In this episode, we discuss some of the most common questions the Southeast ADA Center received this year on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the legal rights of people with disabilities. We have received over 1,600 questions this year (2025). As a team, we focus on each request for information and send specific resources to help with those questions. Our guest for this episode is Jenny Sykes, Lead Technical Information Specialist for the Southeast ADA Center.
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New ADALive! Episode 147: Top Technical Assistance Questions with the Southeast ADA Center
New ADALive! Episode 146: In Celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month: Transforming Disability Employment Services in Rhode Island
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). In this episode we will talk about an Olmstead settlement agreement in Rhode Island that has had a profound impact on disability rights and community inclusion. This settlement has guided Rhode Island’s journey to transform its employment system for people with disabilities. We will talk about how a landmark Consent Decree and the work that followed is moving Rhode Island away from sheltered workshops and toward meaningful, competitive employment in the community.
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ADALive! Episode 145: Boys and Girls Clubs of America Empower Youth With and Without Disabilities
Since 1860, The Boys and Girls Clubs of America have unlocked the unlimited potential of youth in a safe, inclusive, and engaging setting. Each year these Clubs serve over four million youth from early childhood to age 24. The Boys and Girls Clubs of America programs provide important youth development at critical times outside of the classroom to promote school success, healthy choices, and leadership. Continue Reading
New Research Brief – Lingering Inequalities in the Information Age: An Examination of Disparities in Internet Access Among People with Disabilities
When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1990, the internet was in its infancy. We could not imagine how technology would change the way we interact with government services, our employer, our doctor, or the way we shop. However, the “information age” comes with structural barriers for people with disabilities. These barriers include inaccessible web sites, a lack of reliable internet connectivity, and high prices for internet service. Continue Reading
New ADALive! Episode 144: The California Project on Psychiatric Advanced Directives
Individuals in mental health crisis often cannot make informed choices for themselves. Far too often, law enforcement or first responders must quickly assess a situation and make judgements about keeping the public and the individual in crisis safe and respond quickly to address their needs for mental health treatment. One tool currently being evaluated in California is Psychiatric Advanced Directives, also known as “pads” or P-A-D-S. PADs are used to protect the legal rights of people with mental health conditions. Continue Reading
Stacey Kernisan
Dr. Stacey Kernisan serves as ADA Distance Learning and Training Coordinator at the Southeast ADA Center. She is a seasoned training and development specialist with over a decade of experience advancing innovative learning strategies across government, higher education, and nonprofit sectors.
Stacey brings deep expertise in adult learning, workforce development, and disability compliance. She has trained hundreds of professionals on ADA principles, led innovative instructional design initiatives, and served as a subject matter expert for accessible training programs across the country. Her professional background spans roles with BigBear AI, Integrity Management, and George Washington University.
Stacey holds a Doctor of Education in Adult Learning and Development from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech.
She likes to travel so much she became a travel agent. She loves spending time with family and friends.
New ADALive! Episode 142: The ADA and Employment Rights for Employees with Alcohol or Substance Use Disorders
According to 2023 data from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), in the U.S., 13.6 million workers or nine percent of all employed adults have current alcohol or illicit drug use disorders. In addition, 13.4 million workers, an almost equal number, report that they are in recovery from a substance use disorder. Our guest for this episode, Oce Harrison, currently oversees ADA Special Projects at the New England ADA Center, where she served as Project Director from 2001 to 2023. One of her passions is training and educating others about the rights of people with substance use disorder or alcohol use disorder. Among her many accomplishments, Oce created an ADA addiction recovery toolkit with the National Hispanic and Latino Addiction Technology Transfer Center. She also led the ADA National Network in creating the ADA, Addiction and Recovery Fact Sheet Series. Continue Reading
Syracuse Law Professor Katherine “Kat” Macfarlane, director of the Disability Law and Policy Program (DLPP) and Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) Senior Fellow, CHAMPIONING DISABILITY RIGHTS and a beacon of resilience, advocacy and excellence.
Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) Senior Fellow Kat Macfarlane is featured in Syracuse University News Stories. Today, as Syracuse University’s director of the Disability Law and Policy Program (DLPP), Macfarlane is shaping the next generation of disability law scholars and fostering a more inclusive environment for students and academics with disabilities. Read her entire story Continue Reading
The Southeast ADA Center welcomes Stacey Kernisan as the new ADA Distance Learning and Training Coordinator
The Southeast ADA Center – a project of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University – welcomes Stacey Kernisan as the new ADA Distance Learning and Training Coordinator. With an extensive background in instructional design, digital learning technologies, and inclusive education, Stacey brings a forward-thinking approach to advancing the center’s mission of increasing knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and supporting equitable access. Continue Reading
New Publication – BBI’s Senior Director for Law and Policy Jonathan Martinis featured in an article by the ABA today. Addressing the School-to-Guardianship Pipeline
Approximately 1.5 million adults are under active guardianship or conservatorship, according to Bloomberg Law. An unknown number of these adults are young adults with disabilities, often intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD). These young adults are often funneled into guardianship by what the National Council on Disability (NCD) in its 2018 report called the “school-to-guardianship pipeline,” a phenomenon where schools are, by default, recommending to parents that they start the process of assuming guardianship over their disabled child before they become an adult. Continue Reading