Amidon Planet Special Series – 45 Minutes: A Family’s Story of Advocacy, Education, and the Ongoing Work of Inclusion
New episodes of 45 Minutes will appear on the Amidon Planet podcast feed. Subscribe to Amidon Planet wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss the next episode.
E1 – The 45 Minute Decision
In January 1962, Keith and Natalie Yelinek welcomed their daughter, Kristin, into the world. Soon, they were faced with a decision that would shape their family’s life for decades to come.
In this first episode of 45 Minutes, Keith and Natalie begin sharing their story of raising a daughter with a developmental disability at a time when educational opportunities and community services for individuals with disabilities were limited; and when families were often given little guidance or support.
Their story begins with a 45-minute decision in a hospital room. From there, it becomes a story about family, relationships, advocacy, and the people who helped create possibilities where very few existed.
Joel Amidon and Dr. Alice Udvari-Solner provide context and reflection throughout the conversation, helping place Keith and Natalie’s experiences within the larger history of education and services for individuals with disabilities.
A note about language: This episode includes historical language used to describe people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that is offensive and unacceptable today. We include these words because they were part of Keith and Natalie’s experience in 1962 and help us understand the attitudes and systems they encountered. They do not reflect the language or views of the producers of this series.
MARC Website – Serving adults with developmental disabilities for over 70 years in Dane County, WI.
E2 – Something Out of Nothing
What happens when families need support and opportunities for their children, but few exist?
In the early 1960s, Keith and Natalie Yelinek were navigating life with their daughter, Kristin, at a time when families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities had few resources and limited educational options. Finding support meant connecting with other families, learning from those willing to help, and working together to create possibilities that had not existed before.
In Episode 2 of 45 Minutes, Keith and Natalie reflect on the people and organizations that helped them find their footing. We hear how local advocacy began gaining attention, how the community and the Kennedy family helped bring visibility to these efforts, and how parents and advocates began working toward better opportunities for children with disabilities.
Throughout the conversation, Dr. Alice Udvari-Solner and Joel Amidon offer historical context and reflections on the people and efforts that helped move this work forward.
A note about language: This episode includes historical language used to describe people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that is offensive and unacceptable today. We include these words because they were part of Keith and Natalie’s experience in 1962 and help us understand the attitudes and systems they encountered. They do not reflect the language or views of the producers of this series.
The Kids Fund and The Kids Fund website (that started as Kiddie Camp)
E3 – From Segregation to “Work, Live, and Play in Normalized, Integrated Settings”
What does it take to move from providing separate spaces for people with disabilities to creating opportunities for them to participate in everyday community life?
In this third episode of 45 Minutes, Keith and Natalie Yelinek reflect on changes in education and community opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Madison, Wisconsin. Their story follows the efforts of parents, educators, and advocates who worked to expand access to public education and create opportunities for students to learn and work in integrated settings.
We hear about the development of educational services in Madison, the influence of educator and researcher Lou Brown, and the shift toward preparing students for meaningful participation in their communities. These changes became part of Kristin Yelinek’s own story, including her graduation from high school and the beginning of her career at McCardell Cancer Labs.
Throughout the conversation, Dr. Alice Udvari-Solner and Joel Amidon provide context and reflection on the educational ideas, practices, and people that helped shape this history.
McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research
E4 – When Progress Meets Pushback (Coming Soon)
Progress doesn’t mean the work is finished. And sometimes, solving one problem creates another.
In this fourth episode of 45 Minutes, Keith and Natalie Yelinek reflect on the challenges that emerged as services and support systems for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities continued to change. What began with families and community advocates working to create opportunities grew into larger questions about funding, access, responsibility, and how services could be sustained across communities.
We hear about the differences between counties in Wisconsin, the development of new approaches to providing long-term support, and the decisions families faced as the systems around them evolved. Keith and Natalie also reflect on the importance of remaining involved in Kristin’s life, and their concerns about changes in the organizations providing services.
Throughout the conversation, Dr. Alice Udvari-Solner and Joel Amidon offer context and reflection, connecting these experiences to the broader challenges of building and sustaining systems that support meaningful inclusion.
E5 – The Stories We Need to Tell (Coming soon)
45 Minutes is a five-part Amidon Planet special series featuring a conversation with Keith and Natalie Yelinek about their daughter Kristin and more than six decades of family advocacy, education, and community life.
Keith and Natalie generously shared their memories so that their family’s story, and some of the history surrounding it, could be preserved and remembered. Throughout the series, Dr. Alice Udvari-Solner and Dr. Joel Amidon provide context and reflection based on their experiences in education.
This series is not intended to provide a comprehensive history of disability education or advocacy. Rather, it offers one family’s experience and the changes they witnessed and helped shape over more than six decades.
45 Minutes Series Trailer
In 1962, Keith and Natalie Yelinek were given 45 minutes to make a decision about their newborn daughter, Kristin, who was born with a developmental disability.
What followed was not only a family story, but a story of social change.
Over the next six decades, Keith and Natalie witnessed—and helped shape—the evolution of educational opportunities, community inclusion, and support services for individuals with disabilities. Their experiences offer a unique window into how families, educators, advocates, and policymakers worked together to create opportunities that simply did not exist when Kristin was born.
In this special five-part series, host Joel Amidon and educator Dr. Alice Udvari-Solner share a recorded conversation with Keith and Natalie, weaving in historical context, personal reflections, and lessons that still matter today.
45 Minutes is a story about family, advocacy, education, and the ongoing work of inclusion.
The series begins this fall. Subscribe to Amidon Planet wherever you get your podcasts so this series will appear automatically in your feed when they are released.
