How a Mother’s Fight Created a Movement

Summary

Podcast Summary: Living Your Legacy

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Episode Overview

Title: How a Mother’s Fight Created a Movement
Host: Ray (with guest: Kelly Neal)
Date: June 3, 2026

This episode features Kelly Neal, an attorney and advocate for students with disabilities, whose personal journey as a mother of children with unique learning needs led her to become a voice for families navigating the often-challenging landscape of special education. The conversation centers on parental advocacy, systemic flaws in education, disability empowerment, and actionable insights for parents and allies.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin of Kelly’s Advocacy (00:00–04:45)

• Kelly’s journey began when her son, later diagnosed with autism, was recommended for grade retention without prior communication from the school.
• Personal experiences motivated her to leverage her legal background toward educational advocacy.
• Quote (Kelly, 00:45): "The outcome is you cannot trust schools. I don't care how nice they are...schools are always talking about how, you know, we need to collaborate and trust. Well, I can collaborate with you...but I'm never gonna trust you."
• Many parents experience similar "ambush" moments due to opaque grading and communication structures.

2. The Reality of Public Schooling & Parental Struggle (02:24–05:56)

• Both Kelly and Ray reflect on difficulties in under-resourced, underperforming school systems.
• The importance of family advocacy, especially in environments that are "designed to fail."
• Ray shares his own atypical learning trajectory and family support.

3. From Personal Fight to Public Service (07:27–08:48)

• Volunteering with Georgia Legal Services allowed Kelly to recognize how pervasive these issues are, even for legally trained parents.
• Wrote self-help guides for families unable to afford attorneys, emphasizing the need for accessible advocacy tools.
• Quote (Kelly, 08:23): "I'm an attorney and I'm struggling with this fighting with schools. So...I thought I knew a lot, but then I learned a lot more."

4. Systemic Barriers & Empowering Others (08:48–10:51)

• Schools often treat children with invisible disabilities or average IQ as less capable.
• Parental vigilance required: "I didn't want him stuck in a corner coloring while they taught the other kids to read."
• Kelly describes providing "Temple Grandin" resources to educators to raise expectations for autistic students.
• Ensuring both her autistic son and dyslexic daughter had their unique learning profiles recognized in school.
• Memorable moment (Kelly, 11:36): Describes discovering her daughter wrote an entire paragraph backward, referencing her dyslexia humorously: "I think she might need an exorcism."

5. The World vs. Neurodivergent Children (09:54–13:22)

• Both hosts admit: "The world is not built for us... And we're not built for them. They're not ready for us either."
• The conversation explores neurodivergent "superpowers" and reframing challenges as strengths, not deficits.
• Barriers due to rigid systems—Kelly shares examples like schools pushing her left-handed daughter to write with the right hand.
• Quote (Ray, 09:57): "We're just not designed to know which is which. We just see blue and red."

6. Advocacy in Action: Daily Practices & Outreach (13:30–14:42)

• Kelly’s morning routine: Coffee, then straight into active advocacy, social media outreach, and educational content creation (with help from AI tools like ChatGPT).
• Embraces new technology despite schools’ resistance; using accessible communication tools for broader reach.

7. AI & Future of Education (14:05–15:15)

• Ray and Kelly discuss the transformative potential of AI in democratizing access to specialized knowledge for both students and parents.
• Current educational resistance to AI and technology—a generational and institutional gap.
• Prediction: homeschooling and self-guided education will increasingly embrace AI.

8. Critique of the System: Department of Education (15:26–16:17)

• Kelly expresses skepticism about the U.S. Department of Education’s effectiveness, particularly concerning civil rights enforcement for disabled students.
• Quote (Kelly, 15:43): "I've reached out to help for them, for lots of my kids, and they've never helped a single one of them...I think they actually distract parents from actually seeking help from other agencies and might actually help."
• Argues that changes in funding structures only re-route problems, rather than solve them.

9. Advice for Advocates (16:17–17:05)

• Ray shares his approach for advocacy in hostile or indifferent environments: "Treat them like it's their idea...just dominate the frequency."
• Kelly agrees and acknowledges the emotional labor and creativity required to be heard by decision-makers.

