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Finding Common Ground

Finding Common Ground

Auteur(s): ROC Vox Podcast Network
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 Many families feel like they're treading water, especially those living with autism and other developmental differences. As your hosts, we get it, and we know this frustration all too well.

In response, we've created tried-and-true strategies that help everyday people achieve extraordinary things. Even those who might have doubted themselves can borrow our confidence, follow one of our "blueprints," and with a supportive community cheering them on, make the impossible happen.

Each success inspires those coming up behind us, creating a ripple effect of positive change—Which is why we'll never run out of content!Our podcast tackles tough issues head-on with unfiltered conversations focused on solutions.

We won't avoid "the elephant in the room"—in fact, we'll invite it to dinner! Our unique format appeals to people from across the globe, offering strategies that turn efforts for one into advocacy for the greater good. We breakdown topics like innovative housing, effective self-advocacy, and healthcare complexities, guided by our audience on what to cover next.

Each episode offers fresh perspectives, featuring many guests you won't find on mainstream platforms. We intentionally invite differing viewpoints because finding common ground with those we see as obstacles is the surest way to create new and innovative solutions.

Join our Supporter's Club and check out our merch. Let’s ensure the A/I/DD community's voice is heard. If you want to dig deeper, schedule a session with us. We happily work one-on-one, develop trainings, and offer public speaking engagements to assist individuals and organizations in promoting things like inclusivity and equity.

Join our community, plant seeds of positive change, and before you know it, you'll be moving mountains with us! Want to support our mission and access exclusive content? Join our Supporter's Club and check out our merch.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/finding-common-ground--6199849/support.©2026 ROC Vox Recording & Production Hygiène et mode de vie sain Psychologie Psychologie et santé mentale
Épisodes
  • Was Heather Always This Strong? The Backstory of an Unlikely Advocate

    Was Heather Always This Strong? The Backstory of an Unlikely Advocate
    Jan 29 2026
    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 never hear. Heather goes back to the years when she was painfully shy, stuck in “fix it” mode, and living in a home where hostility was breaking more than the furniture.

    You will hear the moment embarrassment became fuel, the night she changed the locks and chose her daughters over the life she thought she was supposed to fix, and how saying yes to help, and fundraising for Devyn’s 120-pound service dog Hannah, became the turning point. Along the way, Jackie and Heather revisit the little girl with the big dog, the preschool classroom where Devyn and Hannah became rock stars, and the shift from trying to “fix” problems to building relationships and changing systems.

    This episode also offers an early peek into the advocacy framework Heather and Steve are shaping in an upcoming book, the mindset shift that moves people from feeling frozen and inadequate to finding their voice, building unlikely coalitions, and holding systems accountable without losing their humanity.

    If you have ever wondered whether you “have what it takes” to speak up, let this conversation be your reminder. Strength is built, not assigned, and sometimes you become an advocate the day you decide you just cannot stay quiet anymore.

    Learn more and join the movement at www.FCGadvocacy.org

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/finding-common-ground--6199849/support.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production Studios in Rochester, NY. Learn more at rocvox.com.
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    45 min
  • When Parents Stop Asking for Permission & Start Leading

    When Parents Stop Asking for Permission & Start Leading
    Jan 22 2026
    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 sit down with Lynda Allen, career educator, advocate, and TEDx speaker, for a conversation that rewrites what most of us were taught about special education, labels, and empowerment. Lynda honors how exhausting and heartbreaking the day to day can be, while insisting on this truth, there is nothing broken about your child, and nothing defective about you as a parent.

    From that starting point, she invites parents to stop waiting for the system to get fixed and start seeing themselves as decision making partners in every service, support, and opportunity their child receives.

    “Being empowered means becoming a decision making partner in your child’s education and life, not doing it alone, and not giving your power away.” — Lynda Allen This isn’t about fighting harder. It is about thinking differently so you can build the education and the life your child deserves.

    We talk about:

    How labels can cloud the way we see our kids, and how to take that power back

    Why dream first matters, especially when it feels impossible

    Lynda’s four step framework for moving from survival to leadership as an empowered parent

    Building a village so you are not doing this alone, and how empowered parents change systems from the ground up

    If you’re tired of proving your child’s worth and ready to try a different way forward, this episode is for you. Come tired, leave empowered, and before the episode ends, write down your child’s dream role and one bold step you will take as their partner this week.

    Lynda’s book: https://a.co/d/h5h7CeR Learn more and connect: https://makeyourmarkinlife.org/empoweredparentsbee

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/finding-common-ground--6199849/support.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production Studios in Rochester, NY. Learn more at rocvox.com.
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    48 min
  • When “Someday” Becomes Now: Life After Mom and Dad

    When “Someday” Becomes Now: Life After Mom and Dad
    Jan 7 2026
    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.
    Samantha brings a rare, honest perspective from the front lines. She supports siblings and aging parents who suddenly find themselves responsible for everything—services, housing, staffing, paperwork—often at the exact moment they are grieving the loss or decline of a primary caregiver. She explains, “We tell families to plan ahead, but we don’t teach them how to plan for the day they’re not there.”

    Together, they explore why planning too often becomes reactive, why paperwork alone can’t carry a future, and how systems built around crisis leave families scrambling when stability matters most.

    In this conversation, you’ll hear:

    Why families are told they’ve “planned,” but still feel unprepared when the moment comes

    How siblings become caregivers overnight, without training or a roadmap

    Why self-direction is often misunderstood as a shortcut instead of a responsibility

    What truly makes a plan hold when the primary caregiver is gone

    How guidance, education, and vision—not just forms—change outcomes

    “Without guidance, families don’t fail to plan. They’re set up to plan in pieces.”

    Samantha also shares practical insight into letters of intent, future planning, workforce realities, and how families can begin identifying gaps before those gaps turn into crisis.

    “Planning has to start with the why—what kind of life do we want, and why does it matter?”

    This episode is for parents, siblings, advocates, professionals, and policymakers who have ever asked themselves what really happens when support systems are no longer held together by one person’s unpaid labor.

    This isn’t a conversation about fear.
    It’s a conversation about preparation, honesty, and building plans that can stand—even when we’re not there to hold them up.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production in Pittsford, NY. Learn more at https://rocvox.com.

    #FindingCommonGround, #PodcastWithPurpose, #ChangingTheWayAdvocacysDone, #EmpowermentAdvocacy, #UnfilteredConversations, #FocusedOnSolutions, #InviteTheElephantToDinner, #DisabilityAdvocacy, #CaregiverSupport, #LifeAfterMomAndDad, #FuturePlanning, #FamilyCaregivers, #SelfDirection, #DisabilityRights, #CaregiverLife, #PlanningAhead, #CommunityLiving, #EndInstitutionalization, #AgingCaregivers, #SiblingSupport, #InclusionMatters, #SystemsChange

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/finding-common-ground--6199849/support.

    Recorded at ROC Vox Recording & Production Studios in Rochester, NY. Learn more at rocvox.com.
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    40 min
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