Autistic People of Color Fund: People

Our leadership & support team

Oluwatobi Maeyen Odugunwa, Program Coordinator

Tennessee

A smiling Black individual is pictured against a white, stone background. Their head is tilted to the left. They are wearing a silver blouse and translucent brown glasses, and have their afro in a bun with two twists framing their face. They have on shimmery green, ombré eyeshadow and are wearing feminist fist earrings in the trans flag’s colors.

Oluwatobi Maeyen Odugunwa joined the Fund as Program Coordinator in 2022. They originally joined us as Movement Power Intern through the 2021 Power Up Internship Program (a project of SolidarityIs and the Building Movement Project).

Oluwatobi is a recent college graduate who currently works as an anti-bias reviewer and editor at a publishing company. As a multiply marginalized person, they have been involved in social justice work since a young age. Oluwatobi was most recently a student advocate and organizer for LGBTQ rights, and as an autistic wheelchair user, they are now looking to get involved in local disability justice work. They spend most of their days playing with their cat, listening to indie rock, knitting, playing videogames, or reading (sometimes all at the same time). Oluwatobi’s favorite stims are rocking, flapping, and echolalia.

Finn Gardiner, Director of Policy & Advocacy

Boston, Massachusetts

A photo of a smiling Black man in his midthirties. He’s wearing black-and-gold glasses, a floppy velvet hat covered with pins, a black coat, a t-shirt printed with green leaves on it, and a gold infinity scarf around his neck.

Finn Gardiner joined the Fund as Director of Policy & Advocacy in 2022. Finn is a Boston-based queer, Black, and disabled writer, designer, community organizer, speaker, editor, researcher, advocate, activist, and artist. Finn has a Master of Public Policy degree from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Tufts University. He’s spoken at the White House’s 2016 LGBTQ Disability Day, the United Nations’ World Autism Day event in 2019, and other venues.

Finn has an extensive background in policy advocacy and communications—before joining the Fund, he worked as a communications specialist for the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy, and before that, he was a policy fellow at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Finn’s professional interests include inclusive education, competitive and integrated employment, accessible technology, cognitive accessibility, housing justice, and community living—though that’s only a small sampling. He’s especially proud of his ability to tackle thorny matters of policy and make them easier to understand.

Natalia M. Rivera Morales, Research Coordinator

Maryland

Natalia is a Puerto Rican woman in her early thirties. She has light, slightly-almond toned skin, brown eyes, and dark brown/black mid-length curly hair. She is looking sideways at the camera with a slight smile.

Natalia M. Rivera Morales (she/her) joined the Fund as Research Coordinator in 2022. Natalia holds a doctorate degree in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to graduate school, she was the Leadership Programs Coordinator for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). In this capacity, she organized leadership and advocacy training programs for Autistic college students and self-advocates with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD). She also served as board Secretary for the Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective (WMDSC) from 2014 to 2016.

Iola Kostrzewski, Community Organizing Fellow

Rochester, Minnesota

Iola Kostrzewski joins the Fund through the Jewish Organizing Institute & Network (JOIN for Justice) inaugural Jews of Color Organizing Fellowship cohort for the 2023-2024 cycle.

They are a Black and nonbinary activist and former candidate for local elected office.

At the Fund, Iola’s work will focus on building and strengthening informal networks of disabled BIPOC focused on economic empowerment, mutual aid, and collective care.

They began working with the Fund as Community Organizing Fellow in May 2023.

Iola is the Fund’s first community organizer on staff.

Lydia X. Z. Brown, Founder & Volunteer Executive Director

Maryland

Lydia smiles and tilts their head slightly to the side, looking confidently at the camera. They are a young-ish East Asian person with a streak of teal in their short black hair, wearing glasses, a cobalt blue jacket and navy tie, with a blue copper wall behind them.

Lydia X. Z. Brown is the founder and volunteer executive director of the Fund. They are an advocate, organizer, educator, writer, and attorney whose work focuses on interpersonal and state violence targeting disabled people at the margins of the margins, especially at the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Currently, they are working on a project to reimagine the tarot as representing and speaking to/from sick, mad, neurodivergent, crip, and disabled people’s lives and experiences, called Disability Justice Wisdom Tarot.

