Gyasi Burks-Abbott identifies as a “self-advocate” in his role as faculty member of the LEND program at Boston Children’s Hospital and the UMass Boston institute for Community Inclusion. LEND is the acronym for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities. He describes his expertise as his “lived experience,” having overcome many challenges as an autistic person.
But he is also a published author with an autobiography that debuted in 2022 and recently, with an essay in a new anthology on disability titled: “Placing Disability: Personal Essays in Embodied Geography,” edited by Susannah B. Mintz and Gregory Fraser and published by Palgrave Macmillan.
Burks-Abbot’s contribution to the book is “A Sense of Place & Cyberspace: The Hybrid Way I Live, Work, & Play,” that chronicles his life experience during the pandemic and in normal times. And as he notes, “I talk a lot about living in Bedford.”
Many of the essays in the book relate the experiences of people with physical impairments; blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, etc. and the difficulties they encounter in their lives. Burks-Abbott’s is the only one dealing explicitly with a non-physical disability.
He describes his embrace of technology in his daily life and how helpful it is for him, writing that, “In addition to keeping me connected and engaged, social media also facilitated my self-expression. I have always been told I have a way with words — neuropsychological testing consistently reveals a verbal ability that’s off the charts (while my visual-spatial skills barely register). That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m always able to communicate, particularly in the back-and-forth of normal conversation…An interaction on Facebook is like a conversation in slow-motion that gives me more time to process and reflect.”
Living as he does near the center of Bedford and not being able to drive, he can easily walk to all the services he needs – food shopping, the barber, and the Bedford Library. A resident since 2008, Burks-Abbott was recently elected as a Library Trustee. To reach his work at the LEND program in Brookline, he relies on Ubers and the bus and train system.
How was his essay chosen for inclusion in the anthology? Burks-Abbott said he was alerted to a “call for papers” by a longtime friend and submitted his essay. The writers explore a variety of disabilities – physical and neurological. The book in which it is published is on order for the Bedford Library, but is also available now from Amazon. When the Library receives it, this title will become part of the Nickerson collection, a special collection of materials on learning and developmental disabilities, including autism.
About his professional career: Burks-Abbott is a graduate of Macalester College with a BA in English and psychology, and holds an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons University in Boston. He serves on the boards, committees, and commissions of many autism and disability organizations.
The LEND program in which he’s a faculty member provides graduate-level interdisciplinary training to improve the health of children and youth with developmental disabilities. It brings in professionals from across many disciplines – medicine, nursing, occupational therapy etc. – to spend a year as Fellows working with patients through Boston’ Children’s Hospital. As a self-advocate, Burks-Abbott gives presentations, mentors Fellows, and helps facilitate classes.
As Burks Abbott explains, sometimes the Fellows will visit patients in their homes to assess the family dynamics and to learn about their lives. The program culminates with a trip to Washington, DC. in the spring to meet with their parent organization – the AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disability) for policy conferences on disability.
There are LEND programs all across the U.S. At these conferences, the attendees learn about many aspects of disability – Social Security, education, criminal justice, etc. and on the last day, they meet with their Congressional representatives to talk about legislation that’s important to the LEND community. Burks-Abbott is an active member of the AUCD.
Burks-Abbott tells the story of how he became an autism self-advocate in his autobiography, “My Mother’s Apprentice: An Autistic’s Rites of Passage” (Yorkshire, 2022). This book is also in the Bedford Library.
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