Carol Blessing, MSW has spent the past four decades in the field of disability services in both direct practice and management capacities advocating for and leading exemplary community-based employment and transition planning supports for individuals with disabilities. In 2000, Carol joined the faculty as a senior extension associate at the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability in the ILR School at Cornell University where she led system’s impact projects aimed at supporting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in typical community life. The breadth of this work included working with state operated psychiatric facilities, maximum security prison facilities, secondary educational settings and not-for-profit disability service providers.
In 2010 Carol developed the landmark Citizen-Centered Leadership Development online theory-to-practice immersive learning journey. Upon retiring from the Yang-Tan Institute in May of 2024, this work was donated to Citizen Network International, a global network whose mission is to create a world “where everyone matters.” She is currently a fellow and cooperative lead working with the Network to continue to expand the work of Citizen-Centered Leadership.
Carol is passionate about person-centered planning and is a proficient facilitator in popular planning methods. She co-developed the Framework for Planning, a person-centered planning approach to supporting people in finding positive pathways into their future through employment and other socially valued roles. She is the author of several publications, including co-authoring Conversations on Citizenship and Person-Centered Work (2011).