Bella Carlucci, Operations Assistant

Mill Valley, California & Washington, D.C.

a half Asian, half White young woman with straight brown hair smiles wholeheartedly as she holds a Milk Bar birthday cake to celebrate her 20th birthday! She is wearing a blue cardigan with a white shirt underneath, a couple of gold necklaces (one with a butterfly pendant) and black leggings. She is leaning toward the left against a wall near the entrance of her kitchen and on the right there is a stovetop, oven and microwave. Behind her is a living room with a coat closet and a fake bamboo plant.

Bella Carlucci is the Fund’s Operations Assistant. She is a student at Georgetown University studying Psychology with minors in Disability Studies and Music. She began volunteering for the Fund in March 2020 after being sent home from school as as result of the COVID 19 pandemic. Although she originally started by doing remote work in her hometown, Mill Valley, California, Bella continued to work with the Fund while she studied remotely in Washington DC. Aside from working with the Fund, Bella is a big supporter of performing arts and enjoys singing, acting, and playing piano. Most recently she was in a live performance of The Wolves and an online performance of Man of La Mancha with Georgetown’s student run theater groups. In her free time, Bella enjoys cooking with her family, spending quality time with her friends, and taking long walks with her dog.

Mira L. Bhattacharya, Public Policy Fellow

Brooklyn, New York

Mira standing behind a pale blue wall. Mira has long dark brown hair, a necklace with a small gem on it, and black shirt with one small pink stripe on each side.

Mira Bhattacharya is from Brooklyn, NY. She is a physician assistant (PA) student at the Franklin Pierce Hybrid PA Program and a graduate of Fordham University where she majored in psychology, minored in disability studies and bioethics. Mira recently completed a fellowship at National Disability Institute focused on disability justice, economic justice, and public policy. Mira aims to increase access to healthcare for individuals from underserved communities, including who are neurodivergent and disabled. Furthermore, Mira is biracial and identifies as disabled and neurodivergent, as well as an LGBTQIA+ ally. Mira would like to use her personal experiences to advocate for other individuals with disabilities, particularly those with intersecting identities. Her special interests are Broadway/musical theatre and jigsaw puzzles, and she enjoys practicing taekwondo.

Our Partners

Sara María Acevedo, Disability Organizing & Research Fellow / Assistant Professor of Disability Studies at Miami University

Oxford, Ohio

Selfie of a Mestiza woman with curly brown hair just below her chin and bangs and big brown eyes. She wears a collared blouse with a flowered scarf tied at the collar and large cat-eye glasses with cat print frames. She gazes pensively to the camera. Behind her a Frida Kahlo poster showing a portrait of the artist and text in Spanish: Recuerdos de Frida (Frida’s Memories)

Sara María Acevedo is a disability justice scholar-activist partnering with the Fund on programming to honor disability justice leaders and cultural workers in the present. She provided critical support to the Fund in Spring 2019. She is Assistant Professor of Disability Studies at Miami University in Ohio. She is currently leading a project on neurodivergent culture and autonomous forms of governance with support from the Ford Foundation’s Disability Rights Program. Sara served a three-year term with the board of directors of the Society for Disability Studies, with whom she led the creation of the organization’s 15 principles. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Disability and the Global South and Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture.

Sharon daVanport, Founding Executive Director of the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network

Nebraska

A mixed Native and white person with large square glasses and long, flowing brown hair, looking directly at the camera and smiling widely and warmly. They are wearing a light pink collared shirt. Sharon daVanport is Founder and Executive Director of the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network. They provide nonprofit expertise as well as general administrative and financial support for the Fund, since AWN is the fiscal sponsor and partner organization of the Fund. Sharon is also a steering committee member of the National Disability Leadership Alliance, represents AWN on the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, and serves on the advisory board for Felicity House. They have spoken before the United Nations and the White House, and received recognition from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Autism Society. Sharon is also co-editor along with Emily Paige Ballou and Kristina Thomas of What Every Autistic Girl Wishes Her Parents Knew, published by AWN. Outside of Sharon’s work in autistic advocacy, they have nearly a decade of experience as a social worker, and they are a parent of four diversely neurodivergent adults.

