Boston Disability Board Hears Free Assistive Technology Presentation, Previews ADA Day Move

BOSTON — March 18, 2026 — Boston Disability Advisory Board installs new chair and previews summer ADA Day relocation at quorum-short March meeting. Zari Amir-Haseni, a 10-year board veteran and disability program manager at Massachusetts General Hospital, chaired her first meeting March 18, joined by members Paul Karen, Olivia Richard, Paulette Durrett, and Wes Ireland; three prospective new members — Denise Martinez of MassAbility, Sam Pastor of Mass Advocates Standing Strong, and Alan Mack of Berklee College of Music — attended but have not yet been sworn in, leaving the board one short of its seven-member quorum. Sarah Parker of Easter Seals Massachusetts presented the organization's free Assistive Technology Regional Center, which loans devices for roughly 30 days at no cost from Boston and Worcester locations, including AI-integrated tools like Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses and a reading device called the Lyric. Disability Commissioner Krista Makash announced that this year's ADA Day — Boston's largest disability resource fair, drawing more than 30 agencies — will move from City Hall Plaza to Copley Street Park because FIFA and Tall Ships events will occupy the plaza in late June and early July, and that the city plans to launch a six-week civic engagement cohort program targeting new disability advocates in underserved neighborhoods, with applications expected the week of March 23.