In this debut episode of The Dadvocating Podcast, host Simcha Weinstein sits down with Mrs. Willie Mae Goodman to reflect on more than six decades of advocacy. Her journey began when her daughter Margaret, born with high support disabilities, was placed in the infamous Willowbrook State School. What she witnessed there, neglect, abuse, and injustice ignited a lifetime of action. Together with other parents, launched a landmark legal challenge that forever changed the face of disability rights and inclusion in New York State, and helped lay the foundation for today’s community based services and the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).
Mrs. Goodman was recently honored by OPWDD with the inaugural Willie Mae Goodman Family Advocacy Award for her tireless work on behalf of Margaret and all New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. She is joined in this conversation by fellow advocate José Rivera, whose late brother Louis was also a Willowbrook resident. Together, they share history, heart, and a call to keep family voices at the center of the disability rights movement.
