Voices and Reflections
Stories, Ideas, and Perspectives
This section brings together writing from Inclusion Seekers and our partners on community life, disability, social isolation, and the relationships that shape stronger communities.
Alongside stories from local projects and learning experiences, we publish essays, reflections, and commentary from contributors and partner publications in the U.S. and internationally.
The goal is simple: to share practical ideas, real experiences, and broader conversations about connection, participation, and everyday community life
Find the stories that matter most to you. Search our blog.
Tim Vogt has spent his whole career providing support for people with disability labels. He thrived as the Executive Director of a legacy organization called Starfire in Cincinnati. Their work was highly regarded, but Tim began to wonder if it was actually delivering a full life to all the people being supported. His answer was deeply distressing, so he decided to transform the organization to do whatever would be needed to give people full lives in the community. This book is the story of that remarkable transition – the struggles, the complexity, and the emerging results. It is a leading-edge example of what can be done to reform and refresh hundreds of organizations so all of us can be full citizens together.
Unnamed & Unknown | In Our Backyard: Understanding DDM Part 2
The graves had numbers where names should have been. The tools kept bending. And still, they keep going back.
Unnamed & Unknown | Understanding Disability Day of Mourning (DDM) Part 1
The institutions closed. The patterns didn't. A first conversation about what Disability Day of Mourning asks us to remember and why.
Finding The Joy | Carol Combs
On joy as a commitment, community as a lifeline, and what it means to be named and known when life gets really hard.
Making room for new to grow
About 12 years ago when my oldest was knee high to a grasshopper, we would walk out our front door and she would look across
Sharing Their Story | Tyner-Wilson Family Project
A smoking minivan, 150 pumpkins, and 75 adults who'd never really talked to each other; how the Tyner-Wilson family turned their front yard into a neighborhood.
The First Metric
There’s a term in the medical profession: iatrogenic disease. It’s the kind of malady that comes from an interaction with the medical system.
The Four Commitments | Part 6: The Power of Intentionally Committing to Something New
Andrew Solomon, in searching for meaning in his own story, wrote a heck of a book, “Far From the Tree.” In it, he studied various ways that children
Sharing The What | with Starfire Family Mentors
It starts with one. One coffee. One birder. One conversation. Three families on how that's enough to change everything.
The Four Commitments | Part 5: Fourth Commitment – Look for Joy
Bridget Vogt has spent the past few years studying what is known in our field as “trauma informed care.”
