Ohio DD Talks

From Summit to Community: The Lasting Impact of Inclusion Seekers

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In this episode of Ohio DD Talks, host Shari Cooper sits down with Jan Goings, director of strategy and partnerships of Starfire, and the Cail family—Grace, her father Jeff, and her mother Kathleen—to discuss the inaugural Inclusion Seekers Summit held in October 2025 at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Organized by Starfire with support from the Ohio DD Council and Interact for Health, the Summit drew over 250 attendees from 17 states and 80+ organizations to address loneliness and build genuine belonging in communities across Ohio and beyond.

Grace's story is at the heart of this episode. A docent and researcher at the Museum Center, advocate, and passionate fan of Sabrina Carpenter, Grace shares what it meant to be at an event where people asked about her interests, not her disability. Her family reflects on what it truly takes to build a full, connected life.

Host: Shari Cooper, Ohio Developmental Disability Council Ambassador Guests: Jan Goings (Director of Strategy and Partnerships, Starfire), Grace Cail, Jeff Cail, Kathleen Cail


Key Topics

What Is the Inclusion Seekers Summit? Jan Goings explains how the Summit grew out of years of community-building work at Starfire. With Ohio DD Council support, they hosted this first large-scale, one-day event to bring a diverse group together around reducing loneliness and building real community connections.

Dr. Vivek Murphy and the Epidemic of Loneliness Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murphy delivered the keynote. Jeff Cail shares how Murphy's accessible style and actionable "take five" framework resonated with attendees and inspired real behavior change.

Grace's Experience: Being Seen Beyond Disability Grace reflects on meeting people who were curious about her passions—women's rights, history, musical theater, and Sabrina Carpenter—rather than her disability. Her family shares how community connection has grown her confidence and amplified her voice.

Storytelling as Community Building The Summit was designed for active participation, not passive listening.  Breakout sessions, shared meals, and real-world stories—like Operation Hello's neighborhood events in Middletown—gave attendees both inspiration and new connections to take home. 

Reaching Beyond the "Choir" Kathleen highlights why Starfire deliberately invited the general public—not just disability organizations—because Grace's world and the broader community need to intersect around shared interests, not just shared labels.

What Comes Next Starfire is exploring smaller regional summits, story hours, and continued trainings to keep the momentum going and help people take bite-sized steps toward connection every day.


Why It Matters

Loneliness is a public health crisis, and people with developmental disabilities feel it deeply. The Inclusion Seekers Summit is a reminder that the answer isn't more programs: it's community. When people with disabilities are seen as whole people with interests, passions, and gifts, they participate in and shape community. Grace's story shows what's possible when a young woman is surrounded by people who value her voice.


Resources and Links

Thanks for listening—don't forget to subscribe and share this episode!