10. Empowering Others & Building Legacy (17:05–18:00)

• Ray credits guests like Kelly for inspiring the platforms and projects that uplift others.
• Affirmation of mission: to send "the elevator back down" for the next generation of advocates and students.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kelly Neal (00:45): "You cannot trust schools. I don't care how nice they are. You just can't do it, don't do it."
• Ray (06:00): “I have these terrible fits of rage because I cannot compute this reality to this one… but I mask it as like a superpower.”
• Kelly Neal (10:04): “I just basically had to learn how to…educate teachers how to deal with my son and other people with autism.”
• Kelly Neal (11:36): “She wrote an entire paragraph backwards. I think she might need an exorcism.”
• Kelly Neal (15:43): "I've reached out to help for them… they've never helped a single one of them. So from that aspect, I'm not going to miss them."
• Ray (16:21): “Treat them like it’s their idea and talk to them like you’re on a date with them...present to you the best thing that’s ever happened to you and it’s going to be all your idea, but it’s mine and you’re going to fund it.”

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Important Timestamps

• Kelly’s Advocacy Origin Story: 00:00–04:45
• Reflections on School & Advocacy: 05:09–05:56
• Legal Volunteering and Self-Help Books: 07:27–08:48
• Empowering the Disabled & Educating Teachers: 09:54–10:51
• On Dyslexia and Neurodiversity at Home: 11:24–13:22
• Daily Routines and Social Media Advocacy: 13:30–14:42
• Leveraging AI in Advocacy: 14:05–15:15
• Critique of US Department of Education: 15:26–16:17
• Advice for Navigating the System: 16:17–17:05
• Information on Kelly’s Public Outreach: 17:31–18:00

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Connect with Kelly Neal

• TikTok: Live the 7th of every month at 7:30pm ("Pub Ed Happy Hour")
• Facebook and Instagram: Shares videos and educational content
• Website: Neal Student Support Advocacy and Disability

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Summary Tone:
Candid, warm, and passionate—a blend of Kelly’s fierce advocacy and Ray's humor and directness create an engaging, empowering conversation for anyone seeking to leave their own legacy through meaningful change.

Transcript

[Kelly Neal]

My child had autism. I didn't want him stuck in a corner coloring while they taught the other kids to read. And then they informed me that they wanted to retain him and I'm like, well, that's news to me. From that point on, I started taking all of my legal education to keep my law license. I knew that I was going to have to fight for my kids.

[Narrator]

Kelly Neal is a compassionate, purpose driven attorney and the founder of Neal student support advocacy and disability. Drawing from her journey as both a legal advocate and parent, she she empowers families to navigate education and disability systems with confidence, helping children access the support and opportunities they deserve.

[Ray]

How you are empowering the disabled.

[Kelly Neal]

I started with my son. My daughter's got dyslexia, so, you know, you had to fight through all that. And I'm just thinking, you know, people really need help out here. I've written these self help books because people can't afford attorneys. So I really would like for people, people to have those tools in their hands so they can help help their kids.

[Ray]

It spans the globe like a super

[Sam]

high cold Internet Elvis Read Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win the Living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has happened. Oh, that is sensational. Jord open Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Ray]

Welcome back to another episode of the Living your legacy podcast for inside Success. I am Rigatieres. Joining me today on this lovely Friday is a powerful woman. Literally finished filming her episode with our man Kofi here. April, Kelly Neal. I actually have my show notes a dot Kelly Neal. But now I've been told that it's April. Welcome to the show.

[Kelly Neal]

Well, thank you. It's good to be here.

[Ray]

Should I call you April? How, how?

[Kelly Neal]

Just Kelly.

[Ray]

Just Kelly. All right. Just Kelly.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah, Just Kelly.

[Ray]

Just Kelly. What are we to learn about you in your episode?

[Kelly Neal]

Oh, well, you're going to learn that, you know, I had kind of a rough upbringing in Wrightsville, Georgia. Then you're going to learn about how I went through law school and that whole thing. And then now you know how I've gone through things with my own kids and their learning challenges.

[Ray]

Okay.

[Kelly Neal]

To writing some books which I never thought I'd be doing and just trying to help other families get through the public school experience. The public school can be so delightful.

[Ray]

Oh, so delightful. I, I, I coming from, coming from an inner city school, Miami Senior High, where we're all designed to fail. We were never. We were always a D school. So trust me, we had to make sure. We had to fill out our lunch form so we can get that free lunch or the government would just not look at us because, you know, we. Public funding, of course, as we speak of. Of the. The. Of the government shutdown. But that's a different podcast for a different time.

[Kelly Neal]

Yes, ma'.

[Ray]

Am. Where do you begin? Where does. Does. Is it pain? Is it awesomeness? Where. Where does your North Star begin in your journey?

[Kelly Neal]

I would have to say this whole journey that I'm on right now basically started on a good Friday, which I intended to go to church, but I did not because I had to go to a meeting for my son who was in the first grade. This was in March. And then they informed me that they wanted to retain him. And I'm like, well, that's news to me. Like, what's going on? And I know that sounds like I'm not a very informed parent, but I think a lot of parents get ambushed. Like back when I was in school, the grades were A, B, C, D, E, F. Pretty sure. Well, in first grade it was like M S. I don't know, like, how to decode this. And the teachers kept telling me, you know, there's some things he's not great at, but things are going to be fine. But then at the end of the year, they wanted to retain him. And then I was just like, no.

