Finding Common Ground

What happens when the autism your family lives with doesn't look anything like what society imagines? In this episode of Finding Common Ground: Dadability, Steve sits down with Tyler Hudson and Jillian Eisloeffel, two parents raising sons with profound autism, to talk honestly about the reality behind the headlines. Tyler, dad to 18-year-old Lyric in Tasmania, Australia, and Jillian, mom to 11-yea...

Steve sits down with Rebecca Tarrant, founder of Autistic Youth International and the US coordinator for Neurodiversity Pride Day. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Rebecca is a law-school graduate, an autistic advocate, and a mom to Jackson, a level-three non-speaking autistic child whose diagnosis set her on an entirely new path.   In this conversation, Rebecca and Steve explore what true incl...

What happens when someone who grew up receiving food stamps, living in Section 8 housing, and navigating government services as a new American child becomes the Chief Diversity Officer for New York State's largest agency? You get Dr. Hirah Mir — and her story will move you. In this powerful episode of Finding Common Ground: Dadability, Steve sits down with Dr. Hirah Mir, Executive Lead for Diversi...

If foster care is supposed to make children feel safe, why do so many still feel unseen, unheard, as they’re shuffled from home to home? Beth LaFontaine knows that answer, not from theory, but from lived experience. She moved through 19 foster placements, carried her belongings in garbage bags, and learned early that survival often meant staying quiet, guarded, and unseen. But her story doesn’t st...

In this episode of Finding Common Ground, we take a deep dive into foster care with Genevieve Rose Traversy, a Foster Care Recruiter with Lutheran Services Carolinas. A third-generation foster child and teen mom, Genevieve could have repeated the cycle. She didn’t. We often celebrate when a child is removed from a dangerous home. But our attention can’t stop there, as if the solution is complete....

What happens when exhaustion turns into something darker than burnout, when a parent begins having thoughts they never imagined they’d think? In this raw, unflinching conversation with Jillian Eisloeffel, the mom behind Bobby’s World, we go beyond surface-level stories of resilience and into the reality most people never say out loud. Jillian shares what it’s like to raise a child with profound ne...

What happens when your child needs lifelong support, but the “options” ahead are mostly waitlists, dead ends, and ideas that don’t really exist? In this episode of Finding Common Ground, we sit down with Wendy Ernzen, a Michigan mom, advocate, fundraiser, and fellow podcaster, for a conversation that so many families will feel in their bones. Wendy shares what it looked like when her family hit a...

When you know your child needs help, but every phone call leads to more confusion, where do you turn? In this DadAbility episode of Finding Common Ground, Steve sits down with Flor Ramirez, Supervising Attorney of New York’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Ombuds Program (IDDO), to talk about a resource many families still do not know exists, and why it matters more than ever. Flor pul...

They told Loretta Claiborne’s mother there were places for children like her. Her mother said no. Instead, she raised Loretta with grit, dignity, and sky-high expectations. Even when Loretta struggled with motor skills and had to crawl to the table and pull herself up, her mother insisted on good manners. No elbows on the table. Why? Because someday, she said, Loretta might be eating with the pres...

Families are often expected to hold everything together, yet too often they are treated like outsiders instead of experts. In this episode of Finding Common Ground, Steve sits down with OPWDD Commissioner Willow Baer for an honest conversation about what happens when families are carrying modern challenges inside a service system still shaped by outdated rules. One of the most powerful moments in...

If you suspect abuse, what do you do first, and how do you prove it? Part 2 shifts from systems analysis to step-by-step strategy. This is a must-listen for any family navigating OPWDD services, residential care, or crisis supports. Anil breaks down the practical actions parents can take immediately: • How to document concerns so they hold up legally • Why organization, timelines, and written noti...

“If the system only works when parents are silent, it was never built to protect our kids.” What happens after the headlines fade, but the fear doesn’t? Anil Babbar returns to FCG and we move beyond the shock and into what families are actually forced to do to keep their children safe. This is not about outrage. It is about strategy. We talk about why parents end up thinking like investigators, ho...

