National Leadership Program, Summer 2019
Adam Fishbein
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 Fall 2017. Fishbein is originally from Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. He recently graduated as a Politics, Policy and Law Three-Year Scholar from American University, earning 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. Fishbein’s interest in disability policy and advocacy stems from his own mental health and learning challenges.
Throughout his childhood, Fishbein was involved in the PA Tourette Syndrome Alliance (PA-TSA) and the Tourette Association of America. He advocated to his legislators for state and federal funding and raised awareness through mass media outlets and public speaking. Fishbein has continued to embrace his role as a disability advocate during college. He has served as a member of the PA-TSA Board of Directors since 2015, first as the first Youth Board Representative, and currently as the Vice President and Board Development Committee Chairman. He was appointed as the Deputy Director of Disability Advocacy for AU Student Government during the 2016-17 academic year and attended Jewish Disability Awareness Day on Capitol Hill in February 2017 and 2018.
Fishbein’s professional experience includes a policy internship with the National Center for Learning Disabilities, where he provided extensive research support for an assessment of every state’s Every Students Succeeds Act plan and how it affects students with disabilities. He also worked two stints as an intern for Sen. Art Haywood, who represents his home district in the Pennsylvania Senate. There, he assisted the staff with constituent services and legislative research. He also interned at the nonprofit Jewish Learning Venture where he worked closely with the director of the whole community inclusion program to refine and promote its work on disability advocacy.
Fishbein came to this Fellowship because RespectAbility is the type of organization he could see himself working for after college. He is especially interested in advancing public policy related to disability rights, particularly education and employment policy. Although he recognizes the progress already made to empower and accommodate students and young adults with disabilities, he views the inequalities in education faced by children with disabilities to be the most pressing issue in the disability community. Fishbein looks forward to helping recruit and manage RespectAbility’s volunteer corps and advance Jewish inclusion efforts through the weekly Shabbat Smile newsletter.
JOIN OUR TEAM!
RespectAbility is a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for and with people with disabilities. Learn more about the National Leadership Program and apply for the next cohort! Contact BenS@RespectAbility.org for more information.
ALL FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
- PUBLIC POLICY/EMPLOYMENT
- COMMUNICATIONS/DIVERSITY IN FILM & TELEVISION
- PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT/FUNDRAISING
- FAITH INCLUSION