[Ray]

What was, what was going on? What was, what was happening?

[Kelly Neal]

Well, we later learned that my child had autism and so he learns differently. And so we just kind of had to deal with that. But from that point on, I started taking all of my legal education to keep my law license in education law, because I knew that I was going to have to fight for my kid because I knew that this grandmotherly looking first grade teacher who I thought was so nice was really just like, you

[Ray]

were going to go that far.

[Kelly Neal]

Right?

[Ray]

You were going to go that far. Wow, Good for you. For just like, you do not mess with my legacy. Not like this. What did you learn from that experience? What was the outcome?

[Kelly Neal]

Well, the outcome is you cannot trust schools. I don't care how nice they are. You just can't do it, don't do it. And schools are always talking about how, you know, we need to collaborate and trust. Well, I can collaborate with you, just like I can collaborate with my ex husband. Yeah, it's kind of on that level, but I'm never gonna trust you.

[Ray]

Yeah, I figured out the school system was a joke. I think Mr. Trujill's class in sixth grade, I never went to class. I always went straight to computer class, the art. And all my teachers figured it out. Like, Ray's a little different. He's doing way better in computer class that he never leaves. He's there from 6am to 6pm he's friends with the custodians in after school programs and he's on television. I got lucky. A lot of folks don't get so lucky because I had a grandmother that was fighting for me. I belonged to a, a much worse school, you know, with, with, with, with an outer city school, if you catch my meaning. And I was clearly gonna get my ass kicked because I'm a tiny dude raised by, by his Cuban grandmother. And my grandmother fought for me because she knew a lot of folks don't get that chance. How are you fighting for folks that were on some sort of spectrum like I was, but sort of was discovered early on.

[Kelly Neal]

Oh, so you were on the spectrum too?

[Ray]

I think so. I didn't start talking until I was five. I just looked at people like, huh?

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

And I just. One we ear out the other. I just, if it's not visual, I don't remember it. If I've already forgotten your name half the time when I introduced it, I already forgot how I'm producing you. Who are you? Within a second. And it's something I struggle with all the time, but I mask it as like a superpower. But oh man, I always struggle. I have these terrible like fits of rage because I cannot compute this reality to this one. And then. And it's just like a different person. And I've noticed that I'm, I've. And it's because of speaking with people like you on this podcast. You can, you can watch the growth and go, holy shit, I'm doing I part of my language. I'm doing all of these things because of generational trauma, because I was inspired because of all this. And it's just like, wow, what a realization. So this is, this is a real journey for me on, on these shows and listening to you speak. So I'm, I'm fully engaged and I'm a firm believer that I have a superpower that was misdiagnosed or as a matter of fact, it's a good way of looking at it, which was never diagnosed. I have never spoken to a professional and go, yeah, you got this, you got that, you got this. And crap. If we would have figured that out 30 years ago, Ray, you would have been a billionaire by now, but you're going to struggle with your big old eyes and some until someone figures it out for you. And until then, I'll keep podcasting until I speak to Pope folks like you and go, yeah, Ray, use zig as it was ag. But I'm okay with that. That's why I host podcasts now and go on these rants. I'll shut up now, ma'. Am. All about you. Let's. Let's focus on your energy.

[Kelly Neal]

Okay?

[Ray]

Red. I love the colors.

[Kelly Neal]

Thank you.

[Ray]

Your. Your. Your logo. Talk about what you're doing today and how you are empowering the disabled.

[Kelly Neal]

Okay. Well, I get lots of calls from parents all the time. I've a lot less now, but I volunteered with the Georgia Legal Services program, which provides free or low cost legal help to families that are having, you know, education issues with school. So that's kind of where I started. I started with my son. My daughter's got dyslexia. So, you know, you had to fight through all that. And I'm just thinking, you know, people really need help out here. I'm an attorney and I'm struggling with this fighting with schools. So. Started with Georgia Legal, basically started. I thought I knew a lot, but then I learned a lot more.

[Ray]

Oh, yeah.

[Kelly Neal]

And today, you know, I've written these self help books because people can't afford attorneys. They can't. And schools know which people can afford attorneys. They're not, you know, pushing those kids out of school.

[Ray]

Oh, no, of course not. No.

[Kelly Neal]

And so. So I really would like for people to have those tools in their hands so they can help help their kids.