Rieko Shepherd, Staff Attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia / Disability x Tech Fund Fellow

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Photo of Rieko Shepherd, a Black and Asian woman

Rieko Shepherd is a Staff Attorney in the Health and Independence Unit of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Part of her work focuses on analyzing the use of algorithmic decision-making systems, automated tools and other artificial intelligence applications used in benefits eligibility determinations. This work is supported through fellowship funding from the inaugural Disability x Tech Fund hosted by Borealis Philanthropy’s Disability Inclusion Fund. The Autistic People of Color Fund provides support, mentorship, and community engagement for this work. Rieko is a civil rights advocate with a passion for centering and uplifting marginalized populations. As a Black and Asian woman, she grew up navigating an array of challenges imposed by her intersectional identity in a nation state marred by deep structural inequities. This lived reality has strengthened her resolve to proactively target systems of oppression through legislative advocacy rather than solely relying on reactive measures in the aftermath of harm. She has considerable experience in civil litigation and has advocated for educational equity with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee and Lawyers for Children. Formerly, Rieko was also a Policy Manager at the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network. Before her legal career, she taught high school as well as early childhood education in addition to training as a musician.

Our past leadership & support team members

A young, Black man with short loc'd hair almost reaching his shoulders. He has a stern facial expression. He's wearing: black, square glasses; a light, gray suit; a white shirt; and a navy blue tie that has light blue dots all over the tie. He's sitting in a room with plenty of natural light and he's sitting on a white, faux fur blanket that's laid across a black leather sofa.

Tony Alexander joined the Fund as the inaugural Director of Policy & Advocacy in 2021, and served in that role through 2022. He has spent the last several years working with nonprofit and community-based organizations, assisting with their advocacy, community engagement, and policy analysis needs. Tony received his JD from Northeastern University of School of Law and BA in American Studies with a Sociology concentration from Ursinus College. He is most passionate about using collective organizing and policy advocacy through an intersectional lens as drivers for change and empowerment for fellow disabled and multiply-marginalized individuals. A metro Atlanta native, Tony currently resides in Los Angeles with his partner and four dogs. Tony is now a Program Associate at Communication FIRST.

A young Vietnamese man in a grey t-shirt and his jeans. Both of his hands are in pockets. He is leaning on the railing of the Hudson River during the sunset, with many tall buildings of Manhattan behind him. His head is tilted to the left and he is smiling gently to the camera.

Cường Mạnh Phạm joined the Fund in Summer 2022 as Community Engagement & Development Fellow through the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Professional Fellows Program of the American Council of Young Political Leaders. Full-time, he is a Programs Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning Officer at The Adventist Development and Relief Agency. In this role, he manages development and relief projects and conducts evaluations to assess their impact. Cường received his bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of the West of England in Hanoi.

A young Indian woman in a white strapless dress with her hair up in a bun stands in front of a backdrop of trees. She smiles, looking down at a paper from which she is reading aloud.

Shreya Iyer joined the Fund through the Fall 2021 experiential learning semester program of The CALL (Capitol Applied Learning Labs), a program of Georgetown University. She was a policy intern at the Fund. She was a sophomore at Georgetown University majoring in English and planning to minor in Justice and Peace Studies. She began her internship during the summer of 2021.

Helen Kovary, Claudette Soler, and Bailey Kroner contributed Spanish language translations in Spring 2021 as part of Julia Isaac‘s course “Intro to Spanish Translation” at American University. Helen is a junior majoring in Sociology and minoring in International Studies., passionate about identity studies, Latin American affairs, and social justice. Bailey is a senior studying psychology, Spanish, and education, and an outdoor adventure enthusiast, Ice Cream lover, and food connoisseur. Claudette is a senior journalism student with a passion for news writing and truth-telling.

