Riley Mulcahy

Submit your Story We'd love to hear from you - please submit your story today.

📣 If you’re neurodivergent, your lived experience matters. Help shape what comes next — share your story at:
www.therileyproject.org/submit-your-...

Mallon: Santa Clara County transit has come a long way - San José Spotlight If you’ve ridden a VTA bus or light rail lately, you may have noticed a “VTA 30th Anniversary” logo displayed across the fleet. It’s a small symbol of how far the agency has come and how much work rem...

Check out my latest column on VTA’s 30th anniversary, where I discuss how Santa Clara County transportation has changed over the years and what’s next 🚌🚈

Mallon: Santa Clara County transit has come a long way

sanjosespotlight.com/mallon-santa...

We’re not waiting for perfect conditions.
When the gaps widen, we gather.
Because belonging is policy, too.
#Gather #Belonging #Inclusion

Storytelling is policy in its most human form.
It reminds us who we are before we start writing rules about what we should be.
#Belonging #CivicLife

Maybe belonging can’t be solved by policy alone.
Maybe it starts with a table, a cup of coffee, and an open chair.
#GatherTogether #Belonging

When we center lived experience, data becomes direction, not decoration.
#TheRILEYProject #SocialImpact

Storytelling is policy in its most human form.
It reminds us who we are before we start writing rules about what we should be.
#Belonging #CivicLife

The RILEY Project’s storytelling nights aren’t events — they’re blueprints for how community learns to listen again.
#Neurodiversity #Gather

Stories don’t just inspire — they design.
Each story told in public changes what we imagine possible in policy and practice.
#Storytelling #SystemsChange

When systems compete, people fall through cracks.
When systems connect, community thrives.
That’s the shift Gather is here to make.
#Collaboration #CivicInnovation

Gather isn’t charity. It’s civic architecture — an economic model of belonging.
#ImpactDesign #Inclusion

Every coffee poured funds inclusion.
Every story told builds understanding.
Every small act contributes to the architecture of belonging.
#TheRILEYProject #Community

Imagine a café that doubles as a classroom.
A bookstore that funds micro-grants.
A supper club that pays for scholarships.
Gather isn’t theory — it’s continuity you can touch.
#SocialEnterprise #Gather

The goal was never to make another program.
It’s to make a continuum — a living system where schools, cafés, and stories meet.
#Gather #Belonging

Belonging shouldn’t depend on luck or proximity.
It should be something we can build — as intentionally as roads or water lines.
That’s what Gather is all about.
#SocialInfrastructure #Inclusion

Every policy failure leaves a human echo — a missed service, a closed school, a parent left without help.
But the response can be reconstruction, not despair.
We build new scaffolding — together.
#SystemsChange #TheRILEYProject

When the scaffolding of public life shakes, we don’t rebuild alone.
We gather — to listen, feed, and design what comes next.
Belonging isn’t a sentiment. It’s infrastructure.
#Belonging #CommunityDesign #Gather

/ We cannot negotiate with the truth.
👇 Tag funders, policymakers & anyone who needs to hear this. #DisabilityRights #FundInclusion #Neurodiversity

The LD Viewpoint | Riley Mulcahy | Substack Riley Mulcahy is an advocate and storyteller championing neurodiversity and equity. As Executive Director of The RILEY Project, Riley focuses on leadership, inclusion, and creating accessible spaces f...

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theldviewpoint.substack.com

But what if we refuse to play along?
What if we stopped waiting for the next crisis and started building something stronger?

💡 Instead of defunding inclusion, we fund solutions.
💡 Instead of restricting access, we expand opportunity.
💡 Instead of silencing voices, we amplify them.

I guess the scary part about the past month is how we, as a country, have engaged in a not-so-silent negotiation with the truth.

Funding is more than financial support—it’s agency.

For both nonprofits and for-profits, funding determines who gets a seat at the table. But right now, accessibility and disability rights are being actively defunded.

This is what’s at stake right now:
❌ Fewer accommodations in schools
❌ Fewer resources for neurodivergent students
❌ More barriers to college & the workforce

’m collecting anonymous stories from neurodivergent students & families.
📩 How has Section 504 helped you? What happens if you lose it?
📩 Email me at riley@therileyproject.org to share your story.

We should be expanding access—not dismantling it.
📢 Instead of attacking Section 504, we should be fully funding IDEA & making Universal Design for Learning the standard.

Education isn’t equitable without accessibility.
For neurodivergent students, accommodations aren’t an “extra”—they are the difference between success and exclusion.

What is Section 504?
It’s a civil rights law that protects students with disabilities from discrimination.
It ensures that neurodivergent students get accommodations they need to succeed

If Section 504 is erased, students won’t even have a seat at the table

I don't think the Dems can stop the firings. But why aren't they proposing legislation that assures those that took the buyout get paid , and that all that are fired, get at least a year severance and health benefits? And any one with a health condition is covered the entire time they are sick?

Stories hold us together. Stories teach us what is important about life, why we are here and how it is best to behave, and that inside us we have access to treasure, in memories and observations, in imagination.