Los Angeles, March 16 – During Sunday’s Academy Awards, many firsts were celebrated in terms of diversity and inclusion, including disability representation. Best Picture Everything Everywhere All at Once showcases representation of ADHD, while writer/director Daniel Kwan, who also took home an award for directing, has ADHD himself. Best Live Action Short An Irish Goodbye features James Martin, an actor with Down syndrome. Also of note, RespectAbility Lab Alumna Courtney Wold served as the visual effects production manager for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which won Best Animated Feature.

Everything Everywhere All At Once Takes Viewers on a Journey Inside the Multiverses of a Neurodivergent Mind

As widely expected, Everything Everywhere All at Once took home numerous Oscars during this week’s ceremony. A neurodivergent audience member watching Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) may pick up on the fact that she has undiagnosed ADHD. Daniel Kwan, one-half of the writer/director team “Daniels,” confirmed this in various interviews. Kwan set out to write a lead character with undiagnosed ADHD, which he felt would add to the external and internal chaos in the film. Through his research of ADHD traits, Kwan felt a sense of familiarity and ended up getting diagnosed with ADHD himself. Turns out, Kwan was subconsciously pulling from his own lived disability experience. [continue reading…]

On the last day of February 2023, I joined a roomful of employers, job seekers, and advocates in a conference center in San Francisco all united by one passion – building a workforce that was diverse, inclusive, and welcoming to all. This one-day event, hosted by Roy Baladi of Jobs for Humanity and cosponsored by the California Department of Rehabilitation, was a whirlwind of trainings, hands-on activities, and mentorship all oriented around this one singular goal.

The keynote remarks were delivered by Ken Oliver, Executive Director of Checkr.org. An employer himself, Oliver shared his story about rising from solitary confinement in prison where he educated himself in the law enough to realize that his civil rights were being violated, forming the foundation of a case that led to his eventual release. His experience and emergence into the job market later in life taught him the value of persistence and second chances, something that he has made into a career as a leader of the philanthropic arm of a company valued at $4.6 billion.

Throughout the day, Oliver’s charge to us rang in our ears, that many people don’t get a second chance, and that walking in the shoes of those we are committed to supporting is essential to eliminating bias and promoting fair chance. [continue reading…]

President Biden released his budget last week, and it has tremendous potential to advance the disability community, but only if disabled people are included and remain vigilant.

The budget includes a number of programs which are framed as making the economy more competitive and Americans more secure. The first thing of note is the specific call out of Home and Community-based Services (HCBS). The budget would invest $150 billion over 10 years to improve and expand Medicaid HCBS, to, in the words of the press release, “allow older Americans and individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes and stay active in their communities as well as improve the quality of jobs for home care workers.” This is the time to be strong advocates and partners to ensure not only that this funding becomes law, but that we continue to modernize programs to allow Medicaid recipients to work, to marry, and to fully participate in society.

The other direct mention of disability comes in the President’s educational priorities, where the press release by the White House specifically affirms that “[e]very child with a disability should have access to the high-quality early intervention, special education services, and personnel needed to thrive in school and graduate ready for college or a career.” This statement prefaces an announcement of a proposed $2.1 billion increase in Pre-K through 12 IDEA spending, and almost a billion dollars in early intervention spending. This is a prime opportunity to bring our collective voices to ensuring passage while strengthening special education practices and access throughout the country so that the money leads to the best outcomes. [continue reading…]

I recently researched three disability organizations in the countries of Afghanistan, India, and Kenya to find out the differences and similarities between what they and RespectAbility do. Upon exploring them, I realized the unifying thread that was the Convention on Rights for Persons with Disabilities. I believe that the U.S. should immediately ratify the treaty.

Here’s what I learned: [continue reading…]

Last month, we shared monthly employment data from the BLS. In this month’s Data Corner, we examine the National Trends In Disability Employment (nTIDE) and their work tracking employment for people with disabilities. We will also explore some educational data that shows some encouraging progress.

