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From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: Full Lineup of Speakers Announced

head shot of Leah Daniels-Butler wearing a blue collared blouse color photo

Leah Daniels-Butler

Rockville, Md., July 27 – RespectAbility announces the final line-up for next week’s summit From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: The Future of Americans with Disabilities. The summit will take place on Monday, July 31 from 8:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. at the Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (RHOB 2168) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The summit will celebrate the good that can be done to end stigmas and advance opportunities for the 57 million Americans with disabilities.

headshot of Marc Summers wearing a black suit and blue shirt with arms crossed in front of a kitchen set

Marc Summers

Featuring:

Additional Speakers Include:

  • Ollie Cantos, U.S. Department of Education (Invited)
  • Eleanor Clift, author of Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment (Turning Points in History) and Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics
  • Sneha Dave, Chronic Illness and Disability Advocate
  • Stanley B. Greenberg, Ph.D., Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research
  • Calvin Harris, The Bipartisan Policy Center
  • Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, President, RespectAbility
  • Meg O’Connell, The Poses Family Foundation
  • Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune
  • Brilynn Rakes, Visually Impaired Dancer
  • Gerard Robinson, AEI
  • Jennifer Sheehy, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
  • Steven James Tingus, Entertainment Inclusion Consultant
  • Donna Walton, Divas With Disabilities Project and author of Shattered Dreams, Broken Pieces

Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. Tickets are free but spaces are extremely limited and RSVPs are required.

How can I request accommodations? ADA seating, live captioning and ASL interpreters will be provided. Please let us know in advance if you need other accommodations.

More Information and RSVP: http://bit.ly/July31DC.

Full Schedule:

  • 8:30 AM – 9:15 AM: Registration and Networking
  • 9:15 AM – 9:30 AM: Introduction: Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, President, RespectAbility
  • 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM: Ollie Cantos, U.S. Department of Education (invited)
  • 9:45 – 10:10 AM: Stan Greenberg, Ph.D., Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research
  • 10:10 – 10:30 AM: Gerard Robinson, AEI
  • 10:30 – 10:40 AM: Brilynn Rakes, Visually Impaired Dancer
  • 10:40 – 11:00 AM: Donna Walton, Divas With Disabilities Project
  • 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Tommy and Joe Morrissey, One-Arm Golfer and Father
    • Moderated by Lauren Appelbaum, RespectAbility Communications Director
  • 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM: Marc Summers, Television Network Host with OCD
  • 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch Break
  • 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM: Leah Daniels-Butler, Casting Director and Producer
    • Moderated by Steven James Tingus, Entertainment Inclusion Consultant
  • 1:45 PM – 2:00 PM: Deputy Assistant Secretary Jennifer Sheehy, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
  • 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: PANEL – From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: The Future of Americans with Disabilities
    • Eleanor Clift, Washington Correspondent, The Daily Beast
    • Sneha Dave, Chronic Illness and Disability Advocate
    • Meg O’Connell, The Poses Family Foundation
    • Clarence Page, Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune
    • Moderated by Calvin Harris, The Bipartisan Policy Center

Meet the Author

Lauren Appelbaum

Lauren Appelbaum is the VP, Communications and Entertainment & News Media, of RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so all people with disabilities can fully participate in every aspect of community. As an individual with an acquired nonvisible disability – Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy – she works at the intersection of disability, employment, Hollywood and politics. She regularly conducts trainings on the why and how to be more inclusive and accessible for entertainment executives throughout the industry. Appelbaum partners with studios, production companies and writers’ rooms to create equitable and accessible opportunities to increase the number of people with lived disability experience throughout the overall story-telling process. These initiatives increase diverse and authentic representation of disabled people on screen, leading to systemic change in how society views and values people with disabilities. She has consulted on more than 100 TV episodes and films with A&E, Bunim-Murray Productions, NBCUniversal, Netflix, ViacomCBS, and The Walt Disney Company, among others. She represents RespectAbility on the CAA Full Story Initiative Advisory Council, Disney+ Content Advisory Council, MTV Entertainment Group Culture Code and Sundance Institute’s Allied Organization Initiative. She is the author of The Hollywood Disability Inclusion Toolkit and the creator of an innovative Lab Program for entertainment professionals with disabilities working in development, production and post-production. She is a recipient of the 2020 Roddenberry Foundation Impact Award for this Lab. To reach her, email LaurenA@RespectAbility.org.

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