By Lauren Padilla
Imagining someone’s experience is one thing. Living it is another.
Many Kennedy Krieger Institute employees have felt the Institute’s impact—from its healthcare and educational offerings to its community and research programing—firsthand, either as patients or students themselves, or as family members. Their insights give them a unique perspective, not only on their work, but also on how thousands of people with disabilities, and their families, engage with the organization each year.
Stella and Jasper
When Stella Cotton, a credentialing specialist, joined Kennedy Krieger in 2013, she was unknowingly taking the first step on the path to her future son. Through her department, she learned about Kennedy Krieger’s Therapeutic Foster Care program. She decided to become a respite care provider, offering support to foster families on a temporary, as-needed basis.
Everything changed in September 2023 when she met Jasper, her first placement. The connection was instant, and Cotton finalized the adoption in December 2025. “Kennedy Krieger has not only given me a job for the past 13 years,” she says. “It’s also helped me build a family.”
Jhonathan and Cole
Jhonathan Rowe and Cole Slusher are both members of Neurodiversity at Work’s CORE Foundations program, which supports individuals with disabilities in obtaining and maintaining meaningful employment throughout the greater Baltimore area. They’re also employees of the Institute.
Slusher, a rehab aide, has been part of Kennedy Krieger’s occupational therapy team for five years. His co-workers are his favorite part of the job. “Everyone is nice, and I have lots of friends at work,” he says.
For nearly three years, Rowe has worked as an assistant at the Early Childhood Development and Education Center, serving meals and keeping the facility clean. “It makes me feel good to be part of a great team that’s dedicated to providing the best care for the children at the center,” he says.
This was my family at the time.” – Alyssa Racosky
Alyssa and Michael
Growing up, Kennedy Krieger was a fixture in Alyssa Racosky’s family. Her younger brother Michael, who has autism, started receiving services at the Institute as a kindergartener.
“When he had an appointment, that meant I also had to go,” says Racosky, who remembers bonding with the other siblings and patients in the Institute’s waiting rooms.
When Michael first came to Kennedy Krieger, he was nonspeaking. Today, he’s attending the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The difference Kennedy Krieger made in Michael’s life left a lasting impression on Racosky.
“We always looked up to Kennedy Krieger as such an amazing place,” says Racosky, who joined the Institute’s staff as a social media specialist in 2024—a “full circle” moment that continues to inspire her. “Interacting with the families and the patients, sometimes I think about it: This was my family at the time.”
Above: Michael and Alyssa.