Bernard J. Carabello was born on January 19, 1950 in New York City. Bernard was sent to the Willowbrook State School for Children on Staten Island at age 3 by his mother, a single parent of six children, on the recommendation of doctors. He spent the next 18 years of his life in this notorious institution, described by Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1965 as a “snake pit,” where residents were routinely abused, neglected, subjected to squalid living conditions and denied educational opportunities. In 1972, a physician at the facility arranged for ABC News investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera to visit Willowbrook and expose the conditions at the school. Bernard, at great personal risk, let the cameras in. Bernard appeared in Rivera's investigative report on Willowbrook, titled "The Last Great Disgrace," helping to document the appalling reality of the institution and create a massive public outrage. Bernard’s participation in the expose contributed to the filing of a landmark case and ultimately, the closing of Willowbrook in 1987. In 1980, Bernard accepted a governor-appointed role as Advocate for the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, where he led the fight to protect the rights of New Yorkers with developmental disabilities.

Carabello has since transformed himself into a major force in the movement for self-advocacy in New York and across the nation. He began work to organize a statewide self-advocacy organization and founded the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State in 1986. In 2020, Bernard received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the City University of New York College of Staten Island, which sits on the land formerly occupied by Willowbrook. He continues to advocate for the rights and freedoms of people with disabilities today.