African Americans have had a long history of hardships in the United States. Brought to the Americas as slaves, many African Americans built a nation with their blood, sweat and tears. Contributing to music, art, sports, military and more, black and people of color still do not get the credit or respect that they deserve. With [click to continue...]
Washington, D.C., Feb. 27 – “What’s a leg got to do with it?” This is the question Donna Walton poses to her audience in speeches regarding her experience as a woman with a disability. As an amputee, Walton has experienced her fair share of people mistaking her disability for a weakness that supposedly makes her [click to continue...]
UPDATED APRIL 2019 More than 5.4 million African Americans live with a disability in the U.S., 3.4 million of which are working-age African Americans with disabilities. Only 28.6 percent of working-age African Americans with disabilities are employed in the U.S. compared to 73.7 percent of working-age African Americans without disabilities. This is in line with the rest of [click to continue...]
Muhammad Ali was known to many as a champion boxer and a man who fought for racial and social justice his entire life. He acquired Parkinson’s at age 42 and became a role model for people with physical disabilities. What many may not know, however, is that Ali also had dyslexia. “As a high school [click to continue...]
People with intellectual and mental disabilities can thank Lois Curtis for paving the way for them to live in the community receiving the services they need. In what was called “the most important decision for people with disabilities in history,” the Olmstead Decision justified the right for people with disabilities to live independently but would [click to continue...]
Simone Biles is known widely as the Olympic champion who dominated the sport of gymnastics during the 2016 Rio Olympics. Biles has won four consecutive all around titles and is the first female to do so since the 1970’s. She also has competed and won 14 world championship medals. At a young age, Biles was [click to continue...]
Clarence Page is a highly accomplished journalist. He is a Pulitzer-winning syndicated columnist for the Tribune network, a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and has appeared on The McLaughlin Group, NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show, ABC’s Nightline and BET’s Lead Story. He is also an African American who identifies as [click to continue...]
Claudia Gordon is recognized as one of former President Barack Obama’s key advisors for disability issues. She was also the first female deaf African American lawyer to graduate law school and pursue a career devoted to helping individuals with disabilities. Today she works in a senior role at Sprint, a company with many accessibility features [click to continue...]
Harriet Tubman is known as one of the most influential leaders of our nation. She was a former slave turned abolitionist who bravely risked her life to free both slaves and her own family members through the underground railroad. Tubman was a Maryland native. She was born around 1820 in Dorchester, County, Md. Her mission [click to continue...]
View 2021 Release: https://www.respectability.org/2021/02/black-history-month-2021. Rockville Md., Feb. 5 – As we celebrate Black History Month, which takes place every February, RespectAbility recognizes the contributions made and the important presence of African Americans to the United States. It is important to note this includes more than 5.6 million African Americans living with a disability in the [click to continue...]
