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Five images of people with disabilities, the Hollywood sign, Capitol Hill, and award statues

From Washington to Hollywood and Beyond: The Future of Americans with Disabilities

Watch videos, download transcripts, and read speaker biographies from our 2019 Capitol Hill Summit!

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

  • Watch the Video with Open Captions
  • Download the Transcript
  • Speakers:
    • Hon. Steve Bartlett, Chair, RespectAbility
    • Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, President and Co-Founder, RespectAbility
    • National Anthem: Vocals by Adam Fishbein, Fellow, RespectAbility; violin by Debbie Fink, Director of Community Outreach & Impact, RespectAbility
Adam Fishbein singing the national anthem in front of an American flag with Debbie Fink accompanying him on violin.

L-R: Debbie Fink and Adam Fishbein

KEYNOTE — Proven Strategies for Creating Large and Influential Networks

Ollie Cantos writing on a flip chart holding a walking stick, as Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi and Steve Bartlett look on seated at a table. Sign language interpreter is in the lower left of the frame. American flag in the background

Ollie Cantos

PANEL — Public Policy and Jobs for People with Disabilities

  • Watch the Video with Open Captions
  • Download the Transcript
  • Read the Press Release
  • Speakers: 
    • Moderator: Philip Kahn Pauli, Policy and Practices Director, RespectAbility
    • Michael Reardon, Director, Employment Related Supports, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
    • Mary Lazare, Principal Deputy Administrator, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Aging
    • Rachel Stephens, Program Director, NGA (National Governors Association) Economic Opportunity
    • Tina Williams, Deputy Director, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
Policy panelists smiling together in front of an American flag at RespectAbility's 2019 summit

L-R: Mary Lazare, Michael Reardon, Philip Kahn-Pauli, Rachel Stephens and Tina Williams

KEYNOTE — Disability, Creativity and Purpose

Vincenzo Piscopo speaking behind a microphone on a table with RespectAbility's logo on the tablecloth in front of a flag

Vincenzo Piscopo

PANEL — Ending the School to Prison Pipeline for Students with Disabilities

  • Watch the Video with Open Captions
  • Download the Transcript
  • Read the Press Release
  • Speakers: 
    • Moderator: Janie Jeffers, Former Senior Policy Advisor for the President’s Crime Prevention Council
    • Janet LaBreck, Former Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration
    • Robert Stephens, Director of Government Relations, National Center for Learning Disabilities
    • Diane Smith Howard, Managing Attorney, National Disability Rights Network
L-R: Janet LaBreck, Janie Jeffers, Diane Smith Howard, and Robert Stephens smiling in front of a wall and an American flag

L-R: Janet LaBreck, Janie Jeffers, Diane Smith Howard and Robert Stephens

Rep. Brad Sherman Presents the RespectAbility Award to Jonathan Murray

Brad Sherman with RespectAbility staff and supporters, smiling together

Rep. Brad Sherman with RespectAbility staff and supporters

Changing the Face of Disability in Media  

  • Watch the Video with Open Captions
  • Download the Transcript
  • Read the Press Release
  • Speakers: 
    • Moderator: Jonathan Murray, Reality TV Pioneer; Founder and Executive Consultant, Bunim-Murray Productions
    • Teresa Hammond, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, GoNoodle
    • Candace Cable, Self-Advocate, 12-time Paralympic Medalist; California Workforce Program Manager, RespectAbility
    • Nasreen Alkhateeb, Award-Winning Director, All Media Storytelling
    • Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson, Peanut Butter Falcon (via video)
Top row L-R: Jonathan Murray, Nasreen Alkhateeb, Lauren Appelbaum and Teresa Hammond. Candace Cable in second row. All are smiling together in front of RespectAbility's podium, screen, and an American flag

L-R: Jonathan Murray, Candace Cable, Nasreen Alkhateeb, Lauren Appelbaum and Teresa Hammond

