ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

APRIL 25 KEYNOTE SPEAKER

APRIL 25 AGENDA

REGISTER

As part of CUNY’s leading role in the movement to provide expanded access and services to neurodivergent students and staff in higher education, CUNY Disability Programs, part of the Central Office of Student Inclusion, is hosting the 7th CUNY Neurodiversity Conference on April 25th and May 9th.

On Friday, April 25, all sessions are offered in a virtual format, allowing attendees to engage with the topics and one another regardless of their physical location.

The conference agenda below is specific to Friday, April 25th only.

Zosia Zaks, PhD 

For twenty years, Zosia Zaks has counseled and supported hundreds of autistic teenagers and adults and those with related conditions to live and work in their communities and to reach their personal goals. He now consults with schools, companies, and community organizations, providing training and assisting entities with developing practices and procedures for full inclusion of neurodivergent and other disabled people.

Previously he worked at Towson University’s Hussman Center for Autistic Adults in various capacities from 2009 – 2022. Highlights from his time at the Hussman Center include developing and running Work Possibilities, an on-campus job readiness program for autistic adults and designing and supervising the College Orientation & Life Activities (COLA) program to support neurodivergent college students. He also taught autism courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, including an undergraduate diversity education course that incorporated disability justice service-learning activities at the Hussman Center.

Mr. Zaks also has experience advocating for legislation and public policies that ensure disabled people have access to the supports and services they need to live full lives and has served on the Maryland Commission on Disability, the Maryland Rehabilitation Council, and the Maryland Commission for Autism. He helped found and continues to serve on the board of Itineris, Inc., a Baltimore-area service agency that utilizes a customized employment support model to help autistic adults succeed at work.

He writes about autism-related topics for various publications and has published scholarly work on best practices for supporting individuals who are both gender-divergent and neurodivergent. Mr. Zaks brings a unique mix of perspectives to his endeavors as a rehabilitation counselor, an educator, a parent of two neurodiverse young adults, and as an autistic self-advocate.