Rockville, Maryland, June 7, 2018 – Geoffrey Melada, the director of communications for Hillel International, believes in the power of storytelling. So much so that he began his recent mentoring session with RespectAbility’s Fellows with a story. Melada told the story of how Sen. John McCain and his fellow prisoners of war used a “tap [click to continue...]
Throughout LGBTQ Pride Month (June), the LGBTQ community will be reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future. Among lesbian, gay and bisexual adults, 30 percent of men and 36 percent of women also identify as having a disability. The disability community intersects with every other minority group, and the LGBTQ community is [click to continue...]
Frida Kahlo, a Mexican woman who had multiple disabilities including polio as a child and spinal and pelvis damage from a car accident, became a world-renowned self-portrait painter. She has since served as a role model for generations of artists, people with disabilities and bisexual women. Kahlo was married to artist Diego Rivera; each of [click to continue...]
Josh Feldman did not see himself on TV growing up. “As a young kid, I wondered who my deaf gay role models were, so that I could have an idea of what deaf gay adults could do, or what kind of people they were in society,” he told RespectAbility. That Feldman did not see representation [click to continue...]
Justin Chappell identifies as “a gay man with a disability from a multi-racial family.” He was born with spina bifida and is a wheelchair user. Politics has played a major part in his life, including meeting his husband at a Democratic National Convention. In late 2015 and early 2016, Chappell spent months on the campaign [click to continue...]
Jonathan Murray is one of the best allies that the one-in-five people with disabilities has on earth. While Murray does not have a disability himself, he knows what it is like to be stigmatized as someone who is openly gay. He told RespectAbility that he’s “always felt like a bit of an outsider,” continuing: “Growing [click to continue...]
When Time Magazine, in a 2016 profile written by Elton John, highlighted Darren Walker as being one of the 100 most influential people on earth, it was even before he began championing people with disabilities. And yet just months later, the Ford Foundation’s President became one of the most important allies to the one-in-five people [click to continue...]
Rockville, Maryland, June 4 – The story of Britain’s Got Talent 2018 is a story of two hilarious comedians who happen to have disabilities finishing in the top 2: Lee Ridley and Robert White. Lee Ridley, Lost Voice Guy After receiving more than two and a half million votes, Lee Ridley, who goes by Lost [click to continue...]
Rockville, Maryland, May 29 – Sulam will recognize two community leaders for outstanding work as advocates for inclusion at its annual gala on June 3, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. ET at The Hotel at the University of Maryland in College Park. Both of these leaders share the vision of Sulam, which is to ensure that [click to continue...]
Read the webinar transcript Download the accessible PowerPoint presentation Watch the webinar on YouTube with live embedded captions In this session, we outlined the exciting work of the Education & Skills Building Committee. This committee is for those community partners, leaders and self-advocates interested in projects to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for students with disabilities [click to continue...]