Welcome back to a brand new season of Ohio DD Talks. I'm your host, Shari Cooper and I am so excited to bring you more stories from Ohio’s developmental disability community. There are so many awesome things happening in our state, including today's topic, the Inclusion Seekers Summit. In October of 2025, The Inclusion Seekers Summit brought people together to learn how to help their communities become more welcoming and connected. They shared ideas and left ready to make sure people with disabilities feel like they truly belong. In this episode, I'll be talking to Jan Goings, the executive director of Starfire. Starfire organized the Inclusion Seekers Summit to address loneliness among people with disabilities. We'll also talk to Grace Cail, who attended the Inclusion Seekers Summit. She will tell us about finding people who share her love of Sabrina Carpenter and how the event helped grow her confidence. We'll also talk to her father, Jeff, and her mother, Kathleen, about how the event impacted their family. So with that, let's go, let's go, let's go! Welcome to another episode of The New Year 2026. Today, we are talking with the Inclusion Seekers. So, I've got four people I want you to know all about. So, I'll start with introductions. Jan, can you introduce yourself and tell the people where you live and something you want people to know about you? Hey, Shari. I'm ready for this conversation! So, I'm Jan Goings. I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, and I work for Starfire, which we're based out of Cincinnati, but work much broader across the state and many other places. And what you want to know about me? I am excited about having this conversation, and I love listening and learning from other people, and so I'm forever appreciative for this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Jan. We've got Jeff, Grace, and Kathleen Cail. I'll start with Jeff. Can you introduce yourself and tell the people a little bit about yourself? Hi there. Yeah, I'm excited to be here today. My name is Jeff Cail. I am Grace's father. I am also based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For my career, I am a consultant in marketing strategy, and I am also a visiting professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I guess if I were going to clue the crowd in on things about me, my primary goal is to give Grace the most opportunity, the fullest life that she can have. Awesome. How about we go to Grace. Grace, would you like to introduce yourself and tell people something they want to know about you? My name is Grace. I'm really happy to be able to do this here today. I work at the Museum Center three days a week as a docent and also a researcher, and I am an advocate for people with disabilities. That's awesome. Thank you, Grace. And we'll go to your mom. Hi, I'm Kathleen. I'm Grace's mom, Jeff's wife, and I'm a great friend to a lot of people, I think. I live in Cincinnati with Grace and Jeff, and some of my favorite things to do are always with friends and family. If you need me to exercise, you're better off asking me to do it with a group of people. Sounds like a great mom. Thank you Kathleen. So I'll go to question number two. Jan, this is coming to you. You had sponsors come together, including Starfire, the Ohio DD Council, and who was the last one? Interact for Health. Interact for Health. Interact for Health. Y'all came together to create this Inclusion Seekers Summit back last October. Could you tell us about this event and what it accomplished? I would love to. Let's just start at the beginning. First of all, we're really appreciative of Ohio's DD Council for the support that really was able to launch this opportunity for Starfire to lead, to host this inaugural Inclusion Seekers Summit. Kathleen was part of that. Kathleen didn't mention you were on the board for Starfire, but you were really instrumental in helping us think through how to frame this, who we should invite as speakers. And so the whole Cail family is really integral to the success of the summit. You know, one of the things I want to go back, if I may, Shari, the reason I think we got to this point where we had been, Starfire had been doing the last two years, two smaller events. One was we brought in Tom Kohler to help us think about citizen advocacy and protection and advocacy for people with disabilities. And then the year prior to that, we brought in Dr. Allison Larrache and Indigo Bishop, who who really helped us over three days think about asset-based community development and the resources in our community and the gifts right in front of us. And so as we were kind of building that idea over the last couple years, we were also received state funding from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities to think about how do we support people with more complex needs and to be more connected in their community. And that was really the launch in 2024 of this idea of inclusion seekers. So not a volunteer program, but really a mindset that says that we are all, all of us are invested making connections and community with each other. And so through the generous support of Ohio DD Council, we said, what does this look like for one day event where we can have a really broad conversation with a diverse group of people who are really committed to increasing belonging, increasing connections, and building that community. And that really was this really fast paced, what are we going to do? And so we were able to launch and have this day event in October called Inclusion Seekers, the Summit. But the biggest question for us was, who would be our kickoff speaker? Who could help speak to a broad group of people and why this was significant? This idea about connection and