Fellows Blog Series

Companies that do include people with disabilities, however, find it successful

Washington, D.C., Oct. 17 – A new study, entitled the National Employment and Disability Survey Supervisor Perspectives and conducted by the University of New Hampshire, was released in the U.S. Capitol in honor of the National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

The survey showed that very few companies have an intentional plan as a part of their diversity efforts to include people with disabilities. Indeed, while 28 percent of organizations have disability hiring goals, only 12 percent of companies include disability as part of their diversity efforts. In comparison, 45 percent have hiring goals for other types of diversity. Even though disability advocates are saying that disability is part of diversity in the workplace, that message is still not getting across to businesses.

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Rockville, Md., Oct. 17 – Jenny Lay-Flurrie is the senior director for accessibility, online safety and privacy at Microsoft. She also has been deaf nearly her whole life. However, she has not always had total hearing loss, and found that the condition had been continually getting worse as time went on. Surprisingly, no one in the Microsoft office had known about Lay-Flurrie’s hearing loss until after a year had passed in the office, at which point her hearing had gotten bad enough that she felt she could no longer efficiently do her job. However, once she asked for help, Microsoft immediately took action and offered assistance and was willing to help accommodate her in any way.

Jenny Lay Flurrie

“It took me a long time to figure out my disability is a strength. We are born problem solvers, loyal, and driven. I wouldn’t change my journey for the world – it’s made me who I am – but there is a smarter way to do this,” Lay-Flurrie said. “There is so much that I can do to help others personally and in my role at Microsoft. There are a billion people with disabilities in the world. We’ve got to get it right for them.”

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Salma Hayek

Rockville, Md., Oct 15 – Actress and producer Salma Hayek Jiménez has embraced her disability – dyslexia – from a very young age. Born in Mexico, Hayek was sent to a Catholic boarding school in New Orleans at the age of 12 where she was quickly expelled for setting all of the nun’s clocks back three hours.

“I’m very lucky I didn’t have it easy, because I’ve learned so much from having to figure out everything on my own and create things for myself,” said Hayek. “Now I can teach what I’ve learned to the next generation.”

After boarding school, Hayek spent time at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City; however, she quit to pursue her acting career and left Mexico for Hollywood.

“I came here and I didn’t speak English, I didn’t have a green card, I didn’t know I had to have an agent, I couldn’t drive, I was dyslexic,” she said in an interview with Oprah.

But Hayek did not let any of that stop her. She adjusted. Reading scripts more slowly due to her dyslexia and working on her memorization skills so she would only have to read the lines once, she landed parts in major films such as Fools Rush In and Will Smith’s Wild Wild West.

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Selena Gomez

Rockville, Md., Oct. 15 – Two years ago, pop star and actress Selena Gomez strutted onto Ellen DeGeneres stage wearing a black floor-length dress and heels. Her hair was slicked back and wavy. Her face held a look of intention. She sat with both a stiff back and smile and told Ellen and the world what it is like to live with Lupus.

“It is an autoimmune disease; I will have it forever and you just have to take care of yourself,” Gomez told Ellen and the audience. “I can relate to people.”

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself, unable to differentiate between its own healthy tissue and invaders. According to the Lupus Foundation of America, 1.5 million people have Lupus in America and five million have it worldwide.

Since her diagnosis, Gomez now 25, has prioritized her wellbeing but also has continued advancing her career. Studies show many people within the Latino and other communities hide their invisible disability due to negative stigmas, but Gomez has chosen to use her expansive platform to educate the world and invite people to engage with and learn about disabilities. It is because of this, that she is the perfect candidate for RespectAbility’s #RespectTheAbility campaign, which is highlighting individuals with disabilities who are extremely successful in their chosen career.

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Michelle Rodriguez on set of Fast and Furious

Rockville, Md., Oct. 15 – Known for her sexy and confident female roles in Lost and Fast and Furious, Michelle Rodriguez, a Hispanic actress, now has set her eyes on writing and directing movies.

