Dorchester’s Dianne Lescinskas has been awarded 2020 Carmella Gregorie Disability Advocate of the Year by Triangle Inc., which empowers people with disabilities and their families.

Dianne’s daughter, Alexa, has served as her biggest inspiration and led her to a life of advocacy. As a mother of a young woman with a disability, she has focused her energy on creating a more inclusive world by serving as a member of Boston Public Schools’ Special Education Parent Advisory Council, Boston Public Schools’ Inclusion Task Force, and the Boston Special Education Transition Project. In these various roles, she advocated for Triangle programs, including IMPACT:Ability.

Dianne’s continued support of IMPACT:Ability helped the program to rapidly expand within BPS and diversify its curricular offerings to include advanced IMPACT:Ability classes for older students and healthy relationship training. Dianne’s dedication and expertise in advocating for people with disabilities has led her to work as the Program Development Manager at the Massachusetts Autism Commission. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Partners for Youth with Disabilities and on the Massachusetts Advisory Board for Best Buddies International.

She successfully advocated for the first Best Buddies Chapter in Boston Public Schools, which was nationally recognized as the Middle School Chapter of the Year. Additionally, she currently serves on the board of the Dorchester Educational Enrichment Program (Project DEEP) and is a volunteer coach for the Martin Richard Challenger Sports Program. She played a major role in the expansion of the Henderson Inclusion School from a kindergarten-fifth grade elementary school to its current program, which serves children with disabilities from kindergarten to age 22.