belonging and really healing a culture that makes us all feel lonely and isolated. And I would say the only person that made sense was our former Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murphy, who was the 19th and 21st U.S. Surgeon General, who really spoke to us, you know, has published his book around, I think it’s Together, kind of the epidemic of loneliness, to really help us think about that foundation why loneliness is hurting all of us. In fact, he talks about it's like, you know, smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And you know, we all know that's horrible for our health. And so helping us think about, if we know that, what can we do about it? And so he really was that foundation keynote for us. And then the rest of the day, I'm happy to talk about that. But that was why we stepped into that space. And we really wanted to create a conversation, that was inclusive for all people, people with disabilities, people who are advocates, people who are community members, people who are in the public sphere, because community and loneliness and connection impact all of us. So that's what happened in October. And it was held at the Cincinnati Art Museum, which is a beautiful venue that I think really supported the idea of community and art and creativity. So, Jan, out of curiosity, how many people attended this summit? Oh, my gosh. It was over 250 people, Shari. It was packed, I think. That sounds like a party. It was a party. It was a party. I don't know if I was partying until the next day, because I was busy running around. But I hope everyone felt like it was a party. And we had, I think, over 80 people, excuse me, organizations represented. So people were coming from over 80 organizations. And I don't know, it was like 17 states. So it was heavily Ohio. But man, folks, they came to the party, if you want to say, from all across the region. That's great. So Jeff and Grace, as I understand, you actually attended this Summit. So my question to you is, as an attendee, what did you find to be the most meaningful part of the event? Grace, do you want to start? No, you can start. Yeah, I'm glad to start. I really enjoyed the Summit. It was, as Jan mentioned, there were a lot of people there. There was a shared purpose. There was a lot of excitement I felt in the room. A couple of things that really stood out for me were, first, I was really enamored with the keynote presentation from Dr. Murphy. I thought his explanation of loneliness and then, more importantly, how you can work to address loneliness in your community and, frankly, among yourself. How you can try and take action steps to try and make yourself more available and maybe focus on screens a little bit less and things of that sort, I thought was super helpful. I also felt like he had a really good communication style where everything was very accessible and easy to understand. So I really enjoyed that. As part of the conference, they gave a copy of his book, Away, and I immediately went home and read the book. I think we've given the book to several of our friends just to try and spread the word and make things more action-oriented. One of the things I took away from his conversation, particularly, was how you have to be on the lookout for people who are struggling with loneliness because the reality is you often don't see someone being lonely, right? They're in their house. They're on their own, and so it paints to the need to have a community of people who are going going to look out for each other and hopefully try and pick you up when you're down. Again, I thought Dr. Murphy's conversation was great, but I have to say perhaps the most impactful thing for me as part of the Summit was a conversation that was led with a family who had daughter who has some pretty significant health issues, and they rallied their little subdivision to try and create community for their daughter. They talked through their bumps and starts along the way, and obviously they ended up in a pretty good place, but not without a lot of effort. It was particularly important because of the fact that their child's health actually continues to decline, and so having that community around was important at the start, but it's especially important today, not only for their child, but for their entire family as well. I guess finally, the reason why that story was so motivating to me is because they were physicians, right? They're medical people, and gosh, you'd think that they would have everything figured out and that this would be a lot easier for them than it is for us, but the reality is even people who were that trained and that experienced still had to find their way. I guess it gave me some comfort that what we're trying to do is very challenging. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort. Again, it was good to see a story of someone else who's working through these issues day to day. That's a great takeaway. What about you, Grace? I think my dad said it all. Okay. Shari, is it okay...? Yeah, I was coming to you. I know you weren't there, but I know you helped put it together, so would you like to add? Yeah, I just want to say that we invited many people that we know to attend, and the feedback that I got, the text messages and calls saying, oh, you really missed something special. This was great. These are people who are in our lives, but not always connecting with Grace necessarily. Some of them are, but it was really interesting to hear them talk about what they learned what stories resonated and how important it was just for them as people in the neighborhood or friends of ours. The other thing I wanted to say is that the way Starfire approached this was so beautiful because it would be really easy to