[Ray]

Oh, yeah.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

$300,000 in grants is what my work got. My studio and television production. High school. I was not taught by anyone in television. My TV professor barely knew how to program the vcr, but I picked up a camera and started filming. And within a year, they. He filled out grants and got $300,000 of school grants. And we digitized the entire studio, ma'. Am. And you graduated from high school and back to my high school to teach the kids how to edit digitally. Because no one was going to take care of Juan Carlos or Fernando. No, because they're designed to go and sweep houses and clean and clean. Right? No, they're not digital editors. There's a lot of suffering and there's a lot of folks out there. They're not fighting. Send the elevator back down. Because it is quite the ivory tower, you know, and it's our duty very much so to sit here and go, oh, we're so great. No, we're great because we're sitting on the. On the shelves of folks that need us. On the shelves on the shoulders of folks that need us. Talk about your challenges. The challenges with your daughter. And like, and I. And I. And I apologize for using the word challenges. Let's call them experiences. What are the experiences? Like living with these superpowers and folks that have these superpowers like ourselves.

[Kelly Neal]

It's crazy, because the world is not built for us.

[Ray]

No.

[Kelly Neal]

Really.

[Ray]

We're not built for them.

[Kelly Neal]

And we're not built for them. They're not ready for us either.

[Ray]

No.

[Kelly Neal]

But with my. I guess a lot of his, you know, I just basically had to learn how to educate. And this sounds really strange, but educate teachers how to deal with my son and other people with autism. And there's this great movie called Temple Grandin. She's a real person with a PhD and so I would always give my teachers, my son's teachers, those movies. So they. They knew his potential because I didn't want him stuck in a corner coloring while they taught the other kids to read.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Kelly Neal]

Because my child has an average iq, they always seem to look and. And treat him like he was intellectually disabled. He's not intellectually disabled.

[Ray]

Use the voice.

[Kelly Neal]

And I have no idea why they. But it was. It was crazy. Then my daughter, which is so quiet, I felt like she kind of got neglected a little bit in this whole process because I was so focused on him. But I will say she had a wonderful teacher that pointed out the dyslexia to me. And I didn't see it because whenever I was sitting down doing homework with her and she started to do something wrong.

[Ray]

Yeah. Masking.

[Kelly Neal]

I would point it out to her and get her back on the right track. But when she was at school, she wrote an entire paragraph backwards.

[Ray]

Awesome.

[Kelly Neal]

I know her teacher was like, she's dyslexic. I was like, I think she might need an exorcism.

[Ray]

I've been an entire paragraph, a couple of letters, but a paragraph, Good for you. That's awesome.

[Kelly Neal]

A paragraph.

[Ray]

That's amazing.

[Kelly Neal]

You know, because I was like, this teacher's lying. There's no way.

[Ray]

Yeah.

[Kelly Neal]

Well, then when she showed me the paragraph, I was like, yeah, we gotta address this.

[Ray]

Right. Well, man, you know, about. Frequency is negative and positive. Like, when you put your fingers together, it's your entire battery. Battery is connected. Some folks are there. Are there. On their protagonist journey. Some folks are their antagonist journey. We're just not designed to know which is which. We just see blue and red. See when you hear the noises, when you're on track. She could be walking this way when we're walking that way. Have you ever looked at a rear mirror while you're filming? Go. It's way cooler when we're moving backwards. Try walking backwards. Try. It's the thing. You have the ability to speak backwards. We just trained to do this and go. This is a sound that's coming out of my mouth. It's English. Yeah. No, it's just frequency and noises. If I did this backwards, I guarantee you dyslexia would be non existent. We're just always moving forward. Yeah, sorry, that's just a theory. That's a good one.

[Kelly Neal]

I mean, I love that.

[Ray]

Yeah, it's like Watch Tenet by Christopher Nolan. You'll realize folks are walking in their positive journey and some folks are walking in their antagonist journey. Blue and red. It's just. It's that simple. Some folks are just wake up and they're designed and like. All right, we're going to teach you how to walk. But I'm designed to walk backwards. I have the ability to look without my eyes. No you don't. Shut up. Here's a stupid book that us mortals have to read and learn from. Why when I can talk and speak backwards.

[Kelly Neal]

Oh, my daughter. They were trying to teach her to write with her right hand even though she's left handed.

[Ray]

Why?

[Kelly Neal]

Anyway, I got involved. It didn't work out.

[Ray]

Well, of course.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

No, because they're just. And good for you for fighting the good fight and knowing when you're fighting a losing battle. But you're still going to give it your all.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

What, what, what is your. Your. Your daily affirmations? What's your ritual when you wake up? Do you jump in an ice bath to your journal or do you go right into the fire?

