornell’s Employment and Disability Institute and The Advocacy Center are pleased to have this opportunity to join forces to continue the Partners Curriculum and program. The Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell University will direct the development and evaluation of the research demonstration. Nancy Hinkley serves as the Project Director with support from Jeff Trondsen, Technology Coordinator; and Alexis Falise, Project Support Specialist. Joyce Steel continues to serve in a supervisory role at The Advocacy Center working closely with Jackie Yingling, the new Partners Coordinator. Jackie is the parent of a 26-year-old young woman who has developmental disabilities, a 2006 Partners graduate, and a long-time employee of The Advocacy Center. Anna Costalas from The Advocacy Center provides technical and communications assistance.

A new Partners website is in the works, and stimulating on-line training opportunities for Partners graduates will be included as part of that development.

We value your input and need your assistance as well. We hope you will consider the ways in which you can support the program. You can help in a number of ways:

1) Complete a survey assessing activities, technology needs, willingness to mentor a future Partner in your region, and preferences for webinar topic areas.

2) Visit the future New York State Partners in Policymaking website in June 2010, with portals for information sharing and training. It is currently under development. Your response to our survey will assist us in making sure the website is responsive to your needs.

3) Recruit new Partners for the 2011 class. You will receive a link to the application packet in late 2010.

The most important way to support the Partners program is to make sure you have accurate and up-to-date information about the program.

We appreciate your continued contributions and look forward to learning with you and discovering ways to improve the Partners program.

Should you have any questions about Partners coordination, please contact Jackie at Yingling@advocacycenter.com Please complete the survey by March 15, 2010.

Thanks very much.