fall into the trap of speaking to the choir — just inviting DD places and just inviting families who have somebody with a disability, it would have been really easy to do that. That's the easiest mailing list we could come up with probably, but they worked really hard to reach out to the general public because in the end, I think two things happen. One, I think it's really easy for people in the public to assume somebody else is in Grace's life, so it's really easy for them to say, oh, she probably goes to a day program or she probably is connected with some service. People make the assumption that Grace has all of these people in her life. The other thing I think about is that in order for Grace to have a really good life, it has to be more than her hanging out with her mom and dad. It just has to be more than that. I mean, she's 26 years old. We're the last two people she really wants to hang out with, and we get that. I thought that it was really good that they really reached out broadly to bring people in because we all need different people in our lives. Grace's interest is not disability. Grace's interest is women's rights and history and acting and musical theater. She has such a wide breadth of interests, none of which she would say "my interest is disability." She doesn't have an issue with it, but it's not what she's going to do to spend her time necessarily. So really helping to make the general public aware that Grace has these interests and other people have lots of interests, I think is really important. I think it's hard for the general public to recognize that. So the more we do to put this stuff in front of them, the better off they are and the better off we are as a family, Grace as an individual, and other people like Grace. So Grace, did you get to tell people your story a little bit? You did one-on-one, right? Particularly at lunch, right? Do you want to talk about that? Yeah. Did you meet any new people? I did. There was a caregiver there that I really bonded with. I can't remember her name, sadly. But we both kind of sparked something. Well that sounds like you made a few new friends. Yeah. That's great. So Jan, I'm going to come back to you to ask you to talk a little bit about the impact of storytelling during and after the Summit. I would love to. I want to go back to what Grace said as she met someone. One of the things that we thought about the day is that we wanted to design the day so people weren't just sitting and getting and being talked to, but they could actually meet someone. We wanted to use that whole day so people could actually make new connections. And so over lunch, we designed the day so there were some breakout rooms where people could actually design and draw out what community could look like and have small conversations. And so we were really intentional about practicing community connection and getting to know each other as we were learning how to do that. So a couple stories, and I love, Jeff, that you shared this story too from one of our speakers, and it just brought up one of the comments someone said who attended, that we need to build community before we need community. We need to build the people in our lives before we might need it because there might be a crisis something happening. And that happens day by day by day by day. And so a couple of the stories that resonated with me was, one was a family, mother and son, both actually, who've done community projects with Starfire, Nithya and Vinit, and Asha in Austin. And Nithya and Vinit shared their stories about how they built community in their neighborhood and go on slow walks, slow hikes with their neighbors so that they can talk and connect and it’s at a pace where people can actually spend time together. They've also done, I think Vinit's done and shared how he's done clothing swaps. He's into fashion and so because he likes fashion, he's finding other people who like fashion and we create connections around that. Austin and Asha are well known for their work up in Middletown, Ohio, with Operation Hello. In Operation Hello, there's a sign that goes out in that front yard and people know that there's something exciting that's going to happen there. A movie night, an event, something really special for that whole neighborhood to be connected. And so there's stories where people were stepping into doing some of those kind of really cool places, connecting with their neighbors on a really small scale, hyper local, were really powerful stories. And then on the other hand, we had a session that was really around people in the business community and policy leaders and government talking about shaping about how they thought about the spaces that they worked, where they can build community and connection. And just having also someone in the medical field, where does that all show up? And so individual stories were shared, but also we had some organizational, institutional kind of ideas and people having those conversations also. So it was really quite broad in some of the storytelling that happened. And I think probably there's a lot of sharing that happened afterwards, people going home saying, “hey, I heard this, let me talk to you about it.” So that storytelling was held between nine to four. As Kathleen said, people were still talking about that and hopefully stepping into action. That sounds great. So question is, I'm going back to Jeff and Grace, were you able to share your story during the Summit? I mean, what would you say, Dad? I think they want to hear from you. I mean, we didn't present anything, but for people who talked to us, kind of got to know all of that story a little bit. Yeah. I mean, I felt kind of good because no one was like asking me about my disability. And I feel like when people meet me, that's one of the things they ask about. So they asked you about things you liked? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. And not about my disability. Because I know how shy I get at talking about it. And you're more than your disability, right? Probably one very small aspect of you. So did you get to share maybe who your favorite artist is? Do you like Taylor Swift or did you get to tell anybody who you like? Who do you like? Who's your favorite singer? Her name is Sabrina Carpenter. I love Sabrina Carpenter. I didn't know you even know who that was! I'll go back to you, Jeff. Were you able to share any of your story? I did. I usually fade into the background when Grace is talking, though, because she keeps the story going. But we did have a great, you know, just impromptu conversation at lunch where a table of people who've never met each other before, but yet shared a lot of similar experiences, got to talk through, you know, what their challenges are, what they really like, how things are going. And I just I thought that, you know, camaraderie was great. It's great to hear other people's stories. And, you know, Grace, I think, did a great job of representing herself and talking through her zeal for Cincinnati history and for women's rights. And, yeah, so I just think it was a great community building exercise. We didn't present as one of the formal presentations, but I think we still got to meet some great people and share some great stories. And I had a friend who went to it, and she's actually one of my helpers. So that was kind of nice. So I'm going back to you, Jan. I want to know, how are you and your team applying what you learned from the Summit i in your everyday work?—And this is a two-part question.— How will people with disabilities stay involved and have their voices heard? I'm going to start at the end, because that's the question I remember first. How can people have their voices heard? You know, one of the things I think, Kathleen, you were saying this, too, inclusion seekers is an idea. It's a mindset. It is not necessarily a program. Right. And so when we think about how people with disabilities can have their voices heard, Starfire doesn't own those voices or journeys. We're asking people to really choose their own inclusion adventure and to step into their own community and build their own connections. And yes, we would love to have those conversations and further engagement. But those voices for people with disabilities, we hear their voices through some of the community projects people do. So I don't know, Starfire actually invests in people with disabilities and their families with financial means to actually do community projects so they can get to know their neighbors, pursue their passions, and build those circles of connection. And so as those stories or projects are completed, we hold monthly story hours where people have completed projects and actually share their wisdom, what they learned, how they built connections. And so that's one really powerful way that we have been able to really, if you would say, mine that wisdom back into Starfire so we can share that back out with a broader group. The first part of your story is how can we take what we've learned from the Summit? We had wonderful feedback. We did a survey afterwards, a formal survey to gather feedback. But we also have continued the conversation the last several months following up with people who presented and people who attended the Summit. We were just on a call with someone the other day who said, I'm still thinking about this. I went back to my work environment and said, "we need to do something differently." So for us, in terms of what we're thinking about, we've heard that people want more, right? People want more opportunities to have these conversations. And it might not be a big full-day event, but we're thinking about maybe smaller inclusion seekers, smaller day summits where people can have more conversations. And we can really kind of apply the wisdom that we've learned from Dr. Murphy and from other people who are already doing this community work. We know, Shari, that people want more connections. They want tools and tips on how to do that. They want to hear other examples. And so we're applying that back into our practice and our work in terms of how we do our trainings and our blogs that we put out and creating ways that people can have conversations with each other so that we can really collect that wisdom. So it is ongoing. And sometimes it's organic, and that's even better. Shari? Yeah. I loved that you asked about the voices of people with disabilities. And I think one of the things that has happened in our experience is that Grace has gained, through our work, through Grace's work on connecting with people in the community. She has this level of confidence that I think is really good. And when people don't have people in their lives who value them and appreciate them and spend time with them, they can become pretty insecure about their own worth. And when people are insecure about their own worth, they tend not to have voices. They have them, but they're suppressed because of their insecurity. And I think the work that Starfire is doing, and certainly what I've seen with Grace and our family and our community, is that her voice is out there. And people will ask Grace, "what did you think of that?" Because she's gained the confidence by having all these connections in life and connections in areas that she's really interested in. And I think that's made her a far more confident young woman. And that's where I would say voices are elevated by the experience of having people in their lives who value and appreciate them.