Anna Lehr joined us from Dr. Sara M. Acevedo’s Spring 2021 course “Allies and Activists” at Miami University.

Anna shared with us: “I am a junior Marketing major and Supply Chain minor at Miami University. I am also the President of the Miami University Real Estate Club. I am from Charlotte, North Carolina. Some of my passions traveling, cooking, playing with my dog. I am really excited to be working with the Autistic People of Color Fund this semester!”

A Black person standing in the middle of a sunflower patch, holding a very tall sunflower in one hand and a bunch of various colored sunflowers in the other, wearing a black shirt and blue ripped jeans, smiling, with short hair.

Ngozi Alston was the Fund’s Movement Power intern, supported through the Fall 2020 Power Up Internship Program (a project of SolidarityIs and the Building Movement Project).

Ngozi shared with us: “I am a Black disabled community organizer based in North Jersey. My organizing experience started with electoral campaigns and now am engaged with movement based work focusing on abolition, disability justice, and Black liberation. I love coloring and dreaming about abolition.”

Nyanna Williams was a Junior at Miami University studying Sociology and Spanish.

Nyanna joined us from Dr. Sara M. Acevedo’s Fall 2020 course “(Dis)Ability Allies: To be or not to be? Developing Identity and Pride from Practice.” She supported the Fund in developing social media content.

In Summer 2020, we welcomed Bella Carlucci (Georgetown University), Cass J. Sicherer (Rutgers Law School), Christiana Koch (alumn of ASAN’s Autism Campus Inclusion leadership academy), Jess L. Wilcox Cowing (College of William & Mary), and Vejas Vasiliauskas (Loyola Marymount University) to our volunteer operations team.

Small, white Hispanic woman sitting in a wheelchair, smiling. She's wearing a black blazer and slacks with a purple sweater and has short, undercut hair and narrow glasses.

Adie Baez was volunteer Operations Assistant for the Fund from 2020 through 2021. She is a disability rights advocate, social sciences researcher, and longtime volunteer for the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. She has also completed policy fellowships with two other D.C.-area disability nonprofit organizations. Adie holds a master’s of social and personality psychology from American University, and a bachelor’s in psychology from Butler University. Her research interests include health psychology and coping in the realm of disability, and her master’s thesis, Body Image as a Moderator of Disability and Resilience, investigated the role body image has on coping and resilience factors in those with congenital conditions.

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu was formerly Grants Selection Chair for the Fund from 2018 to 2020, representing the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network. They are a nationally recognized HIV advocate, and previously led the Committee on Autism, Race, and Ethnicity at AWN, served as a board member of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and co-edited the anthology All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism. Morénike serves as a board member of Foundations for Divergent Minds, and as an advisory board member for Felicity House and the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities. chairperson of both a large HRSA-funded local planning body and an international NIH-funded community research network. They are the founder of Advocacy Without Borders, a grassroots education, community advocacy, and self-empowerment initiative. American-born to immigrant parents, Morénike is a community advocate and social justice activist living in Texas. Their wonderful children – biological, foster, and adopted – who range in age from 9 to 18 years old, are Morénike’s greatest accomplishment. As a Black Autistic person in a multicultural, neurodiverse, sero-different family of color, Morénike is a firm supporter of human rights and involved in a myriad of social justice activism endeavors including HIV-related advocacy, disability rights, learning via technology, research, refugee and minority youth outreach, gender and racial justice, and inclusion promotion. They hold a master’s of special education with a concentration in autism and developmental delays from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and affairs from the United States International University, San Diego. They are currently a doctoral student in an educational leadership program, and teach developmental education courses as full-time faculty.

Community members in solidarity

We’ve also received support in various ways from many other broader community members, and from many other people among AWN’s leadership, staff, and volunteers.

Among the many, many others whose work has helped the fund grow past and present, we particularly appreciate the support and solidarity of Anna McClain, Deepinder (Deepa) K. Goraya, E. Ashkenazy, Kylee Jones, Lori Berkowitz, Megan E. Kennedy, Nechama F. Sammet Moring, and Shain A. M. Neumeier.