This year’s speakers will bring fresh thinking on belonging, technology, mental performance, and the future of disability inclusion at work.
We’re getting closer to the 2026 DisabilityNext™ Summit, happening October 6–7 at the Hyatt Regency in Portland, Oregon.
DisabilityNext™ is focused on the future of disability inclusion at work. The Summit will bring together HR executives, business leaders, advocates, researchers, and changemakers for practical conversations about access, belonging, leadership, technology, and systems change.
You can register here.
This year’s speaker lineup includes people using lived experience, research, technology, and leadership to move disability inclusion forward. Today, we’re sharing three ideas we’re especially excited to hear more about at the Summit.
DisabilityNext™ speaker Tricia Downing believes that “when people feel connected, supported, and empowered, they are capable of more than they realize”.
That shows up throughout Tricia’s work as a speaker and advocate. She speaks nationally about disability inclusion, adaptability, belonging, personal growth, and how people move forward when they have the right support around them.
Tricia’s perspective comes from lived experience. A lifelong athlete and competitive cyclist, she was hit by a car during a training ride in 2000 at age 31 and became paralyzed from the chest down.
During her recovery, Tricia learned how to navigate life as a paraplegic and eventually returned to sports. She competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games in shooting and became the first paraplegic woman to complete an iron-distance triathlon.
Tricia has also spoken honestly about the ableism she had to unlearn after acquiring her disability. In an interview, she said, “We have an ableist society, right? We see disabilities as a negative thing”. She also shared that disability is “just another view of the human condition”.
That message matters. Disability inclusion is not just about opening doors. It is also about changing how people think about disability, challenging ableism, and creating workplaces and communities where disabled people are valued, supported, and included from the start.
Dr. Hung Jen Kuo is exploring how technology can improve quality of life for people with disabilities.
Dr. Kuo is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education at Michigan State University. His research brings together rehabilitation, psychology, technology, and computer science to develop social and behavioral interventions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
One area of his work focuses on virtual reality and mixed reality. That includes a virtual reality-assisted meditation program for veterans with physical disabilities. The goal is to make mental health support more accessible for people who may face barriers to traditional services.
Dr. Kuo has also helped lead research on how video game technology can support disabled people’s physical and psychological health. His work points to the ways games can support rehabilitation, well-being, cognitive skills, emotional regulation, exercise, and chronic pain management.
He also directs MSU’s Games, Rehabilitation, Education, and Assistive Technology Laboratory, known as the GREAT Lab, where researchers are exploring how technology, including AI, can support mental health counseling services.
Technology should help remove barriers, not create new ones. Dr. Kuo’s work raises an important question for the future of disability inclusion: How can we design and use technology in ways that actually improve access, support, and outcomes for disabled people?
For Lacey J. Henderson, mental performance is not about being inspirational. It is about having real tools to manage pressure, change, uncertainty, and everyday life.
Lacey is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and currently serves as the mental performance coach for Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers. In that role, she leads team meditation and other practices that help players build focus, resilience, and mental readiness.
Her work is shaped by lived experience. After being diagnosed with the rare cancer synovial sarcoma, Lacey had her right leg amputated when she was 9 years old. She later became an athlete, first as a cheerleader and then as a pole vaulter.
Lacey went on to compete in the 2016 Paralympic Games in the long jump and 100-meter dash. Her eighth-place finish in the long jump was the best among U.S. athletes that year. After her athletic career, she earned a master’s degree in sport and performance psychology and focused her work on bringing “lived experience and real tools to athletes and organizations who are tired of inspiration and ready for transformation”.
In her role with the Timbers, Lacey helps athletes prepare for more than competition. She helps them think through what happens off the field, too. As she explained in an Associated Press interview, players are also dealing with things like contract negotiations, social media, family responsibilities, and personal stress because “life happens regardless of where you are in sport”.
That idea translates directly to the workplace. People do their best work when they are supported as whole people, not just as job titles or roles. Lacey’s message is a reminder that resilience is not something organizations should simply expect from people. It is something we can help build through the right tools, support, and culture.
Join us October 6–7 in Portland, Oregon, to hear from Tricia Downing, Dr. Hung Jen Kuo, Lacey J. Henderson, and many more leaders, advocates, researchers, and changemakers at the 2026 DisabilityNext™ Summit.
Register for DisabilityNext™ 2026 today!