They get the message:

my voice is worth lifting up, and my voice is worth hearing. Thank you for adding that. That was very significant. It brings me to another point. Jan, at the Summit are there speakers with disabilities who speak at your summit? Absolutely. The summit panel or presenters have 24 speakers. We definitely have people with disabilities and lived experience as speakers, absolutely. That was very important for us as we planned out who we wanted to be able to share that wisdom. That's great. So, Grace, I'm coming back to you. I take it that you are going to next year's summit? So, if you go, will you share about your love of women's rights with everybody? I would, actually, because when I tell people stuff like that, they are like very surprised by that. I have to say, even the people I talked to, they were kind of surprised by that as well. Okay. Because I'm very interested. Because I'm a woman, so I want to know all about my rights. If you would share that, I would really like to know about that. So, Jeff, I'll come back to you. If you go next year, what are you looking forward to? Yeah. First, I'll definitely go next year, right? I got a lot of value out of the first Inclusion Seeker Summit. I'll certainly go to the next one. Yeah, I think one of the big things I'm going to be looking for is just more tips and tricks largely around how to sustain an effort in this area. Because it's not like a one and done. This doesn't take an afternoon. It's a sustained effort over a long period of time. Sometimes it can be challenging to keep your initiative up and going. How can we motivate each other and work towards that end? So, yeah, that's one of the things I'm going to be looking for. But, yeah, you'll see me there, that's for sure. Okay. So, before I let you all get out of here, I have one more question. Is there anything else you would like to add? So, I'm going to go to you, Kathleen. Is there anything else you would like to add? No, I would just say, Shari, you should probably come to our next Inclusion Speakers event. Whether it's a big summit or any of the things that we do, your voice would be greatly welcomed and appreciated. But, no, I think that this is a great, this has been a really successful summit. I think that Starfire can be really proud and I think that they can take the initiative that they feel from this event and keep pushing forward. It isn't easy, but at the same time, I look at some of my closest friends. That didn't happen overnight for me either. Like, this is all, you know, sometimes when you're helping someone else, because it's, you know, additional effort, right? That could seem that way. But, really, it's just about helping people to have meaningful connections and that didn't happen for me in one day. It's not going to happen for Grace in one day. You know, our closest connections in life are those connections that we've had over years and they've evolved and developed and, you know, we've had to water them and feed them all the way along. And you don't have to ask me twice. Okay, good. Give me an invitation, I am there! We have your email now. Ok! So Grace... Absolutely. So Grace is there anything else you’d like to say? Not really, no. I think my parents covered all the boundaries. I think you covered all the boundaries. Jeff, is there anything else you would like to add? I mean, no. I mean, I really enjoyed the conversation. I guess the only thing I would add is a shoutout to Starfire and all they do to support our family. I really don't know what we'd do without them. That’s great. And Jan, last but not least Is there anything else you would like to add? You know what? I think everyone has said it and the invitation is real. Thank you, Kathleen, for extending it to Shari. You know, I will echo that. Making connections and relationships, it is day by day, over time, over time, you know, and I think that's really the message here. And I, you know, one of the simple ideas that Dr. Murphy left with us was this 'take five' idea. Because it is, if you think big, you're never going to step into this work. So like taking five minutes of solitude just to have some reflection about life and what's important to you. Take five minutes to help someone and take five minutes to connect and with someone else. And if we can just think in those bite-sized ways, I think we can make progress over a lifetime. So thank you. Well, this has been a great conversation. I would like to thank Jan, Jeff, Grace, and Kathleen. If you want to learn more about the Inclusion Seeker, look, to the link up under this story. And I've been your girl, Shari Cooper, and I'll see you on the flip side with another great episode. Everybody have a good day. Bye. Bye. If you want to start building your own community-inclusion efforts or learn more about Starfire and the Inclusion Seeker Summit, check out their website at starfirecouncil.org. Thanks for listening and we can't wait ‘til next time. I've been your girl, Shari Cooper. The Ohio DD Talks podcast is produced by the Ohio Council for Developmental Disabilities. Visit ddc.ohio.gov to learn more.