Growing up, Nate Diskint, B.S. ’12, shared a lot—bedroom walls, laughs, rivalries and memories—with his little brother, Jeremy. But they didn’t seem to share society’s expectations.
Jeremy has Down syndrome, and Diskint recalled the struggles for Jeremy to be included in the classroom, even as federal law—the IDEA ACT—mandated students with special needs receive a free, appropriate public education. Perhaps nothing illustrated that more than one of Jeremy’s elementary school class photos. The teacher was on one end. In the middle was the class, with all the students together. Then the aide on the other side. And then Jeremy at the very end.
“That was a perfect metaphor for his inclusion,” said Diskint, a New Jersey native who graduated from GW with a degree in physical and biological anthropology.
That early lesson forever stuck with Diskint, and these days, he is the founder and executive director of Cohome, a nonprofit organization serving as New Jersey’s first mainstream housing program where adults with and without disabilities live together as peers in vibrant, inclusive communities. It’s an idea born out of love for his brother, and GW was transformative in shaping his entrepreneurial skillset to make this vision a reality.
Once he began realizing the differences in treatment between him and his brother, Diskint became an advocate for Jeremy, and other children with disabilities. He even formed a social group for classmates with disabilities while in high school.
But Diskint eventually went off to college, where he ran cross country at GW and would amass the skillset from the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to start his own biomedical supplies company—Imagnus. His parents handled Jeremy’s affairs back home, one of those being to transition him to alternative living, a task many families eventually must tackle for their loved ones with disabilities.
In 2016, Jeremy moved to a highly recommended residential facility out of state—and hated it. It was too restrictive and didn’t offer him much individuality. Diskint, back in New Jersey with Imagnus, sought a solution. He would take a few months off work to help his brother land on an adequate living arrangement in their hometown of Morristown, N.J.
The effort would become so much bigger.
Inspired by the quest to find Jeremy a home that offered an enriching life, Diskint would end up founding this inclusive housing model that aims to provide adults with disabilities meaningful opportunities to fully engage with their communities.
“The goal isn’t for us to take over their life. It’s simply to provide a housing opportunity like any other—plus enrichment that makes life more fulfilling,” Diskint said. “With my brother, for example, in one house all they really did was feed him. Now he’s going to parks, going out into the community and having real experiences. That’s the difference.”
Cohome has expanded its mission to create independent living opportunities for adults with disabilities through affordable partnerships. Diskint has not only developed a nine-person flagship co-living model in Morristown but has also successfully opened additional supportive housing opportunities. He actively consults with real estate developers to integrate supportive housing within affordable housing obligations, which he believes fill needs for people with and without disabilities.
“You could live in a beautiful new building, and your neighbor down the hall might have autism,” Diskint said. “You might see staff come in to support them—maybe four hours a day, maybe 24/7—but they’re just your neighbor. It’s not a separate, isolated environment.”
GW helped to provide toolkits to found such an endeavor as he learned from mentors such as former Associate Vice Provost for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Jim Chung and former Research Professor of Anthropology Peter Lucas. Diskint led research projects and learned to move fluidly between disciplines by collaborating with the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
“I treated GW as a resource hub,” Diskint said. “It felt like the university wanted undergrads to actually use those resources, and that made all the difference for me. Honestly, it felt like going to graduate school as an undergrad. That’s how rich the experience was for me.”
Family is at the root of Cohome’s operation, which Diskint runs with his wife, Julie, who serves as the associate director. As he learned through Jeremy, every family’s situation transitioning their person with disabilities to independent living is different. It’s an emotional move for them to make, and some clients may live in several residences before finding a right fit, according to a study in the American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Diskint believes it is best for families to have “trial runs” while they still have the capacity to provide support, because living at home may not be realistic forever, and Cohome can help with that.
Winning GW’s New Venture Competition with what would be his first company, Imagnus, gave him the tools to build a team and think like a founder. A little more than a decade later, New Jersey families are feeling that domino effect. He hopes it’s only the beginning of the story.
