Unless you have personal experience with disability, it’s hard to understand the value, the needs and challenges of the disability community. That’s why United Spinal ensures wheelchair users have a voice in every organizational decision. For 80 years we’ve been led by wheelchair users and focused on the needs of our community. Today, wheelchair users make up 40% of our program staff and 50% of our board ━ lived experience that guides everything we do.
Our staff reflected on what working for United Spinal means to them and the positive ways disability impacts their performance.
Matt Castelluccio, Interim CEO
Having had the opportunity to work in many different environments since the onset of my disability has allowed me to truly value a fully inclusive work environment. Working at an organization that prioritizes disability inclusion has been both empowering and affirming. As a wheelchair user, it means I can focus on contributing my skills and perspective without constantly navigating barriers. That sense of belonging has strengthened my confidence and deepened my commitment to our mission. I know my lived experience is valued, not overlooked.
Living with a disability helps me bring a problem-solving mindset, adaptability and a strong sense of empathy to the workplace. I approach challenges with creativity and resilience, and I’m often able to anticipate the needs of the community we serve because I share similar experiences. That perspective helps ensure our work remains authentic, relevant and truly centered on the people we support.
Arielle Rausin, Director of Chapter and Hospital Network
As a disabled person, creative problem solving has been ingrained in my DNA. As a wheelchair user, I constantly face accessibility challenges, so my disability has taught me how to view problems differently and come up with unique solutions. My disability has also given me empathy and helped me understand many of the challenges our members face on a daily basis and how frustrating they can be. This empathy drives my work ethic to do my best every day to make the country a more accessible and inclusive place.
Corporations looking to bring an inclusive mindset to their culture, nonprofits that want to understand how disability intersects with their mission and universities that want to better serve their disabled students can all benefit from our Disability Awareness trainings, informed by our decades of experience and 70,000-strong membership base.
Bring Disability Awareness to Your Organization
Annie Streit, Grassroots Advocacy Manager
I see being a woman with a disability as two powerful attributes that truly strengthen how I show up in my role as Grassroots Advocacy Manager at United Spinal Association. My lived experience gives me a deeper understanding of the barriers our community faces, but also the resilience, creativity and determination that define it.
I often say that I know my purpose more clearly now as a wheelchair user than I ever did prior to my spinal cord injury. That perspective fuels my work every day. It allows me to connect with our members on a more personal level, to listen with empathy and to advocate with authenticity because I’m not just speaking on behalf of the community … I understand what is at stake because I live it every day. That drives me to push for meaningful change.
My disability is not a limitation in my work; it is one of my greatest strengths. It shapes how I lead, how I advocate and how I support others in finding their own voice and power. Being a woman in this space has strengthened my ability to lead with collaboration, persistence, and compassion … qualities that are essential in grassroots advocacy.
Ian Ruder, Editor-in-Chief of New Mobility Magazine
Working with fellow disabled staff members is one of the highlights of my job. Knowing that your colleagues intrinsically understand the day-to-day complexities of living with a disability makes advocating for other disabled people much easier and makes me more effective as an advocate.
Kent Keyser, Policy Fellow
After 80 years, United Spinal is still member driven — led by wheelchair users like me —which means every policy decision is personal. I put my all into this work because I know exactly what’s at stake for our community if we don’t. As longtime leader Jim Peters said, “we don’t take no for an answer.” Today, that spirit lives on as the art of the possible. I am grateful to be part of a team that truly believes — at its core — that wheelchair users can do anything.
Daniela Castagnino, Resource Center Information Specialist
I believe that having somebody with a spinal cord injury on the resource center staff is an invaluable asset and brings a personal connection and viewpoint that resonates with members. It is important that we, as staff, are able to identify with our community, and that they, in turn, can identify with us.