In February 2023, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities rose to an all-time high of 40.2%, compared to 36.6% in February 2022. This is encouraging as we work towards closing the gap between workers with and without disabilities. Workers without disabilities experienced a smaller uptick in the labor force participation rate, which rose from 76.9% in February 2022 to 77.3% in February 2023.

Likewise, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities rose from 33.1% in February 2022 to 36.9% in February 2023. For those without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio increased from 73.8% to 74.4%. [continue reading…]

The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (TCIEA) was introduced in February 2023 in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MA). The bill is designed to end the exception to the minimum wage enacted in the 1930s which allows certain employers of people with disabilities to pay wages significantly under the minimum wage, as little as pennies an hour, colloquially known as subminimum wage. We recognize that this would realize one of our main strategic policy goals.

Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 instructed the Department of Labor (DOL) to provide certificates to employers specifically involved in the training of people with disabilities, allowing them an exemption to minimum wage standards. The original purpose of this exemption was to allow workshops for people with disabilities to continue operating through the end of the Great Depression, despite the fact that the federal government had enacted a minimum wage. It has long outlived this purpose, and has in fact created inequitable outcomes, and diverted people with disabilities from the more effective training programs available this century. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, March 15 – With one-in-five people having a disability in the U.S., the lack of representation – less than one percent in children’s television – means that millions of children are unable to see themselves in media today. Furthermore, when representation exists, a great deal of disability representation on screen is of white males. Disney Junior’s Firebuds, however, explores the diversity missing from disability representation.

Set in a fantastical world where talking vehicles live, work, and play with the humans who drive them, “All That Jazzy” follows the eponymous character (Lauren “Lolo” Spencer), a young Black girl with spina bifida, whose “vroom-mate” is wheelchair car Piper (Sammi Haney). After watching a dance performance starring Ayanna (Tatiana Lee) and Gliderbella (Ali Stroker), Jazzy is inspired to become a lead dancer, too.

“Firebuds is such an amazing series to be part of. In order to build inclusivity and normalize the diversity in our world, we have to start by teaching our children,” Spencer said. “Playing a character like ‘Jazzy’ and having characters like ‘Castor’ [a vroom-mate with a cleft hood] who reflect the differences of real people and show the importance of embracing others regardless of those differences, is truly an honor. I’m grateful that I can help spread such an important message.” [continue reading…]

Judy Heumann embodied cross-disability solidarity throughout her life, beginning with her time at Camp Jened, a summer camp for disabled teenagers. She created life-long friendships with other disabled folks that formed the foundation of their organizing work for the passage of the ADA.

Cross-disability friendship is a powerful bond. It is a love that insists we can and must work miracles for each other, that expands what we believe ourselves to be capable of.

In the disability community, grief is an all too frequent companion. Too many disabled friends have died prematurely. We are not strangers to the task of continuing legacies.

Almost exactly a year before the pandemic began, I sat with my best friend, Rabbi Emet Tauber, as he passed away from complications of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. He was 24. [continue reading…]

Judith (Judy) Heumann was the definition of perseverance and determination in her fight for equity for all people. Considered “the mother” of the disability rights movement, Judy Heumann has been a part of almost every pivotal moment in the movement ever since. After being turned away from her elementary school for being seen as a ‘fire hazard,’ Judy committed the entirety of her life to the disability rights movement. However, she is perhaps best known for helping to lead a 28-day sit-in at the San Francisco federal building which led to the signing of section 504. Section 504 was the first major piece of legislation protecting disabled people under federal law and its passing and opened up the legal flood gates for broader protections for the disabled community.

Judy Heumann was a trailblazer. Being in a position of power, as she was, was a huge step not only for the general disabled population, but specifically for women and girls with disabilities. Heumann often emphasized the intersectional approach needed to address all parts of an individual’s identity. Specifically, she pointed out the multiple forms of discrimination and marginalization women and girls with disabilities face due to their gender and disabilities. Heumann advocated to empower women with disabilities to advocate for their own rights and participate fully in all aspects of society. [continue reading…]