News

New Opportunities for 1-in-5 Living with Disabilities

Washington, D.C., Dec. 7 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, recognizes the work of several foundations who are making inclusion and equality of people with disabilities a priority.

The Ford Foundation continues to take major steps to include disability in all their work. Led by their President Darren Walker, they have championed a complete evaluation and inclusion of disability in all the work of philanthropists. A major piece by Ford’s Noorain Khan recently detailed the foundation’s dramatic progress on this front. Additionally, Ford President Darren Walker just did a major interview on this topic with Sen. Tom Harkin in front of more than 200 disability activists/leaders. Harkin co-authored the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In addition, J.P. Morgan Chase’s philanthropy recently gave support to some of their grantees to ensure that their national conferences are accessible. At the same time, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has created a free online toolkit on disability inclusion that can be used by any nonprofit anywhere while the Chicago Community Trust is doing important work on disability inclusion through their ADA Compliance Guide for Nonprofits.

This coming Monday, December 11th, the MacArthur Foundation is joining the wave by asking finalists for its major 100-million-dollar challenge to include people with disabilities in their work. Their initiative, “100&Change,” is a competition for a $100 million grant to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time. Never before has a grant anywhere near this size asked grantees to address how they plan to assure access to benefits for persons with disabilities.

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Rockville, Md., Nov. 30 – A brand new and very important study from Cornell University focuses on intersectionality around youth of color and English-as-a-Second-Language learners with disabilities. The fact is that often people see only race and ethnicity when they think about marginalized communities, and forget that disability impacts every ethnic group, gender identity/orientation and race.

On Friday, December 8, beginning at 9:00 am ET, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public briefing: The Intersection of Students of Color and Students with Disabilities, and School Discipline Policies. Current data suggests that school discipline practices have had a profoundly negative impact on students of color and students with disabilities, and that students of color with disabilities face even higher disproportionate impact from discipline practices than white students with disabilities. This causes a lot of students to either be expelled or drop out, which links to the data you see below, which is a result of the school-to-prison pipeline. This public session will live-stream and there will be call-in line (listen-only): 800-479-9001, conference ID 8362937. If attending in person, you should RSVP to publicaffairs@usccr.gov.

RespectAbility’s own white paper, Disability & Criminal Justice Reform: Keys to Success, showed that more than 750,000 people with disabilities are behind bars in America today. Find a special report on it from the PBS NewsHour.

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Grassroots Leaders Asked to Join in Fight Against Prejudice 

Washington, Nov. 27 –  Key national Jewish leaders are helping spread the word that “Ableism”, discrimination against people with disabilities, is unacceptable.

Grassroots advocates – people with disabilities and the people who love and respect them – are invited to join this social media effort to educate and advocate in support of equality and respect!

Activists can download their own copy of the sheet in the photos on our website. Then they can either put their Twitter address, or if they are not on Twitter, then put their name in the space.

Activists are invited to post the photo of themselves with the sign on Facebook and Twitter and tag RespectAbility on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RespectAbilityUSA and on Twitter using @Respect_Ability and @JewishInclusion. Photos below are just some of the terrific Jewish leaders who have joined this cause!
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Winner of the 2017 SAG-AFTRA New York Disability Awareness Award, Media Access Awards

Grey’s Anatomy’s Jason George

Boston, Mass., Nov. 22 — The Ruderman Family Foundation, which works to advocate for and advance the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout our society, received the SAG-AFTRA New York Disability Awareness Award at the Media Access Awards, which honors individuals who are showcasing the disability narrative accurately. SAG-AFTRA Diversity Chair Jason George accepted the award on their behalf during the ceremony in Los Angeles, Calif.

“We are sorry we couldn’t be there, but are very proud and honored by this recognition in Hollywood,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “Thank you also to the Media Access Awards and all other partners and collaborators in Hollywood who are moving the needle on disability inclusion.”

Ruderman was not present because his foundation was holding its annual Inclusion Summit in Boston that weekend.

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Long Beach, CA – The Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was created in 2000, when several business leaders realized the enormous potential of the Hispanic business community in the Southern California region and detected the need for a regional organization to represent their interests in the public and private sectors.  The mission of the RHCC is to promote and facilitate the success of businesses in the California region and its commercial areas.

The RHCC in Long Beach is managed by Sandy Cajas, a woman who confesses to have graduated at 37 years of age. Her success proves that anything is possible with enough hard work and perseverance.

The RHCC works hard to address the problems and concerns of Hispanic-owned businesses. The Chamber’s responsibilities include:

• Implementing and strengthening regional programs that assist the economic development of firms;
• Increasing business relationships and partnerships between the corporate sector and businesses;
• Promoting international trade between Hispanic businesses in the United States and Latin America;
• Monitoring legislation, policies and programs that affect the business community;
• providing technical assistance to entrepreneurs.

In addition to being president and CEO of the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (RHCC), Sandy Cajas also founded the Regional Hispanic Institute (RHI). The Institute was created with the mission of giving entrepreneurs an alternative for life preparation and life-long learning by developing and implementing initiatives and educational campaigns that awaken and nurture their entrepreneurial spirit. This is accomplished through mentoring students from the California State University system, with an emphasis on being the bridge between the corporate and student community.

