Press Release  Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council Welcomes Joshua Gladstone as a Disability Policy Specialist

QUINCY, Mass. — The MDDC is pleased to announce that Joshua Gladstone has joined our Public Policy Team as a Disability Policy Specialist.  In this role, he will be responsible for assisting with legislative and policy research and supporting the Council membership in undertaking policy education and awareness activities and implementing related Council State Plan objectives.  “Josh joins the MDDC with a commitment to disability advocacy and keen interest in the ideals and values of our work” said Craig Hall, MDDC Executive Director. 

Gladstone was born and raised in the Boston area, attending Brandeis University where he studied sociology and policy as it relates to Disability Studies.  At Brandeis, he worked with researchers at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at the Heller School on projects related to future planning, the bridging between disability and aging communities, and wrote his thesis on the intersectionality of race, class, and disability in the MA criminal legal system.  Josh is now pursing his Master’s in Public Health at the Boston University School of Public Health where he is focusing on health policy analysis as it relates to various aspects of the disability community. Gladstone has experience in strategic planning, policy analysis, qualitative research, and project management that he is thrilled to bring to the DD Council in his position as Disability Policy Specialist.

This past summer, Gladstone was awarded the Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was one of 20 fellowship recipients from an applicant pool of over 200. As part of this fellowship, he spent 10 weeks working at the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity (OEJE) within the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental (EOEEA) Affairs for the State of Massachusetts. In this position, he worked on a broad array of projects as a disability policy content expert.

Gladstone received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Brandeis University.  He is currently completing his graduate studies at Boston University School of Public Health and will graduate in May.

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