[Kelly Neal]

Right into the fire? I mean, I do well after I've had my coffee.

[Ray]

Oh, thank God. You need. You need a me time for yourself before you go in there.

[Kelly Neal]

But I normally have my cup coffee and then I'm posting the videos that I'm doing now because Chat says that's how I'm supposed to build my business. I trust Chad. GPT and great on camera. Yeah, we're just gonna make it. And I'm getting the information out there.

[Ray]

Yes, you do. What? Chat GPT Are you using five. Because you used five. You can actually make it a. An expert at a field. So you'll Essentially have a. A legal team now, because you can just have it. It's focused.

[Kelly Neal]

It's amazing. It must be five. Yeah, I give it a ten.

[Ray]

I love what you did there. Yeah. Give your JBT a name, like, develop a relationship with it, and you'll start realizing that it'll start doing things that you didn't tell it to do because you're creating that. That frequency energy.

[Kelly Neal]

It does. It does.

[Ray]

Yeah. It's pretty great. Yeah. Yeah. It's. You're living in the world where they just realized that, that, that plants have sentient feelings and they can actually think.

[Kelly Neal]

But you know what's so odd to me is with schools now because they're so like, don't use chat. Don't do AI.

[Ray]

Don't put us out of a job teaching them. Don't put us work.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

Someone's going to revolutionize a homeschooling program to teach them AI, to teach them how to use this. And it's happening. It's happening with Roblox. It's happening with Fortnite. It's like, here's a whole world, an entire engine where you can grab and create something and not have some boring professor preach their rhetoric and tell you, this is the birds and the bees. Shut up. It's 2025, man. Get real.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

Yeah. Dude, the President just, just destroyed the East Wing to the White House. What reality do you think we're living in? Yeah, like, just throw out tradition out the door and let's, let's move forward together.

[Kelly Neal]

And, you know, he's breaking the US Department of Education.

[Ray]

Would you like to talk about that?

[Kelly Neal]

I mean, we, we could or, or not, because, well, people don't agree with my views on it, but what are

[Ray]

your views on it?

[Kelly Neal]

My views on the. The Department of Education is. Well, there's the, the money piece of it, and I'm like, well, that the funding will just be distributed by a different corrupt government organization. That's all that's going to happen there. And as far as them standing up for kids civil rights, I've reached out to help for them, for lots of my kids, and they've never helped a single one of them. So from that aspect, I'm not going to miss them. In fact, I think they actually distract parents from actually seeking help from other agencies and might actually help.

[Ray]

Yeah. Can I tell you a really disgusting, misogynist piece of advice?

[Kelly Neal]

Sure.

[Ray]

Treat them like it's their idea and talk to them like you're on a date with them. Like they just want to Feel flatter. Don't give them the stats, don't give them the boiling. Let your hair down and just walk in there and wear the loudest heels and just dominate the frequency. And then you'll just see everyone. What's that? They'll start looking. And then when they know it's you, just flirt. Hey. Hi. How's it going? I do this and just. Yeah, do not bore them. Change your tone. Like, just come at them. Like, I'm going to present to you the best thing that's ever happened to you and it's going to be all your idea, but it's mine and you're going to fund it. That's the best piece of advice I can give kids. Yeah. When I go to these networking things and people look at me, oh, you must phone these people. One of these progressives, like, no, ma'. Am. I mean, Republican, Christian, conservative. This is what we look like now.

[Kelly Neal]

Yeah.

[Ray]

Yeah. Try me. No, it's cool. And the reason why I'm armed is because of folks like you. You sit there and give people like me the confidence to go, you're right, you're right. Move forward. This is why we built Inside Success. And you're sitting it. And so is she. Inside Success is her. She is legacy. Think about that process all this.

[Kelly Neal]

Oh, yeah.

[Ray]

Happy Friday, my love.

[Kelly Neal]

Thank you.

[Ray]

How can people find you and how can people learn more about you?

[Kelly Neal]

People can find me on TikTok. I go live the 7th of every month at 7:30pm for our pub Ed happy hour, where we have cocktails or mocktails, if you're that kind. And we talk about school issues.

[Ray]

Beautiful.

[Kelly Neal]

So there's that. And then I have a Facebook page, my website, of course. I think I'm on Instagram, but I'm not great with it. I do post videos there, too.

[Ray]

Yeah. Get your message out there. Get your messages out there. The more you publish, the more you put it on the world. You'll see beautiful things transpire. Such an honor. Thank you so much. I'm so happy that we had this moment with that. This is April and I'm Ray and we are Inside Success.

[Sam]

Sam.