News

Washington, D.C., Feb. 27 – “What’s a leg got to do with it?” This is the question Donna Walton poses to her audience in speeches regarding her experience as a woman with a disability. As an amputee, Walton has experienced her fair share of people mistaking her disability for a weakness that supposedly makes her less of a woman. She works to reject that misconception and answers the question she poses to her audience: “Not a thing.” Walton has dedicated her life to reshaping the perception of what a disability looks like and stressing that a disability is not a person’s sole defining trait.

As we celebrate Black History Month, which takes place every February, it is important to recognize the contributions made and the important presence of African Americans to the United States, including the more than 5.6 million African Americans living with a disability in the U.S., 3.4 million of which are working-age African Americans with disabilities. [continue reading…]

Even though disability representation has improved, Hollywood still has work to do for full inclusion – and recognition – of disability. 

Los Angeles, California, Feb. 22 – 2019’s Best Picture category is full of diversity, not only about race and ethnicity, but by ability as well. Best Picture nominees Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born and BlacKkKlansman focus on topics of depression, alcoholism and sexually-transmitted disabilities. In addition, Netflix’s Best Documentary Short nominee End Game focuses on three medical providers and their relationships with hospice patients. One of the providers, B.J Miller, M.D., has a physical disability – he lost three limbs in an accident. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, California, Feb. 22 – When Bonnie Plunket (Allison Janney) discovers she has ADD, she wishes she could “get a do-over” for “stuff I’ve messed up in my life.”

“How did no one notice this?” she asks her friends at her regular AA meeting during this week’s episode of Mom. Bonnie has had a history of addiction and other issues throughout her life. “If one foster parent, teacher or anybody had said, ‘Hey, this kid isn’t dumb. She just needs a little help.’ Everything could have been different. I’ve spent my entire freaking life struggling and now I find out it didn’t have to be that way. Who knows what I could have done?”

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a brain disorder that is characterized by an individual’s consistent inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. While everyone experiences these symptoms at one point or another, what classifies these behaviors under ADHD is when it begins to affect normal day-to-day functioning and/or development. ADHD is typically diagnosed in children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 6.4 million children have been diagnosed with ADHD in the United States – 11 percent of children ages four to 17. ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type, also known as ADD, is a type of ADHD that does not involve hyperactivity. People with ADD may have trouble finishing tasks or following directions and might be easily distracted. But the symptoms are generally less noticeable for ADD than ADHD, and as a result many people with ADD are unfortunately overlooked. [continue reading…]

Job Growth Slows for People with Disabilities

• Only 111,804 people with disabilities entered the workforce in 2017, down from the previous year’s increase of over 343,000 new jobs for people with disabilities.
• Florida experienced the biggest growth in job numbers with over 23,000 people with disabilities entering the workforce. Of the 50 states, 29 states saw job gains for Americans with disabilities.
• Vermont, under Gov. Phil Scott, becomes one of the top 10 states with the best employment rates, and Rhode Island, under Gov. Gina Raimondo, jumps from 47^th in the nation to 19^th.

Washington, D.C., Feb. 14 – New statistics released this week show that Americans with disabilities saw a slowdown in job gains compared to those of the previous year. The Disability Statistics Compendium, released by Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, shows that the employment rate for people with disabilities has risen to 37 percent. The Compendium also shows that geography has an impact on employment outcomes for Americans with disabilities. People with disabilities in North Dakota are twice as likely to have jobs as West Virginians with disabilities.

The newly published 2018 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium compiles data collected by the Census Bureau. The Compendium is intended to equip policy-makers, self-advocates and others with clear statistics on disability in America today. Out of over 20 million working-age people with disabilities, 7.5 million have jobs. This data also shows the serious gaps that remain between disabled and non-disabled Americans. 37 percent of U.S. civilians with disabilities ages 18-64 living in the community had a job, compared to 77.2 percent for people without disabilities. [continue reading…]

Award to be given at United Nations; 3,000+ Experts from 70+ Countries Involved

Washington, D.C., Feb. 14 – RespectAbility, a United States based nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for and with people with disabilities, will be recognized for “Innovative Practice 2019 on Independent Living and Political Participation for People with Disabilities.” The award will be given at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. The prize is for RespectAbility’s work in fighting stigmas through Hollywood and job creation for people with disabilities. Fully 1-in-5 people on earth (1.2 billion people) live with some form of disability.

More than 3,000 experts and disability leaders from 70+ countries are involved in the The Zero Conference. This event, founded by the Essl Foundation, brings together over 700 experts from more than 70 countries and 30 exhibitors. The three-day program will start Wednesday, February 20, and will end on Friday, February 22 and will be live-streamed. RespectAbility’s founder and president, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, will deliver a co-keynote presentation at the conference. She will be speaking on specific work to fight implicit bias which limits jobs and other opportunities for people with disabilities. To see all the winners, go to: https://zeroproject.org/2019-awardees. All of the presentations will be live-streamed for free. [continue reading…]

As we celebrate Black History Month, it is important that the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy not only shatters stigma against mental health but also portrays African American characters with a variety of disabilities.

