Viscardi Center buys Able Newspaper, plans relaunch

The Viscardi Center has purchased Bethpage-based Able Newspaper, a monthly publication focused on issues impacting disabled Long Islanders and New York City residents.

Viscardi, an Albertson-based nonprofit network serving disabled adults and children, finished the acquisition of the 33-year-old print and online newspaper Tuesday, with plans to revamp and relaunch the periodical in February.

“It’s been 33 years and it was time for me to retire, so I’ve been looking around [for a buyer],” said Angela Miele Melledy publisher and founder of the paper. Talks with Viscardi about selling Able to the nonprofit started in July of last year, she said. “I thought that Viscardi would be a perfect place for it.”

The two groups did not disclose the purchase price for the publication.

Viscardi will publish one more issue in November in its current format before going dark for two months and returning next year, Viscardi said. Able currently has a print and online presence on Long Island, and an online-only presence in New York City.

Able’s print edition is currently delivered to “key locations where people with disabilities frequent,” including Viscardi’s Albertson campus, Viscardi said.

Melledy launched Able in 1991 with a focus on covering national, state, and local news topics through the perspective of disabled readers and their families. Legislation dealing with or impacting civil rights, health care, and financial security of disabled New Yorkers has long been its focus, she said.

Before launching the paper, Melledy said she had experience in print production with a variety of printed weekly publications on Long Island, but no formal background in disability advocacy, nor is she disabled herself. After becoming involved in volunteer work with Paralympic athletes, Melledy said she “fell in love” with disabled sports

From there, she decided to combine her experience in print production and her newfound knowledge of issues affecting disabled locals.

“I just put one foot in front of the other along the way,” she said. “It’s been a great run.”

Chris Rosa, president and chief executive of Viscardi, said he’s long been a fan of Melledy’s work at Able and that the monthly carries a great deal of historic resonance for the disabled community.

“In my development as a leader and a scholar in disability studies I quite literally grew up with Able,” said Rosa, who was going for his doctorate at the time Able began its run.

The paper launched one year after the 1990 federal signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a major piece of civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

“The impact of the ADA, even though it’s a national civil rights law, it was experienced locally by people with disabilities in their community,” Rosa said. Able “was the only place where you could get real-time information about these key developments.”

Viscardi said it will be hiring an editor and sales manager for its revamp, will incorporate video segments to support the print and online editions, and has plans to expand its presence using its extensive local network of disability-focused organizations.

“Everybody with a disability in our larger community here all cherish Able,” Rosa said.