Welcome to Impact, The Conversation, a podcast from the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota that takes a deep dive into the latest research, practices, and insights moving the inclusion of people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities forward. Each episode brings to life voices from a recent issue of Impact, ICI’s long-running magazine. Co-hosts and guests are Impact issue editors and authors with and without lived experience of disability from around the field and the globe. They will not use the word impact as a verb and they do not hope to inspire you, but they may make you think differently about disability.
Publisher
Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota
Category
kids & family · society & culture · society & culture
"I was hollow..." That's how Ann describes the loneliness she felt when her brother moved away for a new job. In this episode, Ann and some of the rest of the Shervheim family share how they deal with loneliness, decades after parents Karen and Lee took the step of adopting two siblings with Down syndrome in a bid to ensure the three girls would have companionship as they grew into older adulthood.
12 May 2025
The Loneliness Issue
Lonely? You're not alone. Loneliness has plenty of company these days, and it hits people with and without disabilities in alarming numbers. Just having a disability, particularly an intellectual and/or developmental disability, is a critical risk factor. In this episode, issue editors share the highlights from the Impact issue on loneliness. Consider the latest research, hear about promising programs tackling loneliness and social isolation, and learn what loneliness feels like from a variety of voices in the disability community.
13 Feb 2025
Interview: Simon Duffy on Global Citizenship
Researcher and activist Simon Duffy talks with Janet Stewart, Impact managing editor, about self-direction efforts around the world. Duffy's current work around citizenship takes self-direction further, imagining new ways for communities to provide resources and natural supports for a wide variety of needs, including and beyond disability.
13 Feb 2025
Putting Self-Determination Back in Self-Direction
Impact issue editors Julie Bershadsky, Marian Frattarola-Saulino, and BJ Stasio discuss the state of self-directed services for people with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities. Self-direction puts hiring, firing, and other decisions in the hands of people with disabilities themselves, in contrast to traditional, provider-directed services. Complexity in regulations and differences across states are among the challenges. Stasio offers his perspective as an advocate and as someone who self-directs his own support services.
15 Oct 2024
The Jobs Issue: Q&A with Julie Sowash
Julie Sowash chats with Impact Managing Editor Janet Stewart about her work with employers to hire people with disabilities. Her company, Disability Solutions, has found jobs for more than 8,000 workers to date.
10 Oct 2024
The Jobs Issue: Editors' Round Table
Issue editors talk about the end of subminimum wages for people with disabilities, and about what will take the place of sheltered workshops. A concerning lack of migration from these workshops to competitive, integrated employment means service providers must find new ways to connect people with disabilities to jobs that will keep them out of poverty.
17 Jul 2024
Finding the Truth in My Addiction
Nathan Perry started drinking in his 30s to mask problems in his relationship with his parents. Eventually, he realized he didn't have control over his alcohol use and he started a long road to recovery. With a lot of support from his family, Nathan has now been sober for 8 years. In this very personal episode, Nathan, his brother, Brad, and his sister-in-law, ICI Director Amy Hewitt, talk about their journey. We also hear from Mark Olson, a former supervisor of Nathan's. The family and Nathan candidly share the false starts and early mistakes made when navigating the intersection of substance use disorder and disability, as well as the lessons learned and the successes celebrated. Their articles in the latest issue of Impact are available here (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/impact/37-1/finding-the-truth-in-my-addiction) and here (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/impact/37-1/balancing-act).
17 Jul 2024
Treating Addiction Among People with IDD
A noted expert on substance use disorder within the disability community, Elspeth Slayter joins The Conversation to talk about best practices and emerging questions. Her Impact article (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/impact/37-1/best-practices-emerging-questions) discusses how treatment systems often fail to serve people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities despite evidence that they may experience more profound consequences. On the show, she shares her enthusiasm that the topic seems to be gaining traction in the addiction and disability fields.
15 Mar 2024
Disability Justice: Centering the Most Marginalized Among Us
Nikki Villavicencio of Advocating Change Together in Minnesota, joins Impact managing editor Janet Stewart in the ICI studio for a discussion about disability justice and solidarity in advocating for disability rights. Nikki served as an issue editor for the Disability Rights, Disability Justice issue of Impact.
Subscription link: https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/subscribe (https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/subscribe)
15 Mar 2024
Justice: TJ Gordon and Jaime Cornejo
Impact goes on the road to Chicago to talk with self-advocate, activist, and writer T.J. Gordon, who created a story map to highlight people with disabilities living in different neighborhoods of Chicago. T.J. introduces us to Jaime Cornejo, a fellow activist and a participant in Gordon's storytelling project.
See T.J.'s article here
Subscribe to Impact https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/subscribe (https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/subscribe)
15 Mar 2024
The Arc of Justice
Leigh Anne McKingsley, senior director at The Arc's National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability, talks with Janet Stewart, Impact's managing editor, about intersectional issues involving people with disabilities in the criminal justice system.
Editor's note: This conversation includes language describing an act of police violence that could be distressing for some readers.
15 Mar 2024
Sexuality: Pauline and Oscar
Pauline Bosma, founder of the Rainbow Support Groups of Massachusetts, and Oscar Hughes, then a Boston University doctoral candidate, share how they worked with others to create a resource guide for understanding the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are also part of the LGBTQ+ community.
View their article here (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/impact/36-2/creating-our-rainbow-guidebook)
Subscribe to Impact (https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/subscribe)
15 Mar 2024
Sexuality and IDD: Recognizing Rights
Lindsey Mullis speaks with Impact managing editor Janet Stewart about the lack of training for caregivers to provide social-sexual supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Read her article here: Supporting the Whole Person: The Case for Educating Caregivers (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/impact/36-2/supporting-the-whole-person)
Subscribe to Impact (https://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/subscribe)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
1,784
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
4.8 / 5
9,507 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 33 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
8
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
76
Host of Impact, The Conversation?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
