Our Ability Podcast John Robinson

David D'Arcangelo and John Robinson talk about unification through Disability Employment. David is dedicated to assisting organizations in achieving their disability inclusion and diversity objectives. They have a comprehensive range of services including disability consulting, professional writing, content creation, public speaking, and campaign strategy. 

Arc Angel Communications and Our Ability are Disability Owned Business Enterprises. 

John Robinson and Neil talk about disability and accessibility, worldwide. Neil Milliken is the Global Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion at Atos, a member of the Atos Scientific Community & Atos Distinguished Expert.

Neil is a leading strategist and community builder with over two decades of experience within the Accessibility and Assistive Technology fields and served as an invited expert for the W3C Cognitive Accessibility Taskforce

Our Ability has a long-standing relationship with Albany Medical Center. Over the years, Albany Med has supported our Journey Along the Erie Canal, a hand cycle trip to support individuals with disabilities in upstate New York. As we have grown our employment outreach throughout New York State, Albany Med has come on board to support our work, most importantly, sourcing candidates. 

Sandra "Sandy" Castilla represents Albany Med, and we have an open and enjoyable conversation.   Castilla is Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer for the Albany Med Health System. 
Castilla joined Albany Medical Center in 2005 as the Associate Director of Compensation and Benefits. She was subsequently promoted to Director of Human Resources, Assistant Vice President of Human Resources, and then Vice President. 
In her role, Castilla oversees benefits, compensation, and human resources management. She leads the team responsible for executing retention and recruitment strategies for clinical departments and non-clinical business departments. 
Along with her extensive experience in the healthcare sector, Castilla has held human resources leadership roles in the finance, manufacturing, and gaming industries. 
Castilla holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from the State University of New York at Potsdam and a master’s degree in Business and Public Management from the State 

Our Ability is proud to talk disability inclusion with friend Victor Calise. As Director of Global Diversity, Accessibility Center of Excellence on the Belonging Team Victor spearheads disability inclusion and accessibility into every aspect of the company from infrastructure to employment, to the shopping experience. 
 
A native New Yorker, Victor is an internationally recognized diversity inclusion champion. An avid athlete, he was a member of the first U.S. national sled hockey team and represented his country at the 1998 Paralympic Games in Nagano, Japan. He is married to his beautiful wife Susan, and they have two daughters.

Linda Zhao is a purpose-driven HR professional with experience in various functional areas such as talent management, operations, diversity & inclusion (EEO) and administration. Linda has strong creative problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills with the ability to prioritize and multi-task.

In our conversation, we talk about Pfizer, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how disability is part of this equation.

A reflection on where we are with the New York State budget and direct care workers. Plus a discussion on New York State efforts on digital accessibility. Finally a rant about the death of DEI.  Taylor Swift and DEI are under the skin of the far-right media.