(The Daily Orange | March 3, 2026) After Oakland University barred Micah Fialka-Feldman from living in student dormitories, he advocated for inclusive housing and established himself as a figure in the movement toward inclusive higher education.
Now, over 15 years later, Fialka-Feldman co-teaches classes in Syracuse University’s Disability Studies Program and serves as outreach coordinator for InclusiveU, a program to provide accessible college education to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
For Fialka-Feldman’s parents Janice and Rich, watching their son accomplish his life-long goal of attending college inspired them to support InclusiveU’s “incredible” work, establishing the Opening Doors Fund in February.
Inspired by Fialka-Feldman’s book of the same name, the fund provides InclusiveU students financial support for housing, food, academic materials and other expenses.
Following his advocacy work at Oakland University in the 2000s, SU invited Fialka-Feldman to speak on campus, where his parents said he left an impact not just on everyone in the room, but on the school system as well.
The couple said they created the fund after seeing firsthand the growth that can come from InclusiveU’s support.
“If we can play a tiny part in continuing that legacy of supporting people, then truly, it’s our honor to do that,” Janice Fialka-Feldman said. “And we hope then to also motivate people that we know, family, friends and people that we don’t know” …
Read the Full Story. By Caroline Schaefer.