Fellows Blog Series

Ash Williams with RespectAbility Staff and Fellows

Rockville, Maryland, January 24 – Gender education is necessary to creating an inclusive and safe space free of hatred where trans people can fully participate in their place of work. Ash Williams visited RespectAbility and delivered a three-hour long training on the importance of gender-based terminology, pronouns, advocacy, inclusion and intersectionality.

Williams divided us into four groups to talk about gender-based terminology. Each group was given two words and the groups shared what those words meant to them. Words included transition, cis, transphobia, trans-misogyny, and trans. Ash recalled multiple workshops where people had hesitation over how words were defined for them so this activity expresses the importance of gender terminology being used contextually and not in a vacuum defined by others.

At RespectAbility it is common for people to introduce themselves with their names and pronouns at meetings, a practice that was put in place earlier this year prior to this Fellowship cohort. When someone asked about not being asked to identify their pronouns – in this situation because this individual was fluid in the pronouns this individual chose to use on any given day – Williams shared the importance of increasing choice by asking future Fellows to “share your pronouns if you want to.” Williams also added that the word “preferred” should never be used when asking for pronouns because a person’s pronouns are the only way they can be addressed. Using “preferred” waters down the importance and makes it harder for trans people to be present in the room. Williams also advised adding “is there anything else you want us to know about you so we can better support you” to our accommodation request forms. [continue reading…]

Fellowship Alumna Sneha Dave Creates Network for Teens and Young Adults with Chronic Health Conditions

Sneha Dave

Rockville, Maryland, Jan. 15 – Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, was just another obstacle in the road for Sneha Dave. But reaching the summit – more than 16,000 feet above the plateau – was all the more challenging for Sneha, who has had a chronic and often debilitating disease since childhood.

When Sneha was six years old, she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic condition that affects the large intestine and often leads to surgery to remove the inflamed organ. The disease caused Sneha (which her mother told her means “someone that you love a lot”) to miss much of middle school and high school as she underwent several surgical procedures.

“I was more of a fulltime patient than I was a fulltime student at that time,” says the now 21-year-old senior at the University of Indiana in the Hutton Honors College. [continue reading…]

Larry Lipman with RespectAbility Staff and Fellows

Rockville, Md., November 25 ‒ Larry Lipman had a lengthy career in political reporting that gave him connections and opportunities to see change happen. Speaking to RespectAbility Fellows, Lipman stressed that if you start small in your field, you can gain necessary skillsets to make an impact moving forward.

He served as a reporter for several small newspapers including the Fredrick News-Post, between 1972 and 1974, and as editor for The Montgomery County News. From 1974 to 1984, Lipman was a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel covering city hall and the state capital.

From 1984 to 2008, Lipman served as the Washington Bureau Chief of The Palm Beach Post, covering Washington, D.C., news on issues related to aging, health care policy, drug smuggling, immigration and the environment.  He then spent 10 years as an editor for the AARP Bulletin and AARP the Magazine. [continue reading…]

Rep. Steve Bartlett with RespectAbility Fall 2019 Fellows

Rockville, Maryland, Oct. 25 – When Rep. Steve Bartlett, Board Chair of RespectAbility, spoke to the organization’s National Leadership Fellows, he described the talk as BYOA (bring your own agenda). Every person in the room had the chance to have Rep. Bartlett talk about a subject important to them. In the span of an hour, the former U.S. Representative from Texas covered a wide range of topics such as the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, where to get accurate news information from, how to become more involved in politics, and why he became the co-author of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The first topic covered was the lack of bipartisanship in Washington, referring to the extreme polarization happening within the Democratic and Republican Parties. “Things are as bad as they have been since 1856,” said Rep. Bartlett, as he compared politics today to what started the civil war. He said he does not see things getting better for politics in America and thinks there is worse to come before it can get better. He explained how both the Democratic and the Republican parties have gone to their own extremes and are held captive by the 30 percent of people who vote in the primaries. Rep. Bartlett sees a solution for this crisis: a third, independent party. Bartlett has encouraged politicians to run as independent candidates but so far, no volunteers. The American people also need to ask for leadership from our leaders and representatives and demand respect from each side towards the other. [continue reading…]

Debby Fisher with RespectAbility Staff and Fall 2019 Fellows

Rockville, Maryland, Oct. 24 – Young adulthood is characterized by exploration and discovery; employment, housing, friends, partners are just a few of the main aspects of life in flux during the post-college years. Such fluidity in life can cause distress, explained Debby Fisher, PsyD, who spoke to the Fellows in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program last month. She expressed the usefulness of producing at least daily entries in a diary using whichever modality is most comfortable for you – drawing, writing, singing or listening to music – and keeping that diary with you at all times for assisting with understanding yourself and your emotions.

Fisher is well qualified to share emotional management tools as she is a trained psychologist and independent consultant. She has vast experience in both direct therapy with clients and helping implement system changes for nonprofit entities and large social service programs. She believes taking time to recognize the self and understanding how the self works is an important way to prompt change – from the inward out, as well as from the outside in. [continue reading…]

Six Diverse Maryland Natives Complete Disability Advocacy Fellowship

Washington, D.C., September 17, 2019 – Young Maryland natives passionate about disability rights have just completed a summer internship with a Washington, D.C., area advocacy group to promote inclusion and accessibility. The six came together at RespectAbility, a nonpartisan nonprofit fighting stigma and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, to learn about disability advocacy and gain relevant career experience.

The six come from a broad range of educational backgrounds and have a variety of career aspirations. The Fellows each specialized in different areas of the organization; public policy, nonprofit management, communications, and community outreach. Throughout the summer, they gained hands-on career experience and learned about their individual programming areas as well as the organization as a whole. [continue reading…]

Washington, D.C., September 16, 2019 – Prince George’s County native and sports writer Anthony Rendolph Clarke Brown II has put his writing skills to work for people with disabilities. Brown manages the social media presence for RespectAbility, a nonprofit that works to fight stigma and advance opportunities for people with disabilities. As a Communications Fellow charged with handling the organization’s image on social media, Brown is guided by two objectives: share articles that showcase the talents of people with disabilities and make the disability community aware of legislation that benefits them.

Brown was born with hydrocephalus, excess fluid in the brain, and a slight form of cerebral palsy. He developed mild seizures later in life. Being able to use his journalism background as a Communications Fellow with RespectAbility falls in line with his love of storytelling. He enjoys writing profiles of high-school football and basketball athletes for the website, Portermedium.com. [continue reading…]

Samford student fights stigma in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., September 15, 2019 – After spending the summer working for a disability advocacy group, Samford University senior Jolie Carr plans to bring her newfound knowledge of disability issues back to campus. Over the summer, Carr helped recruit volunteers and plan a Capitol Hill summit for RespectAbility, a national nonprofit working to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities.

“Disability is largely a social issue,” Carr states. “Fighting stigmas is so important – once people start seeing people with disabilities as equal, the equality in employment, representation and inclusion will follow.” [continue reading…]

GW Graduate Student in Health Policy to Fight for Disability Rights

Washington, D.C., September 14, 2019 – Laka Mitiku Negassa imagined she would spend her career in research or medicine, learning how the brain works. But a serious accident that caused a traumatic brain injury set her on a different track – to campaign for the rights and care of people with disabilities.

Negassa, a graduate health policy student at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, has begun her career in advocacy this summer as a policy Fellow with RespectAbility, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. [continue reading…]