Credit: ABC/Raymond Liu

Los Angeles, May 1 – A recent study by NRG and Deaf West Theater shows at least 79% of deaf consumers believe that there has been more representation of their community in TV and film compared to a year ago. One actress contributing to this representation across genres is Shaylee Mansfield. At just 14 years of age, Mansfield is quickly becoming a household name and role model for all children.

“I’m grateful to have a platform that will give not only Deaf children, but all children to freely speak up, to fight for what they want, and to be fully themselves even if it is not ‘popular,’” Mansfield said in an interview with RespectAbility.

While many of her roles in the past were for children’s shows, Mansfield’s current role is on ABC’s The Company You Keep. She first guest starred as Ollie in the pilot (February 2023), playing cards with her grandfather. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, April 28 – A new Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Report examining Netflix’s U.S. original, live-action, fictional series and films is changing the landscape in the entire entertainment industry. This report, which is the second in a series, looks across Netflix films and series in 2020 and 2021 and follows the inaugural collaboration from 2021 that included findings on movies and episodic content from 2018 and 2019. While most studies solely focus on representation of race and gender, a very important aspect to note is the study’s in-depth review of disability representation on screen. Since so few reports include disability, it is commendable that Netflix was intentional about the inclusion of disability.

The sample included a total of 546 fictional narratives (249 fictional films, 297 series) between 2018 – 2021. Only 4.2% of those in 2021 featured leads / co-leads with a disability. Unfortunately, these numbers do not come close to representing the 27.2% of people in the U.S. having a disability per the U.S. census. While the stats show that more work needs to be done, the mere fact that this study has published this data shows Netflix’s desire to be fully inclusive. [continue reading…]

Denise Sherer Jacobson

The summer I was eight, I was sent to a sleep-away camp for the month of July. The girls slept in a big dormitory, and my bed was in the center aisle. I have only one other memory about the camp—just one incident that has stayed with me all these years: The time my bed wasn’t made!

I can’t recall why it didn’t get made during the day. But by the time we were ready to go to sleep at the end of a gusty, stormy day, a thick layer of soot and dust covered the white sheet. My counselor scowled when she pushed my wheelchair over to the bed and saw the filthy mess, annoyed that she had extra work to do. She began swiping the dirt over the bed’s edge, and I, trying to help, started to do the same.

“Stop it!” she reprimanded sharply. “Get your hands away now so I can clean this up!”

I recoiled, biting my lip to keep from crying. She hadn’t even seen me as capable of wanting to help. [continue reading…]

Photo Credit: Keshet

When I think of the meaning of “a community of belonging,” it is the community that Keshet has created, particularly at camp. Each summer I sit in the picnic grove at camp, and I look out at our camp community with hundreds of disabled and non-disabled campers and staff and get overwhelmed with emotions. The word that comes to mind is always “magical”—an experience and a privilege you can’t get anywhere else.

Every single day, I see children with and without disabilities participating together in rock climbing, zip lining, swimming, arts and crafts and all the other activities camp has to offer. It’s amazing to see kids who might not otherwise have this camp experience that others take for granted, and be able to grow, flourish and make lifelong friendships in the process. It’s a community where everyone is embraced and supported.

And as beautiful and magical as all that is, that isn’t even the real magic.

The real magic is Friday night Shabbat dinner when hundreds of campers are together singing and dancing. Then suddenly, one camper is overwhelmed by the loud singing and dancing and must go outside for a sensory break. At the same time, a few of her fellow campers follow her outside and create their own outdoor song session. This happens not because staff has told these other campers to go outside and be with their cabinmate, but rather something they want to do on their own. They understand that there are ways to make sure everyone is included and can enjoy Shabbat. [continue reading…]

For both campers and staff, it is important to create an environment that supports everyone’s needs. Each person coming into the camp community should feel safe physically and emotionally. Here are some suggestions and resources for increasing the well-being of campers and staff:

1. Offer staff training such as Youth Mental Health First Aid
2. Hire mental health qualified professionals to give extra support for campers/staff (general staff should be advised to refer to qualified professionals when needed)
3. Set staff up for success by sharing background information about each camper with them (including parents’ notes and suggestions on coping tools/strategies)
4. Create quiet areas for campers and staff who need space or time to be alone
5. Allow staff to have additional breaks during the day or evening; check in with staff and create an environment in which asking for help is encouraged
6. Incorporate activities or programs with stress management, emotion management, and conflict management tools
7. Teach tools for expressing emotions and listening to others (such as non-violent communication)

[continue reading…]

We at RespectAbility’s Faith Inclusion and Belonging department know firsthand the importance of faith-based summer camps for providing spiritual and community formation. One might believe the work of faith inclusion is limited to what we do in worship services together, but as we learned from our recent webinar with Tammy Besser and Sarah McKenney, what we do outside of worship is often just as important for faith inclusion.