Representation of characters with disabilities – including mental health – who are successful in their careers, such as prominent doctors, is important. According to GLAAD, the amount of regular primetime broadcast characters counted who have a disability has slightly increased to 2.1 percent, but that number still vastly underrepresents the actualities of Americans with disabilities. Yet even when representation is done well, it often lacks accurate representation of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

In the past few episodes, Grey’s Anatomy has bucked this trend. Drs. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson)’s Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.)’s battles with alcoholism and Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen)’s cancer lead the storylines. All of these characters are African American, which is important to note as often when disability representation is done right, it shows a character that is white (and usually male and cisgender as well). [continue reading…]

By Lauren Appelbaum and Hon. Steve Bartlett

Washington, D.C., Feb. 7 – As newly elected officials begin their service, it is important that America’s largest minority group are included in policy discussions in a meaningful way. Thus, RespectAbility put together an easy guide with eight tips for leaders and their staff to ensure they reach this important constituent group.

1) Start right away on building connections to people of disabilities and disability groups in the same way that you do with other groups of constituents. 

America has 56 million people with disabilities, more than 20-million of whom are working age. Polls show that the majority of constituents either have a disability or a loved one with a disability. The extended disability community — when you include family members, those with close friends with disabilities and those who work on behalf or volunteer for a disability cause — is 63 percent of Americans. We want to be included in all policies that impact our lives and we are ready to be your partners in success. [continue reading…]

Microsoft, Coca-Cola Make Intentional Decision to Be Inclusive

Rockville, Md., Feb. 4 – Mass media plays a huge part of what society believes and America’s favorite pastime besides football is watching their favorite commercials especially during the biggest primetime event of the year: The Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl preshow showcased inclusion as while Chloe X Halle and Gladys Knight sang America the Beautiful and the national anthem respectively, Deaf talent Aarron Loggins interpreted in ASL. Yet, CBS only showed him for a few seconds. To ensure true inclusion, the network could have shown him in picture-in-picture throughout the entire song. Furthermore, when a large American flag was spread out over the field, people with visible disabilities were absent. [continue reading…]

From Intellectual Disabilities and ALS to Mental Health and Deafness, Sundance Films Showcase Variety Important Disability Topics

Park City, Utah, Jan. 24 – As Hollywood takes over Park City, Utah, many conversations are taking place about the importance of diversity and inclusion.

While stats exist, for example, for the number of films directed by one or more women (40% – 45 of the 112 feature films), directed by one or more filmmaker of color (36% – 40) and directed by one or more people who identify as LGBTQIA (13% – 15), no such statistics yet exist for people with disabilities.

However, the festival is taking steps to ensure that disability is fully included in all diversity initiatives, expanding beyond previous focuses on gender, race and sexual orientation.

Karim Ahmad, Director of Outreach & Inclusion at Sundance, has worked with several partners and organizations to further the inclusion of people with disabilities at both the festival and at events throughout the year.

“As we’ve grown our Outreach & Inclusion program over the last year, it’s been deeply important for us to include artists with disabilities in our planning,” he said. “At the Festival, we’ve made considerable advances to bring more accessibility to screening and panel venues, including an elevator at the Filmmaker Lodge and closed captioning and audio description capabilities at all screenings. In our the artist programs, we’ve included artists with disabilities as one of our core priorities for support in targeted fellowships for both emerging and mid-career creators from underrepresented communities, and we are seeing the beginnings of great impact.”

People with disabilities working both in front of and behind the camera have taken notice.

“Hollywood is beginning to wake up to the fact that people with disabilities represent a major slice of American life, and that there is tremendous creative potential, talent and market power just waiting to be tapped,” said Delbert Whetter, who is deaf and the Chief Operating Officer & Head of Business Affairs of Exodus Film Group, as well as a board member for RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities. “Nowhere are the pioneers of this movement better demonstrated today than at Sundance and in independent film.”

Tatiana Lee, an actress who is a wheelchair user, added: “Sundance is a big deal in the film industry. So to be making big strides this year to include disability, in the films, talent, and panel discussions is an amazing step forward in Hollywood’s inclusion of people with disabilities. As a actor and creative in this industry it gives me great hope toward more opportunities for our community in Hollywood.”

The festival, which prides itself in showcasing the most diverse voices in independent film, will take place from January 24 – February 3 in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain resort in Utah. In addition to many films promoting inclusion, a panel on disability inclusion will be held on Saturday.

Below please find a guide to films featuring disability in the plot or talent with disabilities. [continue reading…]