News

Washington, D.C., September 13, 2019 – Disability advocate and Philadelphia native Adam Fishbein recently completed a Fellowship with RespectAbility, a Washington, D.C.-based disability rights group, where he promoted the inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish community. Fishbein, who grew up in Elkins Park, Penn., recently graduated from American University. He currently is pursuing a Master of Public Administration from AU while serving as Senate Diversity Initiative Intern with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

For Fishbein, RespectAbility’s work aligns with one of his core Jewish values: areyvut, or communal responsibility. “We as a society have a sacred obligation to fully include and empower people with disabilities.” Fishbein said. “Through RespectAbility, I have had the opportunity to fulfill this obligation.” [continue reading…]

Four Candidates – Biden, Booker, Warren, Yang – Have Made Substantial Improvements in Website Accessibility

Washington, D.C., Sept. 12 – Nearly three months after a report by the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired found that all of the presidential candidates’ websites block democratic access to voters who are blind or have low vision, an update finds that still none of these websites – Democrat or Republican – are fully accessible. However, the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind found that many of the candidates’ websites do show improvements in accessibility.

The organization issued a challenge for the candidates in June: “ensure their websites are fully ADA compliant and immediately put an accessibility statement on their page.” Four of the candidates now have an accessibility statement on their websites, including both a live email address and phone number that users can contact for additional assistance: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang. Since the report first launched on June 26, 2019, each of these four presidential campaigns also have contacted Miami Lighthouse for Blind for counsel in updating their websites. [continue reading…]

Woodbridge native aspires to make a name for herself in politics

Washington, D.C., September 12, 2019 – Woodbridge native Angelica Vega, who usually spends her summer volunteering at the Woodbridge Main Library, packed up her books and headed to Washington, D.C., to work at a leading disability rights group. Vega just completed a prestigious National Leadership Fellowship this summer with RespectAbility, a nonprofit fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.

For Vega, disability rights for all students is very important to her. As a former student of the Woodbridge Public School District, Vega credits much of her success to exceptional teachers devoted to her academic and personal development.

“Teachers such as Janice Lammers (School #9), Eric Stadtmiller (Woodbridge High School) and Christina Pastor (Avenel Middle School) helped me grow as a scholar and leader and left a lasting impact on my life,” Vega said. “Now, I hope to pay their lessons forward. I want to work on education and employment policy to make sure students with disabilities and other diverse identities are guaranteed to have great teachers like them in their lives.” [continue reading…]

Disability Representation in Film Falls to Four-Year Low

Los Angeles, California, Sept. 10 – Unlike in television, where disability representation has gone up in recent years, the percentage of characters with disabilities in the top 1,200 films has hit a four-year low. Just 1.6 percent of the 4,445 speaking characters analyzed have a disability, according to the study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Five of these films revolved around an underrepresented leading character with a disability and one showcased a leading character from the LGBT community.

“Including characters with disabilities does not happen by accident,” said Lauren Appelbaum, who leads RespectAbility’s Hollywood Inclusion efforts as the organization’s Vice President of Communications and author of The Hollywood Disability Inclusion Toolkit. “What we see on screen influences how we act in real life, but that is dependent on filmmakers choosing to include individuals with disabilities in diverse and accurate portrayals. Thus, when just fewer than two percent of films include speaking characters with disabilities, the disability community is pretty much erased on screen. When filmmakers choose to include characters with disabilities, they can help to remove the stigmas that currently exist about interacting with individuals with disabilities.” [continue reading…]

Illinois athlete believes current perceptions amount to ‘inspiration porn’

Ana Kohout and Senator Tammy Duckworth

Washington, D.C., September 10, 2019 – Anastazia Kohout, an Illinois native with spina bifida whose competitive swimming career has cast her in the spotlight, wants people to see her individuality before her disability.

Kohout just completed a summer Fellowship with Respectability, a nonprofit that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. With the skills and confidence she gained this summer, Kohout will lead empowerment training for women with disabilities when she returns to Beloit College this fall. [continue reading…]

Rockville, Maryland, September 9 – Jonathan Koch, an Emmy Award-winning television producer and successful entrepreneur, was a speaker for RespectAbility’s Summer 2019 National Leadership Fellows. The hour-long discussion focused on his career path, before and after he became disabled, and how to be successful at pitching yourself.

Koch started his career as an agent for the 90s child star Candace Cameron and many other famous child actors. In 2003, he partnered with Steve Michaels to start Asylum Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based television production company. He was the President and Chief Creative Officer of Asylum Entertainment until they sold it to Legendary Entertainment for $100 million in 2014. A year later, Koch became desperately ill, causing doctors to amputate his right leg and left hand. [continue reading…]

Washington, D.C., September 7 – Before delivering the keynote address at RespectAbility’s Capitol Hill Summit, Ollie Cantos was racing through the halls of the Rayburn Building after being stuck in the notoriously long security lines, hoping to arrive at the Summit on time.

When he entered the room and began speaking, he immediately captivated the audience. Cantos, who is the 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), highlighted the changes that have taken place in the disability community and the challenges still ahead, noting tensions within the disability community such as new and old ways of thinking amid polarizing political times. Some people with disabilities still are being housed in institutions, while some are out fighting for them to be let out. He emphasized that active members of the disability community are obligated to come together and speak up for themselves. Cantos described the process as “an ongoing journey of transformation and change.” [continue reading…]

Washington, D.C., August 31 — RespectAbility’s 2019 Capitol Hill Summit featured a panel discussion and Q&A on how to end the school-to-prison pipeline for students with disabilities.

Moderated by Janie Jeffers, the former senior policy advisor for The President’s Crime Prevention Council, the panelists included disability and criminal justice experts Janet LaBreck, Robert Stephens and Diane Smith Howard.

Throughout the conversation, the speakers stressed the importance of identifying and providing services for students with disabilities early, before they are swept into the criminal justice system. [continue reading…]

“Over the last 20 to 30 years, things have changed significantly for people with disabilities, young people especially. They’re much more educated, they’re much more tech savvy, their expectations are very different from the previous generations.”
– Michael Reardon, Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Supervisory Policy Advisor

Washington, D.C., August 30 – During a day-long summit held on Capitol Hill, policymakers explored how current policies affect access to employment for people with disabilities.

The “Public Policy and Jobs for People with Disabilities” discussion featured: Mary Lazare, Principal Deputy Administrator, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Aging, Administration for Community Living (ACL); Rachel Stephens, Program Director of NGA (National Governors Association) Economic Opportunity; Michael Reardon, Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Supervisory Policy Advisor, Employment-Related Support Policy leading the SEED (State Exchange on Employment & Disability) initiative; and Tina Williams, Deputy Director, Office of Federal Contracting and Compliance programs (OFCCP). RespectAbility’s Policy and Practices Director Philip Kahn-Pauli served as moderator. [continue reading…]