#PwDsVote

From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: The Future of Americans with Disabilities
Featuring Leah Daniels-Butler, Casting Director and Producer, Tommy Morrissey, the One-Arm Golfer, and Marc Summers of The Food Network

Rockville, Md., July 28 – RespectAbility invites you to our free one-day summit, From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: The Future of Americans with Disabilities, geared toward bridging the gap between entertainment, politics and disability advocacy. This entirely accessible event is open to the public.

The summit will take place on Monday, July 31 from 8:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. at the Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The summit will celebrate the good that can be done to end stigmas and advance opportunities for the 57 million Americans with disabilities.

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Leah Daniels-Butler

Rockville, Md., July 27 – RespectAbility announces the final line-up for next week’s summit From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: The Future of Americans with Disabilities. The summit will take place on Monday, July 31 from 8:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. at the Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (RHOB 2168) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The summit will celebrate the good that can be done to end stigmas and advance opportunities for the 57 million Americans with disabilities.

Marc Summers

Featuring:

• Leah Daniels-Butler, Casting Director and Producer
• Tommy Morrissey, One-Arm Golfer
• Marc Summers, Television Host and author of Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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From Hollywood to Capitol Hill: The Future of Americans with Disabilities

A Special Summit for Congressional and Senate Staff, Journalists and Disability Advocates Featuring Marc Summers of The Food Network and Tommy Morrissey, the One-Arm Golfer

Save the Date: July 31, 2017

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Advice from World-Renowned Pollster Stan Greenberg

Stan Greenberg with RespectAbility Fellows and Staff

Rockville, Md., June 30 – As the Fellows in RespectAbility waited in the conference room for a leading pollster to enter the room, the intimidation increased after being told how important this person is.

Stanley B. Greenberg is a world-renowned pollster and New York Times best-selling author. He is known for advising business leaders with a broad knowledge of social and modern economics, along with being a polling adviser to presidents, prime ministers and CEOs globally. He has conducted deep research in more than a dozen countries.

Greenberg visited the RespectAbility office to meet with the Fellows. He previously teamed up with the organization by conducting polling on voters with disabilities in comparison to voters without disabilities. He also conducted a focus group with Republicans who work on Capital Hill and what they know about people with disabilities.

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Advice on Capturing your Audience’s Attention from Pollster and Political Strategist Celinda Lake

Celinda Lake with RespectAbility Fellows and Staff

Rockville, Md., June 29 – Imagine you are a lioness, deep in the African safari. You keep watch over your young cubs that are rolling and tumbling around under the blazing sun nearby. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see something rustling the tall grass close to your cubs. You stand up, now on alert. A dry breeze wafts the stench of a hyena into your nose before a piercing laugh splits through the air; your cubs freeze. Baring your teeth, you walk toward the hyena that is now visible. As you get closer, you hear laughter coming from all around you and your cubs. You are surrounded. Even as the hyenas move in, you are committed to protecting your cubs, no matter what.

According to Celinda Lake, a person has the attention span of nine seconds; in order to capture that person’s eye, you must have a good story. During her talk with RespectAbility Fellows, Lake called upon her years of experience working for women candidates and nonprofit organizations working to increase the number of women in public office. When a woman is portrayed by the media or her opponent as being “aggressive,” she often is stereotyped as being too intimidating, and ultimately unlikeable. However, when the woman is shown as standing up for others, like a lioness, she is seen in a more positive light. Just because a woman is “intimidating,” does not mean she does not have a heart and the characteristics to “get the job done.” You cannot assume a person’s beliefs and values by simply looking at them.

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A Special Summit for Congressional and Senate Staff, Journalists and Disability Advocates

This summit, “From Hollywood to Capitol Hill,” features Marc Summers of The Food Network, Casting Director and Producer Leah Daniels-Butler and Tommy Morrissey, the one-arm golfer

Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

July 31, 2017, 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM

There is no charge to attend this event.

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Near unanimous bipartisan agreement that a candidate should treat people with disabilities with dignity and respect

View All Poll Data (PDF, Accessible PPT)

Washington, Dec. 14 – Two separate bipartisan polls showed results that may surprise Washington insiders: voters with disabilities and their family and friends voted in big numbers for President-elect Donald Trump. While polls showed that many voters felt Trump made fun of people with disabilities, he was seen as stronger on changing Washington and failed economic policies that hold people with disabilities back.

RespectAbility, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, commissioned questions on two different national polls.

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RespectAbility’s Philip Pauli and Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi with Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Washington, Dec. 9 – According to multiple news reports, President-elect Donald Trump has announced his choice for Secretary of the Interior, five-term Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Currently the highest-ranking woman in Congress, McMorris Rodgers has been praised by the disability community for her strong history of advocating for the rights of people with disabilities, and RespectAbility congratulates the Congresswoman on her nomination.

In addition, news outlets are reporting that Trump will name Goldman Sachs veteran, Gary Cohn, to head the National Economic Council, where he would have significant influence over the administration’s economic policy, including corporate taxes and U.S. trade policy. Cohn, who has dyslexia, credits this disability with leading to many of his successes.

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Andy Puzder

Washington, Dec. 8 – As news reports say President elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate fast-food executive Andy Puzder as labor secretary, RespectAbility congratulates Puzder on the nomination but encourages both Trump and Puzder to include people with disabilities in their jobs programs.

An adviser and contributor to Trump’s campaign, Puzder is the chief executive of CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc., the parent company of the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s burger chains, which employs more than 20,000 people.

Only one in three working-age Americans with a disability has a job, despite the fact that studies show that 70 percent of the 21-million working-age people with disabilities are striving for work. More than 78 percent of non-disabled Americans are employed.

RespectAbility looks forward to working the new potential secretary of labor to ensure that all people with disabilities who choose to work are given opportunities to find competitive, integrated employment.

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