PANEL — Success Stories of Authentic Advocacy

  • Watch the Video with Open Captions
  • Download the Transcript
  • Read the Press Release
  • Speakers: 
    • Moderator: Nicole LeBlanc, Advocacy Specialist, Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration; Former RespectAbility Policy Fellow and self-advocate
    • Ila Eckhoff, Managing Director, BlackRock and self-advocate
    • Evelyn Kelley, US Patent & Trademark Office, Board member and self-advocate
    • Laka Negassa, Policy Fellow, RespectAbility and self-advocate
    • Matan Koch, Senior Advisor, RespectAbility and self-advocate
Self Advocacy Panelists smiling with Debbie Fink and Steve Bartlett in front of an American flag and behind a table

L-R: Matan Koch, Debbie Fink, Laka Mitiku Negassa, Evelyn Kelley, Steve Bartlett, Ila Eckhoff and Nicole LeBlanc

PANEL — What can YOU do to make a difference?

Steve Bartlett speaking in front of a screen with his biography on it behind a podium with #RespectTheAbility on it

Steve Bartlett

Presenters

  • Nasreen Alkhateeb, Award-winning Director, All Media Storytelling

    Nasreen Alkhateeb is an award-winning filmmaker, whose original content has broadcast internationally for over a decade. By illuminating under-represented voices, Alkhateeb thrives as a leader on diverse storytelling projects that include broadcast, digital, and film. As a multi-cultural woman of color, who is differently-abled, Alkhateeb has a plethora of lenses she sees the world through. Both African American, and Iraqi, she constantly is translating these worlds, with one foot on three continents. In 2019, her film East of the River screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and won Honorable Mention at Slamdance. She also directed two national campaigns for NASA and Women’s March. In 2018, she directed the first 50th year anniversary film for NASA’s Apollo Program. In addition to creating original content for the United Nations, TED, NASA, SXSW, Discovery Networks, WITNESS, and IFC Films, Alkhateeb was awarded Cinematographer of the Year by NASA for her work in Greenland. Read more about Nasreen Alkhateeb.

  • Lauren Appelbaum, Vice president, Communications, RespectAbility

    Lauren Appelbaum is the Vice President, Communications, at RespectAbility. She brings more than 15 years of experience in strategic and crisis communications, writing, video and web production, news gathering and social media to the disability agenda. Previously she was a digital researcher with the NBC News political unit, where she worked with Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell. As an individual with an acquired invisible disability – Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy – she writes about the intersection of disability, employment, Hollywood and politics. Appelbaum currently oversees RespectAbility’s outreach to Hollywood to promote positive, accurate, diverse and inclusive media portrayals on TV and in film. Read more about Lauren Appelbaum.

  • HON. Steve Bartlett, Chairman, RespectAbility

    As a member of Congress from 1983-1991, The Honorable Steve Bartlett was the principal author of 18 major pieces of legislation including many legislative initiatives on advancing the cause of independence for people with disabilities. In addition to being a principal Republican author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, legislation included Medicaid eligibility, Section 1619 for Medicare eligibility, supported employment, assistive technology, creation of Towards Independence, the President’s Council on Handicapped 1984 report, and mainstreaming reforms for IDEA. During his entire tenure in Congress, he served as the ranking Republican on the Select Education Subcommittee, with jurisdiction for disability issues in education and vocational rehabilitation. Bartlett also served on the House Banking and the Education and Labor Committees. Read more about Steve Bartlett.

  • Vivian Bass, Executive committee, RespectAbility

    Vivian G. Bass was elected as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Jewish Women International (JWI) in July 2016. Bass has dedicated her career to improving the quality of life, independence and community inclusion and dignity of persons with disabilities throughout the Washington, D.C., area, nationally and internationally. She became the CEO Emeritus of The Jewish Foundation for Group Homes (JFGH) in June 2016 subsequent to serving for 30 years at the helm of the agency, which ultimately grew to 77 residential locations via a wide variety of models, two innovative transition youth programs, a staff of 260, and having $28 million in total assets. As JFGH continued to become a model for more than 25 communities over five continents, Bass travelled extensively, mentoring these communities wishing to emulate the JFGH Program. Read more about Vivian Bass.

