SNHU Agents of Change Podcast · SNHU Social Sciences

Season 5 Ep 15: Lasting Equality in New Hampshire: Civil and Human Rights of Children and Adults with Disabilities

·27 min·2 clips

Luis says some disability services are so essential that if removed, "people will die."

1. SNHU’s Agents of Change episode centers on civil and human rights for children and adults with disabilities in New Hampshire. 2. Ron Pedro hosts Dr. Luis Esposito, who is the Executive Director of ABLE New Hampshire and an SNHU graduate with a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership. 3. The episode asks how schools, colleges, and advocacy groups can move from limited services to full inclusion and self-advocacy. 4. Esposito says he began as a paraprofessional and learned that one-on-one relationships matter for student growth and relationship building. 5. He describes ABLE New Hampshire as an organization that promotes "civil and human rights and full inclusion for all people with disabilities, regardless of age." 6. He says ABLE works through New Hampshire’s legislative process and partners on transportation, housing, mental health, and other access issues. 7. Esposito traces his dissertation topic to a long process of working with students and adults who held negative views about disability. 8. He says disability is "not the barrier itself" and argues that "the structure of our society" creates the barriers. 9. He explains that disability studies became an "aha moment" because it centers disabled voices as co-researchers rather than test subjects. 10. He compares LGBTQ disclosure to disability disclosure and says autistic students often lacked control over how to disclose in K-12 settings. 11. He contrasts special education rooms, paraprofessionals, and stigmatizing labels like "SPED kid" with the greater ownership students can take in higher education. 12. He says participants experienced a different understanding of autism in college, including one who took a neuroaffirming route and another who disclosed only sometimes. 13. He notes that parents often do advocacy work for children through K-12 and may overcompensate out of fear that adulthood will bring stigma. 14. He describes college as a period when students have to decide what services they need and when they need them, unlike fixed IEP minutes. 15. He says the biggest surprise in his research was mental health, because all three participants needed support but none had mental health services in their IEPs. 16. He connects that gap to real-world provider barriers, where one specialist may say they are not trained in autism and another may say they are not trained in mental health. 17. The interview style is reflective and conversational, with Ron Pedro asking follow-up questions about research, advocacy, and practical examples from school systems. 18. Esposito speaks in a measured, policy-focused tone while also giving concrete examples such as playground access, prom, baseball games, and transportation in Keene, Warner, Nashua, and Manchester. 19. People interested in disability rights, special education, autism, and advocacy in New Hampshire would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting light entertainment or a fast general-interest conversation will probably skip it.

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