I myself have been profoundly shaped as a disabled person of faith by summer camp. I was fortunate to attend Pilgrim Pines, a United Church of Christ (UCC) affiliated summer camp in the heart of the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. Pilgrim Pines was one of the first places where I encountered full integration of disabled people in a community. The camp partnered with local care facilities to bring children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to camp. Disabled people are often segregated from the rest of society, so the opportunity to build lifelong friendships and spiritual connections year after year with fellow campers, both disabled and non-disabled, was transformative. [continue reading…]

March was a particularly a strong month for our policy department, both in terms of teaching and networking.

On March 3, Senior Policy Advisor Matan Koch taught more than 50 workforce professionals how to advocate for disability inclusion in their work places using the business case. You can watch that webinar and download the fully accessible presentation on RespectAbility’s website.

Wally Tablit and Peter Bernick, Assistant Professor at Nagasaki University

A few days later, Wally Tablit, our Senior Director of Policy and Workforce Development, was honored to have presented at the 38th Annual Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity on March 6 and 7 in Honolulu, HI. The event was hosted by the Center on Disability Studies College of Education, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Immediately after the Pacific Rim Conference, Wally presented at the 1st Annual Hawaiian Employment First Summit in Honolulu on March 8, presented by the HI Chapter of APSE (Association of People Supporting Employment First). These two events gathered several hundred people from all over the Pacific Rim region. Wally made connections with people from Japan, New Zealand, Hawaii, and more. [continue reading…]

Salt Lake City, UT, April 20 – A new report by Luminate found that disability representation on screen was by far and away the lowest of any minority group they analyzed. In 2021, there were only five main title cast roles in film for people who identified as disabled. The following year, there were just three roles, which means only half a percent of films over the last two years had a main cast member with a disability. These numbers improve only very slightly in series television; there were nine series regulars who identified as disabled in both 2021 and 2022. With Americans continuing to consume roughly five hours of media a day on streaming services and traditional television, representation, or in this case, lack of representation impacts how society views people with disabilities.

“At their best, films and TV series can help remove current stigmas that exist for people with disabilities,” said RespectAbility’s Senior Vice President Lauren Appelbaum. “These stories can shift assumptions and bring attention to larger systemic issues. However, inclusion of disabled people must be an intentional effort on the part of studios and content creators. Disabled talent exists and need to be given the platform to create.”

The problem is not just in front of the screen. There were zero film directors with disabilities over the last two years and just one series creator who identified as disabled: Ryan O’Connell. O’Connell created and starred in the Netflix show Special based on his life as a gay man with cerebral palsy. Along with his role in Peacock’s Queer as Folk, O’Connell’s on-screen work accounts for more than 10 percent of series regular roles for actors with disabilities.

While Hollywood still struggles to hire disabled talent, it continues to make movies that center disabled narratives. Fifteen films were released over the last two years that centered disabled stories and yet the industry clearly did not rely on the community whose stories they were using to make money. This needs to change. Authentic casting and representation behind the camera help to ensure better representation. It is time for Hollywood to hear what disability activists have been shouting for decades: “nothing about us, without us.” [continue reading…]

Our nation’s workforce system is a crucial aspect of the economy. It consists of many organizations, laws, and programs that connect people to jobs. But one significant component of the modern workforce system is in need of reauthorization.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, or WIOA, combined more than a dozen workforce development programs under a single legislative roof. Each program served one population with a barrier to employment, such as veterans, at-risk youth, or people with disabilities. The idea behind WIOA was that one integrated workforce program would be stronger and more effective than several isolated programs. The integrated workforce program serves all clients, regardless of which barrier(s) to employment they face. It is also subject to updated standards for performance and transparency.

The initial WIOA funding expired in 2020, but Congress has included funds in the budget every year since then. Some representatives have tried to officially re-authorize WIOA to ensure funding stability and make improvements to the legislation. In 2022, the House passed a WIOA re-authorization bill along party lines. The bill never made it through the Senate.

When considering the ideal form in which to reauthorize WIOA, we need to answer two questions: Is WIOA working as intended? If not, how can we improve it? The answer to these questions is found by examining the successes of WIOA as it relates to people with disabilities, and analyzing the causes in those places where the goals were not met. [continue reading…]