  • Candace Cable, self-advocate, 12-Time Paralympic Medalist

    Candace Cable is the California Workforce Program Manager at RespectAbility. She was previously a Public Policy/Employment Fellow in RespectAbilitys National Leadership Program for Spring of 2019. Cables involvement in sports after a spinal cord injury in 1975 at the age of 21 gave her renewed health, the ability to socially re-engage and a purpose in life. After her 27-year Paralympic athletic career, she uses this platform to effect positive global cohesive change for people with disabilities through her disability education training, consulting, writing, volunteering and speaking. She is a nine-time Paralympian who competed in three sports: wheelchair racing, alpine and nordic ski racing. Cable won 12 medals and became the first American woman to medal in both Summer and Winter Paralympics in 1992. She also had the opportunity to compete on an Olympic stage, when wheelchair racing was an exhibition event, in three Summer Olympic Games, 84, 88, 92 and won two bronze medals. Read more about Candace Cable.

  • Ollie Cantos, Board of Advisors, RespectAbility

    Ollie Cantos has been active in the civil rights arena since 1990.  He is Special Assistant to the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and Member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID).  He is also Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Scholarships for Eagles, Board Member of the Virginia Organization of Parents of Blind Children, Attorney Mentor for the American Bar Association Commission on Disability Rights, and Member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. Ollie is most grateful for his adoption of three blind triplet boys – Leo, Nick, and Steven. Read more about Ollie Cantos.

  • Ila Eckhoff, CPA, Managing Director, BlackRock

    Ila Eckhoff, CPA, Managing Director, is a member of BlackRock’s Business Operations as part of Investment Operations – Derivative Operations. She is responsible for leading BlackRock’s Industry and Counterparty Management strategy for derivatives and collateral. Ms. Eckhoff serves on a number of committees, including the Business Operations and Technology Leadership Committees and Government Relations Steering Committee. She helped launch and led Blackrock’s Ability Network in 2017, which currently has over 400 members in the US, Europe and Asia. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and a member of the Autism and Special Needs Committee for UJA. Never letting her cerebral palsy define her, she is the 2018 recipient of the Dr. Catherine White Achievement Award from Heartshare.

  • Debbie Fink, Director of community outreach & Impact, RespectAbility

    Debbie Fink is Director of Community Outreach and Impact for RespectAbility. She brings more than 15 years of diverse leadership experience in public health, education and arts programming to serve RespectAbility’s mission. Fink has a lifetime commitment to enabling people with disabilities to have a better future and is passionate about the constructive impact volunteers can make in the world. A published author and musician, Fink managed a woman-owned small business, developing and delivering books and programs that educate, motivate, and celebrate diverse people including those with disabilities. She also served as VP of Global Programs for a 100 percent volunteer-run organization that provided free services to families of wounded warriors and other service members. Fink’s numerous books and curricula have impacted more than 500,000 beneficiaries worldwide, and she was a recording artist on the CD All in Good Time. Read more about Debbie Fink.

  • Adam Fishbein, Jewish inclusion & Volunteer recruitment Fellow, Respectability

    Adam Fishbein is a Jewish Inclusion and Volunteer Recruitment Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program. He previously served as a Public Policy and Employment Fellow at RespectAbility in the fall of 2017. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Fishbein recently graduated as a Politics, Policy and Law Scholar from American University, earning in just three years his Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Law, Economics and Government. He will continue his education for one more year at AU as a Master of Public Administration candidate. Read more about Adam Fishbein.

  • Teresa Hammond, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, GoNoodle

    Teresa Hammond is the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for GoNoodle, a leading movement and mindfulness platform that gets over 14 million kids active each month. Prior to joining GoNoodle, Teresa was the CMO of 4moms, an innovative baby gear brand, where she established the marketing function and built a highly differentiated premium brand. She spent over 10 years in CPG brand marketing and worked across consumer healthcare and food categories on iconic brands like Children’s Tylenol, TUMS, and Ore-Ida.