“I want to write and direct, but it’s not easy with ADD. I have a hard time focusing when I’m alone. I’m a scatterbrain, but I’m nervous of taking medication, I don’t really want to depend on anything to control my brain,” Rodriguez said in an interview with World Entertainment News Network (WENN).

She was born in Texas to Dominican mother Carmen Milady Rodriquez and Puerto Rican father Rafael Rodriquez, but moved to the Dominican Republic to be raised by her mother at the age of eight. She was partly raised by her maternal grandmother. However, at the age of 11, she moved to Puerto Rico with her mother.

Rodriguez has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), which led her to being expelled from five schools. She dropped out of high school but earned her GED privately. At the age of 17, she moved back to the U.S., where she resided in New Jersey. She attended business school but would leave for short periods of time to pursue acting as a career.

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Rockville, Md., Oct. 15 – Jeison Aristizábal was born in one of the most impoverished areas in Cali, Colombia. Now he runs a nonprofit to provide educational and medical support for kids who live in the same conditions that he grew up in.

Aristizábal was diagnosed with cerebral palsy shortly after he was born and doctors said he would not amount to anything more than a shoe shiner. Children in school would call him hurtful nicknames like “torcido,” which translates to “twisted,” referring to how his body moved.

“My son has to succeed and I always told him that ‘you have to make yourself valued for your abilities, you are so worthy,'” Aristizábal’s mother, María Emilia, said in an interview with NBC News Latino.

So Aristizábal did. While he realized he had the support he needed to eventually live an independent life, he also understood there were many children with disabilities in his community who did not. And so he started a nonprofit to change all of that—at no cost to the kids or their families.

“Many families…are misinformed. They think that it’s God’s punishment. There are children who spend years in bed…because their families don’t know how to care for them,” Aristizábal told CNN.

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Gina Rodriguez

Rockville, Md., Oct. 15 – Fans of the hit CW show Jane the Virgin know star Gina Rodriguez as an open personality on social media. She frequently posts about topics important to her—feminism, body positivity, politics—but she recently opened up on Instagram about a topic the actress had not previously discussed—her anxiety.

Rodriguez posted a video taken by her friend, artist Anton Soggiu, as a piece of “ten second portrait” art. The video showed a smiling and shifting, makeup-less Rodriguez in the streets of Los Angeles.

“I suffer from anxiety. And watching this clip I could see how anxious I was but I empathize with myself. I wanted to protect her and tell her it’s ok to be anxious, there is nothing different or strange about having anxiety and I will prevail. I like watching this video. It makes me uncomfortable but there is a freedom I feel maybe even an acceptance. This is me. Puro Gina,” Rodriguez wrote in the caption underneath the video.

My beautiful friend @antonsoggiu came to visit from Norway and he included me in his magical art. TEN SECOND PORTRAITS. It’s always great to be in front of his lens but this time it was just me. Bare and exposed in the streets of la. No makeup. No styling. Just me. I suffer from anxiety. And watching this clip I could see how anxious I was but I empathize with myself. I wanted to protect her and tell her it’s ok to be anxious, there is nothing different or strange about having anxiety and I will prevail. I like watching this video. It makes me uncomfortable but there is a freedom I feel maybe even an acceptance. This is me. Puro Gina.

A post shared by Gina Rodriguez (@hereisgina) on May 26, 2017 at 12:08pm PDT

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Frida Kahlo

Rockville, Md., Oct. 15 – 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.

At the age of six, Kahlo was bedridden will polio. The polio virus cause damaged to her right leg and foot. She was left with a limp. Her father thought that playing soccer, wrestling and swimming would help her recover.

As a teenager, she was in a car accident. A steel handrail was impaled into her hip and came out the other side. Her spine and pelvis were damaged significantly. While in recovery, she began to paint.

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Demi Lovato

Rockville, Md., Oct. 15 – Pop icon and champion for body positivity Demi Lovato uses their voice to do more than just sing.

Lovato, 25, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011 while seeking treatment for an eating disorder, depression and their battle with self-harm.

“It’s important to speak up about the things you believe in, because your voice will be heard no matter what position you’re in,” they shared. “I just happen to be in a position where more people would hear my voice.”

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