CBH Talk | Building Access: The History and Future of Disability Rights

The disability rights movement has transformed American life and expanded access, opportunity, and civil rights for millions of people. These hard-won gains are the result of decades of organizing, advocacy, and political struggle. And the fight for equality continues.

As we celebrate July’s Disability Pride Month, join us for an illuminating panel on the history and ongoing efforts to bring equal access to schools, workplaces, transportation systems, public spaces, and reshape the very meaning of civil rights.

Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, will offer opening remarks followed by a discussion with the former Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Victor Calise, disability historian and activist Warren Shaw, and Executive Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York (CIDNY) Dr. Sharon Melisse McLennon-Wier. CBH Chief Historian Dominique Jean-Louis leads the conversation.

Together, they will explore the movement's landmark victories, the leaders who helped secure them, and the challenges that remain as advocates continue to push for a more accessible and inclusive society.

This program is offered in conjunction with the Center for Brooklyn History's exhibition “People Making Power,” which highlights Congressman Major Owens's role in the passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

^{Above Images, clockwise from top left: Warren Shaw, Nisha Agarwal, Dominique Jean-Louis, Victor Calise, Dr. Sharon McLennon-Wier}

Participants

Nisha Agarwal was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities by Mayor Mamdani in February 2026. Throughout her career in public service, advocacy, and law, Commissioner Agarwal has worked to advance equity and expand opportunity for New Yorkers. Most recently, she served as Executive Director for Policy and Communications at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the Division of Mental Health. She previously served as Deputy Executive Director for Impact and Senior Advisor at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), a global legal aid and advocacy organization.

Under the de Blasio administration, Commissioner Agarwal led the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, where she advanced major initiatives including IDNYC, the City’s municipal identification program, and Cities for Action, a national coalition of local elected officials advocating for immigrant communities. She also served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, supporting efforts to strengthen civic engagement and expand DemocracyNYC’s work across immigration, disability, and justice-involved communities.

Prior to her service in City government, Commissioner Agarwal led the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, served as Deputy Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Popular Democracy, and was Executive Director of the Immigrant Justice Corps.
 

Victor Calise is a global disability advocate who spent more than two decades in public service, his culminating role from 2012 to 2022 was as Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities under three different Administrations. Victor is regularly sought out to serve in prestigious leadership capacities, in the past as Mayoral appointee to the Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and currently on the Board of Trustees for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.

A native New Yorker, Victor, is an internationally recognized 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. 

Dominique Jean-Louis, Ph.D, is the Chief Historian of the Center for Brooklyn History at the Brooklyn Public Library. Among the exhibitions she has curated are The Battle of Brooklyn: Fought and Remembered, Trace/s: Family History Research and the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn, and a pop-up exhibition, Memories Matter, in the Euclid Avenue subway station as a collaboration with the MTA's Vacant Unit Activation Program. Previously, she held the position of Associate Curator of History Exhibitions at the New York Historical. She received her Ph.D in US History from New York University, with her doctoral research focusing on race, ethnicity, and immigration in post-Civil Rights Era Brooklyn schools. Dominique regularly writes and lectures on Blackness in America, schools and education, and New York City history.

Warren Shaw a writer, activist, attorney, and historian of the New York City Disability Rights Movement.  Warren curated the first-ever museum exhibit on the movement, at the Brooklyn Historical Society.  His monthly history column can be found at Able News, the newspaper of record for the disability community in the Tristate area.  Warren's website, www.DisabilityHistoryNYC.com , is a unique on-line resource which includes essays on a wide range of topics and previews of his book-in-progress, Never Stand Alone.  Warren's parents, Mollie and Julius Shaw, helped pioneer the movement in the early 1960s, and engineered the establishment of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.  Warren has presented lectures on the disability rights movement for Columbia University, the City of New York, WBAI, Long Island University, and dozens of other forums. 

Dr. Sharon Melisse McLennon-Wier has been working in the field of rehabilitation counseling and mental health for over 30 years. Dr. McLennon-Wier is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and a New York State Licensed Mental Health Counselor.  Currently, she works for the Center for Independence of the Disabled of New York (CIDNY) as the Executive Director. Her employment history includes working for Berkeley College as the Director of Disability Services for their New York and New Jersey campuses, District Manager for the Harlem Office for the New York State Commission for the Blind, and as a Rehabilitation Consultant for Ultimate Consultation and Evaluation just to name a few. 

Dr. McLennon-Wier taught as an Adjunct Psychology Professor for over 15 years. She provides training and presentations regarding psychological topics associated with the aspect of disability. She has presented at numerous conferences through Division 22 and Division 33 of the American Psychological Association, the Learning Disability Association of America, the National Rehabilitation Association and City University of New York (CUNY). In addition, she has served the rehabilitation professional community by her service to the National Rehabilitation Association’s Metro New York chapter. She is a current board member and Past President of the Metro New York NRA Chapter 2001 to 2002 and was the co-chairperson for exhibits of the NERA conference held in New York in 2003 and 2013. Dr. McLennon-Wier is a current board member for the Lavelle Fund. Dr. McLennon-Wier is a disability rights advocate and believes that access to one’s environment is crucial especially in the voting booths and the world of work.