  • Calvin harris, Chair emeritus, Respectability

    Calvin Harris, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, became involved in the disability space as a teenager. Because of his mother’s work in the neuromuscular lab at the Washington University School of Medicine, Harris met many kids with a disability. This experience inspired him to volunteer as a camp counselor at the Muscular Dystrophy Association Camp for Kids, where he spent several summers during high school and college. Harris is a graduate of Morehouse College and the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Read more about Calvin Harris.

  • Diane Smith Howard, Managing Attorney, National Disability Rights Network

    A litigator with 24 years of experience in juvenile and education law, Diane Smith Howard’s work at NDRN focuses on conditions for children, youth and adults with disabilities in institutional systems. Specifically, youth in the juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and refugee resettlement systems, and adults with disabilities in the criminal justice and mental health systems. Diane provides training and technical assistance to the P&As on these issues. In addition, she advocates on these issues within the Administration and on the Hill, and works with a number of coalitions, including the Civil Rights Roundtable. Diane holds a B.A. with honors from Colby College in 1986, and a J. D. from Wayne State University Law School, Detroit, MI. She retains active bar licenses in Michigan and Maine. She has taught at the graduate and high school level and has published a number of legal articles. In addition to working previously as a senior staff attorney for education law at NDRN’s earlier iteration, NAPAS, she has also provided direct client representation, including systemic case representation, at the P&As in Maine and Michigan and for a legal services office in rural Michigan.

  • Janie Jeffers, Former Senior Policy Advisor for the President’s Crime Prevention Council

    Janie Jeffers has had a distinguished career in public policy, education, executive management, public relations, planning and criminal justice at the federal and local levels. President Clinton appointed Jeffers as a Commissioner to the United States Parole Commission in 1999. In April 1997, she served as Executive Deputy Director for the Federal DC Interagency Task Force at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where she coordinated technical assistance to the District of Columbia government on economic development and public/private partnerships. She also worked for the First Lady and President Clinton. From 1996-1997, she was the Senior Policy Advisor for the President’s Crime Prevention Council, chaired by Vice President Gore. Read more about Janie Jeffers.

  • Philip Kahn-Pauli, Policy and Practices Director, RespectAbility

    Philip Kahn-Pauli is the Policy and Practices Director of RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for and with people with disabilities. He educates leaders at the federal and state level about best practices to expand opportunities for people with disabilities. Kahn-Pauli coordinated the development and distribution of both the Disability Employment First Planning Toolkit and Disability and Criminal Justice Reform: Keys to Success report. He frequently organizes accessible webinars on best practices, which are attended by workforce boards, agencies, VR, disability organizations, public officials, artists and more – reaching a national audience of more than 2,000. Kahn-Pauli also speaks at national and regional conferences for workforce boards, agencies and professionals. Read more about Philip Kahn-Pauli.

  • Evelyn Kelley, US Patent & Trademark Office; Board member, RespectAbility

    Evelyn Kelley, who has a severe hearing disability, is a self-advocate for people with disabilities. She graduated from Stanford University in 2012 with a degree in English and joined RespectAbility as one of its first Fellows. During her time at RespectAbility, Kelley helped establish the role of the Fellows by identifying specific projects that Fellows could assume responsibility for, and through her contributions as a skilled writer, she wrote grant proposals and drafted op-eds for publication. Read more about Evelyn Kelley.

  • Matan Koch, Senior Advisor, RespectAbility

    A longtime national leader in disability advocacy and a wheelchair user himself, Matan Koch is on the front lines in RespectAbility’s work on disability inclusion in philanthropy and nonprofits, Jewish outreach and impact, leadership, legal affairs and our Los Angeles work. Koch is a longtime leader in disability advocacy, and was a Senate confirmed Obama appointee to the National Council on Disability, for a term that ended in 2014. An inclusion expert, he has developed training and materials for many Jewish organizations, including Hillel International, the Union for Reform Judaism and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. He has also spoken and taught at law firms, and at Johnson & Johnson. He currently serves on the Advisory Council of Jewish Vocational Services in Boston, as their disability subject matter expert. Read more about Matan Koch.

