As State Policy Manager for RespectAbility, state legislators often share with me that they or their spouse, child, parent, sibling, or close friend has a disability and they would like to be more active and involved with disability issues, but don’t know where to start.

Currently, there are not very many state legislatures that have disability caucuses. Legislative caucuses are groups of legislators that come together across party lines to pursue shared goals in areas such as homelessness, veterans issues, the environment, and issues impacting senior citizens. Caucuses give members from all political parties the opportunity to work together to sponsor educational briefings for other members on their topic and encourage legislation. Some states that have these caucuses are Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Ohio.

RespectAbility’s state policy team has launched an initiative to encourage the creation of a Legislative Disability Caucus in the state legislatures that currently don’t have them. Beyond giving legislators the opportunity to work together collaboratively to promote disability legislation and educate their fellow legislators, having a disability caucus in every state would give our community a more efficient way of targeting legislators who have expressed an interest in our issues and tapping into their network. [continue reading…]

Written by Faith Inclusion and Belonging Fellows Hannah Roussel and Sara Sharma

What Was The 504 Sit-In All About?

Disability Rights Activist Kitty Cone

On April 5, 1977, in San Francisco, disability activists occupied a federal building for 26 days, until Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act – granting new rights to disabled people – was signed into law. This protest came with many challenges, and faith and spirituality played a significant part in sustaining the activists. The 504 sit-in was an inevitable event given that it had taken four years for President Carter and his Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Joseph Califano, to sign and enact the Rehabilitation Act. Due to the intentional negligence of Joseph Califano, Judy Heumann and the other activists (more than 100 people) felt that it was time that they initiated a change to speed up the process. [continue reading…]

Monthly Employment Update for People with Disabilities

According to the latest National Trends In Disability Employment (nTIDE) report:

• The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities grew to 40.4% in October 2023 from 38.7% in October 2022. This continues an upward trend we have observed throughout this year. Workers without disabilities increased their labor force participation rate from 77.1% in October 2022 to 78.0% in October 2023.
• The employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities rose from 35.5% in October 2022 to 37.2% in October 2023. For people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio increased slightly from 74.6% to 75.2%.

Unemployment Rate

According to the US Department of Labor (DOL) disability employment statistics, the unemployment rate of people without a disability held steady at 3.5%, which is within the range of 3-5% deemed healthy by most economists. However, the unemployment rate amongst those with a disability is more than two times higher at 7.8%.

On September 7, 2023, the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights published a proposed update to the HHS regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits agencies receiving federal funds from discriminating on the basis of disability. Since the passage of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973, the more far-reaching Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990. The proposed rule aligns HHS’ Section 504 regulations with newer ADA regulations in accordance with Congress’ directives to interpret the two consistently. [continue reading…]

TV content fosters a unique connection between audiences and characters, so it’s clear that people want to see themselves and their stories represented on screen. However, for TV to reflect audiences’ realities, the identities of TV writers need to reflect those of the population. While the disabled membership of the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has doubled from 0.6% in 2021 to 1.3% in 2022, Canadian disabled writers are underrepresented in every TV format in proportion to their population size. [continue reading…]

On November 1, Disney will release the second season of their animated children’s show, Firebuds, which follows a group of friends and their first responder vehicles as they help others in their community, and even themselves. Notably, the Season 2 episode Wrong Way Rescue highlights a learning disability not commonly known called dyscalculia.

Dyscalculia is a learning disability that affects an individual’s ability to process numbers and math-based thinking, with an estimated 2-8% of the population having it. Wrong Way Rescue focuses on the character Axl, an anthropomorphic ambulance, who appears to have difficulty remembering the right address when an emergency call comes in. Axl initially struggles with counting in order, and then reverses the address number, taking her first responder friends up and down the street. Throughout the episode, Axl navigates feelings of embarrassment and confusion until she encounters another character who explains her disability with a catchy song. [continue reading…]

It has long been a source of consternation to members of the disability community that political candidates and elected officials rarely speak publicly about issues specific to disabled voters. In fact, few politicians even address how broader issues that they do speak about impact people with disabilities. After most presidential debates, there is a predictable barrage of social media posts from disabled voters who are disappointed that the candidates never mentioned the word “disability,” let alone addressed some of the issues that impact our daily lives the most.

It turns out that the disappointment shared by disabled social media users is more widespread than many might have imagined. According to a recent poll by the think tank Data For Progress, “a majority of disabled voters don’t believe politicians care about the disabled community.”

61% of likely voters with disabilities who were polled disagreed with the statement, “Public officials and politicians care about what people with disabilities think.” Interestingly, 50% of the non-disabled voters who were polled agreed with them. This held true across party lines; 58% of all Democrats polled and 52% of all Republicans disagreed with the statement that politicians care about disabled voters. [continue reading…]

Hannah Roussel

October is celebrated as National Disability Employment and Awareness Month (NDEAM). This month provides employers with the opportunity to reflect on ways to increase accommodations and foster inclusion for their employees. It also serves as a platform for job seekers to receive support in finding inclusive jobs, and for employees to advocate for necessary workplace accommodations.

I observed NDEAM by attending RespectAbility’s NDEAM summit (click the link for recordings and resources). I received training by disabled people for disabled people on professional development and career searches. This summit was motivated by a desire to make the world a better, more inclusive place, and it prompted me to think about the Jewish concept of Olam Haba.

Olam Haba, meaning the world to come, refers to a peaceful and holy afterlife and/or the new world that God will build after the coming of the Messiah. Olam Haba isn’t something we have to wait for. Jewish tradition teaches that Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, is meant to be a taste of Olam Haba, a sneak peak of a better world. This concept of tasting a better world has simultaneously intrigued and eluded me for most of my life. [continue reading…]

Shelly Christensen

“How can my faith community become better at including people with disabilities?”

This question, raised by people with disabilities, clergy, lay leaders, and community members, is why Faith Inclusion and Belonging is one of RespectAbility’s four pillars. Spirituality and faith are incredibly important to many disabled people. The Faith Inclusion and Belonging team recognizes that it takes more than a willing heart to foster a culture of belonging, where disabled people feel they are respected, valued, and included. [continue reading…]