If you have ever walked into a CSE meeting and thought, I don’t even know what to ask for, this episode is for you. Heather and Steve are joined by Sara DeFazio, a Transition Specialist with New York State’s Central Region Partnership Center, and she keeps it real. This is a fast, practical conversation about what happens when transition plans look fine on paper but miss the mark in real life. Sar...

When school ends, the bus stops coming, and traditional transition options do not feel like the right fit, what comes next? In this episode of Finding Common Ground , Heather and Steve talk with Brad Herron-Valenzuela from First Place Phoenix about what it really takes to build independence without “sink or swim” thinking, and the importance of not underestimating people. Brad shares what has work...

This episode is the first one of our new FCG spin-off series called, The Mother Load and we started out with a bang! Heather sits with her co-host Steve’s daughter, Rachel, and digs into what it was really like growing up in a home where her parents fostered nearly 200 children. She speaks candidly about the chaos, the compassion, and the moments that tested everything, answering the question many...

TAKEOVER EPISODE with Guest Host Jackie Bartell. Have you ever looked at someone and assumed they were just born strong, that they have “always done the hard thing,” and were simply made for advocacy? In this special takeover episode, retired special education teacher and longtime friend Jackie Bartell slides into the guest host chair and turns the mic on Heather, asking the questions most people...

What if the hardest part of advocating for your child isn’t the system, but unlearning the way you’ve been taught to think about it? What if you keep doing the same things because they feel safe, even when they stopped working a long time ago? What if the mindset that got you through the early years is now the very thing holding you back? In this episode of Finding Common Ground, Heather and Steve...

Planning isn’t just paperwork. What happens when families do everything they can, but without guidance, the plan unravels at the exact moment it matters most? In this episode of Finding Common Ground, Heather and Steve are joined by Samantha Harrison, founder of Momentum Family Strategies and a disability support strategist who works with families navigating what she calls life after mom and dad....

When school ends, support doesn’t just pause. For many families, it vanishes. “There are 25 skills students need to make an informed decision about what comes after 12th grade,” says college and career coach Phil Vetrano. “And we’re not teaching them. Not at school. Not at home. Not anywhere.” In this episode of Finding Common Ground, Phil joins us to talk about the hidden gaps families run into w...

“Our brains process the sounds for emotion before we process the words for understanding.” In this episode, Heather and Steve sit down with Google technologist and autistic advocate Tim Goldstein, whose late-in-life diagnosis rewired how he sees communication, work, and autism itself. Tim shares how he went from being “the kid who kept getting fired” to someone who now coaches others on using voic...

Only one in four adults has a will, and for families in the disability community, that gap can change everything. We may not know who will take over when we’re gone, but if we never start the plan, how will anyone know what mattered most about the people we love? In this DadAbility episode, Steve goes solo to talk straight with dads about stepping up at home and beyond. It’s real talk about juggli...

What happens when a former guest takes the mic and flips the script? In this hilarious and heartfelt episode, Kathy Caruso returns to Finding Common Ground — but this time, she’s running the show. Host Steve Gonyea finds himself in the hot seat as Kathy digs deep into his story, his “why,” and what drives his advocacy as a dad. With Heather chiming in from the sidelines (and occasionally fanning t...

How many times have you had to educate the people trying to help your child with autism? In this episode of Finding Common Ground, Steve talks with Matt Yelton, a paramedic, flight medic, and autism dad who lives and breathes this reality every day. When emergencies happen, Matt has been on both sides — the parent advocating for his child, and the first responder called to help. He shares how his...

What happens when two advocates hit pause on the chaos and just talk it out? Heather and Steve take a breather from the headlines and just talk. In this unfiltered catch-up, they open up about juggling life, advocacy, and everything in between — from Heather’s upcoming trip to the First Place Global Symposium to Steve’s work with the National Council on Severe Autism. They trade stories, laughter,...

What happens when we stop patting ourselves on the back for “special” inclusion—and start building communities where accommodations are normal, and leadership is shared? In this episode, Heather and Steve talk with Kurt Roskopf, disability ally and founder of the Everybody Skis program. When a skier who needed some accommodations was sent home dry, Kurt felt awful—and that moment reframed how he a...