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 [click to continue...]
As we roll out this new newsletter format, we are excited to have the opportunity to share recent and upcoming trainings. Where possible, we will include a link to registration or to a previous training. Even when it is not possible for you to register or watch a recording, we encourage our readers to carefully [click to continue...]
Last week, as he delivered his State of the Union Address, President Biden called upon Congress to “get seniors and people with disabilities the home care services they need and support the workers who are doing God’s work.” RespectAbility joins with the rest of the disability community in gratitude for this call to leadership, and [click to continue...]
Over the course of the last decade, self-employment and entrepreneurship have become increasingly recognized as an employment strategy for people with disabilities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with disabilities are self-employed at a rate nearly twice that of their non-disabled peers. As of the 2019 American Community Survey, more than 700,000 workers [click to continue...]
In the closing days of the last congress, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 was passed. The legislation incorporated many different priorities, but one major one for the disability community is the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, which adjusts the eligible age of disability onset to open an ABLE (A Better Life Experience) account from 26 [click to continue...]
I didn’t know what to expect when I met Bobby Silverstein. I had met many great disability icons, but Bobby was sort of a mystery to me, a name that I always knew, but knew very little about. It was thus with some trepidation that I invited him to share an introduction reflecting around 30th [click to continue...]
On November 28, the Congressional Research Service published a paper entitled “Federal Hiring of Persons with Disabilities.” The findings of the paper are neither surprising nor controversial, and state, in part: “Despite efforts to increase recruitment and hiring of persons with disabilities, retention of employees with disabilities is significantly lower than that of employees without [click to continue...]
Los Angeles, CA, July 3 – Tomorrow is Independence Day in the United States. While its primary purpose is to demarcate 246 years since the day we formally declared our independence from Great Britain, it has come to be a celebration of broader Independence. While it is critically important to remember that the liberties in [click to continue...]
As I count the Omer, it is impossible not to think of the seven-week journey. For those of us that have studied Jewish tradition, it is a truism that the Israelites did not leave Egypt primarily to escape slavery but rather to be free to serve God. They took a risk for a reward. The [click to continue...]
As I was reading Shelly’s introductory note, I couldn’t help but reflect on the deep significance of building a house of worship that draws everyone into belonging. I think many of us have probably noted the inherent dichotomy between the Torah’s exclamation that we were all designed in the image of God, with the observable [click to continue...]
