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Dr. Baiyina W. Muhammad

Founder/Executive Director 

Organizer, Mother, Advocate, Educator

As the founder and Executive Director of the North Carolina Black Disabilities Network (NC-BDN), Baiyina Muhammad leads the organization to new heights. With over two decades of experience in leadership, advocacy, and disability justice work, she has a record of developing impactful programs, fostering community partnerships, and advocating for inclusive policies. Her unique lived experience as a parent of disabled children and a person living with disabilities grounds her vision and approach to the subject. In 2021, Baiyina established the NC-BDN, the first to exist in the southeast, hosting a statewide conference to amplify and advance the rights of Black disabled people. Prompted by her experiences of navigating systems that underserved her Black sons across an array of structures, including healthcare, childcare, public education, recreation, housing, employment, and transportation, she began to see the connection between the practice of anti-Black racism and ableism. Baiyina recognized the disadvantages and barriers that disabled children endure to become self-determined individuals, as well as the unique set of challenges Black parents/caregivers endure.

 

Under her leadership, NC-BDN has successfully launched initiatives that enhance accessibility, provide resources, and empower disabled individuals to achieve their full potential. NC-BDN held its inaugural conference, “Equity at the Intersections of Race and Disability.” The conference was designed to bring the issues of better services, access, and implementation together to allow stakeholders to gain new perspectives and build to create Black futures that leave no one behind. Baiyina is currently directing NC-BDN efforts toward developing inclusive post-secondary education programs (IPSE) for students with intellectual disability (ID), having realized that none of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina offered such programs. The HBCU-IPSE initiative was sponsored by the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities (NCCDD). The primary aim is to interrupt the cycle of poor access and opportunity to attend college by offering training and support to interested HBCU stakeholders who want to learn about IPSE programs and to assist them in creating opportunities for IDD students. Baiyina is passionate about raising awareness, promoting equity, and ensuring all voices are heard.

 

In addition to her Ph.D., she has earned a certificate in autism, completed a yearlong Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (LEND) fellowship at the UNC-CH Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD), and most recently obtained a Master of Arts degree with a concentration in race and disability from North Carolina State University.  

 

Baiyina is a Paterson, New Jersey native who has lived in Durham for nearly two decades. She is the mother of four sons, two of whom have autism and other co-occurring conditions. Baiyina enjoys
fine arts, performing arts, and traveling in her spare time. She is committed to fostering a culture

of inclusion in the workplace and the community. With a vision for a world where everyone can

thrive, Baiyina continues to inspire change and champion the rights of people with disabilities and their caregivers.

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