Since its inception, the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, along with the Regional Hispanic Institute, has developed many programs to Enhance, Improve and Educate the Southern California Business Community.

The Líderes Regional Mentorship Program was created to increase opportunities for university students. Its goal is to support and nurture young leadership in all sectors of society. It focuses on making stronger connections and linking young leaders with high-ranking officers in a wide variety of fields. The intent is to allow students to gain valuable insight into what it takes to be successful and to begin building a strong network.

The Regional Hispanic Institute Leaders Council is a program created for California State University Long Beach Students and Graduates that have been part of the Regional Líderes Mentorship Program. The program will maximize their influence as leaders in the Southern California commercial region. Students and Recent Graduates serve on the Regional Hispanic Institute Leaders Council for two years with the option to continue at the end of the second year. Each student receives a stipend for the volunteering hours he or she serves.

The Mujeres del Año Awards have been given out every year since 2003. The Regional Hispanic Institute hosts a Gala event that celebrates the outstanding demonstration of Character, Commitment, Civility, Community, and Citizenship of Mujeres in the Long Beach area. People from a broad group of disciplines and areas win awards in several categories that benefit our community.

The Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has a Non-Discrimination Policy. They provide equal employment opportunity to qualified individuals regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, citizenship, religion, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status.

Sandy Cajas loves the phrase “Follow your dreams, think about all the people who said it would never happen, and go out and prove them wrong!” She has certainly achieved her goals, and she is working hard to ensure that young people in the Long Beach area can succeed as well.

LEARN MORE ABOUT RESPECTABILITY’S LONG BEACH COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

• FIRST-EVER COMMUNITY RESOURCE GUIDE FOR RESIDENTS OF LONG BEACH WITH DISABILITIES RELEASED
• MODEL PRACTICE: ADVANCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
• LONG BEACH SELF-ADVOCATES AND PARENTS
• LONG BEACH STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
• DISABLED VET LEADS RESTAURANT, HIRES OTHER VETS WITH DISABILITIES

Winner of the 2017 Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship, Media Access Awards

Mickey Rowe accepting his Media Access scholarship award

Beverly Hills, Nov. 18 – If you see a man walking down the streets of Seattle with a blue V-neck t-shirt with no coat or jack and with headphones in his ears, then you may have spotted actor Mickey Rowe.

He is the first actor with autism to play the leading role in the Indiana Repertory Theatre and Syracuse Stage production of the Tony-winning Best Play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and received the 2017 Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship at the Media Access Awards this year. The ceremony honors individuals who are showcasing the disability narrative.

“This has been such an amazing year for disability all over in the media and I am so honored to get to be here today,” Rowe said while accepting the award. “I cannot wait to see what the next year and the next decade has for people with disabilities and inclusion of people with disabilities.”

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Katy Sullivan presenting the award

Beverly Hills, Nov. 18 – Actress and track and field Paralympic Katy Sullivan presented the 2017 Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship to Mickey Rowe at the Media Access Awards, which honors individuals who are showcasing the disability narrative.

Sullivan is known for being a writer, producer, athlete and a bilateral above knee amputee. She was born and raised in Alabama and received her BFA in Acting from Webster University’s Conservatory in St. Louis.

As an actress she is known for her performances around the nation including The Long Red Road at The Goodman Theatre directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. She also has made appearances on television shows, independent films and documentaries such as the award-winning documentary WALK ON.

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Winner of the 2017 Writers Guild of America, West, Evan Somers Memorial Award, Media Access Awards

Atypical‘s Robia Rashid

Beverly Hills, Nov. 18 – Robia Rashid has spent her career working on shows such as Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother and The Goldbergs. However, Rashid spends her free time reading books full of “edgy and odd” stories that would not typically be shown on network television. Recently, Rashid wrote a pilot script, of which Netflix ordered the full season, and the show premiered this August.

Atypical is a coming-of-age comedy about a teenager with autism, Sam, who is navigating his love life as well as his relationships with his family and friends, while he strives for independence. Rashid said she wanted to write a show for herself after working in network television for so long. She told Vulture that she had been aware, when writing Atypical, that more people were being diagnosed with autism, and a whole generation would be growing up on the autism spectrum and would desire independence. Rashid thought it would be an interesting perspective from which to tell a dating story.

“I just feel so lucky and honored to tell this story that feels so personal and real and like nothing that I’ve ever written before or really seen before,” Rashid said while accepting her award. “It’s exciting to see Sam’s story resonate.”

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Atypical‘s Amy Okuda

Beverly Hills, Nov. 18 – “Sam is a teenage boy that is looking for love and acceptance but that is what makes the show so great. Sam in every way is a normal testosterone exploding teenager; he is just one that sees life in a unique prism,” said Amy Okuda as she presented the 2017 Writers Guild of America West Evan Somers Memorial Award to Robia Rashid at the 2017 Media Access Awards.

Sam is the main character or the Netflix original series written by Rashid called Atypical. The series follows a teenage boy with autism as he navigates life and love.

The Media Access Awards honors individuals who are showcasing the disability narrative and are doing diversity right. Okuda said she was honored to be able to present an award to Atypical’s creator Rashid.

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