  • Janet LaBreck, Former Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration

    In February of 2013, President Barack Obama announced some key administration posts, including his intent to nominate Janet L. LaBreck, known as a national thought leader and key note presenter as the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), within the United States Department of Education. In August of 2013, LaBreck was confirmed by the United States Senate as the Commissioner of RSA. RSA was established to provide leadership and resources to assist state and other agencies providing vocational rehabilitation services (VR) to individuals with disabilities to maximize their employment, independence and integration into the community and workforce. Under her leadership, LaBreck was responsible for promulgating the most substantive regulation changes to the Vocational Rehabilitation program in over 15 years. Read more about Janet LaBreck.

  • Mary Lazare, Principal Deputy Administrator, Health & Human Services for Aging

    Mary Lazare was sworn into office as the Principal Deputy Administrator for the Administration for Community Living (ACL) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on June 19, 2017.  Ms. Lazare comes to ACL from St. Louis, Missouri, where she served from 2004 to 2006 as Vice President for Home and Community-Based Services for Lutheran Senior Services. As Vice-President, Ms. Lazare reorganized and developed a structure to streamline the operations of home health, hospice, and private duty services. She also reorganized older adult outreach social services such as SHIP, the Good Neighbor Program, and elder fraud prevention.

  • Nicole LeBlanc, Self-Advocate and Former Policy Fellow, RespectAbility

    Nicole LeBlanc was a Policy Fellow with RespectAbility. She is currently working at HSRI as the coordinator of the Person-Centered Advisory and Leadership Group (PAL-Group) in the National Center on Advancing Person Centered Practices. While she was at RespectAbility, she represented our organization at multiple DC-area events, conferences and meetings. She also conducted data entry for a variety of outreach projects and contributed to the selection process of the class of summer 2017 Fellows. Before joining RespectAbility, LeBlanc worked for more than eight years at Green Mountain Self-Advocates (GMSA) as Advocacy Director supporting her peers with disabilities to feel comfortable talking to their elected officials about what they need. Read more about Nicole LeBlanc.

  • Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, President, RespectAbility

    Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi is the President of RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities. She regularly works with disability organizations, national, state and local policy leaders, workforce development professionals, media, employers, philanthropists, celebrities and faith-based organizations in order to expand opportunities for people with disabilities. Mizrahi has submitted testimony on employment for people with disabilities in all fifty states and at the Federal level. Dyslexic herself, she also knows what it means to parent a child with multiple disabilities. Read more about Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi.

  • Jonathan Murray, Reality TV Pioneer, Bunim-Murray Productions

    Widely credited with helping to usher in the modern reality television genre with his late partner Mary-Ellis Bunim, Jonathan Murray continues to inspire, influence and entertain television audiences worldwide. Since the launch of The Real World on MTV in 1992 through Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP), Murray has created and executive produced some of the industry’s most innovative, unscripted, entertainment television programs including Born This Way (A&E), which documents the lives of young adults with Down Syndrome and their families. Serving as Chairman of BMP until April 2015, Murray was responsible for guiding the creative process that has distinguished the company’s shows since the early 1990s. In 2007, the company launched BMP Films which sold its first critically acclaimed documentary, Autism: The Musical, to HBO. Read more about Jonathan Murray.

  • Laka Mitiku Negassa, Policy Fellow, RespectAbility

    Laka Mitiku Negassa is a Policy Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program. A student of health policy, Negassa just finished her first year in the master’s program at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is interested in the ways in which health policy affects the disability community in terms of access to health care and quality of that care. She has interned in Maryland’s Division of Rehabilitation Services office where she fine-tuned her communication skills and first experienced working on issues affecting the disability community. Last summer, she interned at JBS International, a Bethesda consulting firm, where she summarized policy meetings and webinars on disability issues, gaining a deeper knowledge of the impact of health policies on the disability community. Read more about Laka Mitiku Negassa.

  • Tyler Nilson, writer/director, The Peanut Butter Falcon

    Tyler Nilson is a filmmaker from North Carolina. He explored the seas of the South Pacific as an adventurer for a handful of years, and eventually decided to take his rich desire to tell stories and move to Los Angeles. He has appeared in a Judd Apatow film alongside actors like John C Reilly, and in countless commercials selling products that people don’t really need, like NFL jerseys and beer. He also is one of the world’s top hand models and enjoys making easy money doubling his hands for actors like Brad Pitt. Last year he released a narrative short film called The Moped Diaries, which people seemed to enjoy. His first feature film The Peanut Butter Falcon is scheduled for release in 2017.

  • Vincenzo Piscopo, Community and Stakeholder Relations Director, Coca-Cola

    Vincenzo Piscopo works as Community and Stakeholder relations director for The Coca-Cola Company where he manages the relationships with disability, veterans and Hispanic organizations as well as United Way and Hands-On Atlanta. He has worked for The Coca-Cola Company for the last 22 years in different areas of the organization: Finance, IT, Marketing and Innovation. He has a bachelor degree in Economics, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master in Creativity from Buffalo State College and is currently working in a Master in Rehabilitation Counseling. He is the president and founder member of the This-ABILITY BRG for The Coca-Cola Company and the president and founder of the “Wheels of Happiness Foundation” where he uses his expertise to help people with motor disabilities in disadvantaged areas of the world. Read more about Vincenzo Piscopo.

  • MICHAEL REARDON, DIRECTOR, EMPLOYMENT RELATED SUPPORTS, OFFICE OF DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT POLICY (ODEP)

    Michael Reardon is a Supervisory Policy Advisor for the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the U.S. Department of Labor. He directs ODEP’s Employment Supports Policy Team, which addresses a wide range of issues affecting the employment of people with disabilities, including transportation, housing, accessible technology, and health care. He is a 2013 Federal 100 award winner and 2014 Secretary of Labor Innovation Award Honoree. He previously served as the Disability Program Manager for the Department of Transportation’s Office of Civil Rights and as a Policy Advisor for the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. He came to Washington, D.C. from Columbus, OH where he was Director of the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Alliance, a state-level advocacy organization for people with disabilities.

  • Michael Schwartz, Writer/Director, The Peanut Butter Falcon

    Michael Schwartz is a filmmaker from Northern California. His roots as a traveler and artist are constant influences on the projects he chooses and people he surrounds himself with. Some of his accomplishments include riding his bicycle across the country, planting an orchard, and growing a really big beard.

  • Robert T. Stephens, Director of Government Relations, National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD)

    Prior to joining NCLD, Robert T. Stephens was a staffer for Congressman John Lewis. He has dedicated his career to closing the opportunity gap for students. He spent two years teaching special education in Charlotte, NC. After teaching, he moved to Washington, DC to pursue a Master of Public Policy degree from George Mason University. After graduating, he joined the staff of Teach For America and served as the Manager of Community Partnerships and the Director of Alumni Teacher Leadership. In addition to his experience in education, Robert has campaign and political organizing experience, having been a candidate for City Council in Durham, North Carolina and working in North Carolina for Organizing for America as a Field Organizer. Robert earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Winston-Salem State University.

  • Rachel Stephens, Program Director, NGA (National Governors Association) Economic Opportunity

    Rachael Stephens serves as a program director with NGA Economic Opportunity of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. At NGA, Rachael provides technical assistance to governors’ staff and state policymakers on workforce and economic development issues including work-based learning, occupational licensing reform, and effective workforce system governance. Before joining NGA, Rachael was the economic policy fellow at Third Way, where her research and policy work with Congress focused on workforce development, infrastructure, automation, and the future of work. Prior to that, she managed career-mentoring and job-connection programs for low-income adults in the New York City and D.C. metro areas. Rachael has published opinions in Real Clear Policy and The Hill, and her research has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek and Forbes. Rachael holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bryn Mawr College.

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.

2 comments… add one
  • DeborahBernick Jul 12, 2019, 10:31 am

    I have learned from and greatly enjoyed your past Summits on Capitol Hill. This promises to be a rich and exciting program. Great speakers!

  • Kathleen Prime Jul 25, 2019, 5:27 pm

    It was indeed an informative and worthwhile conference with an excellent and enlightening array of presenters!

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