Long Beach, California, Feb. 22 – Los californianos con discapacidades son dramáticamente menos propensos a encontrar empleo en comparación con la población en general. Recientemente se publicó el Compendio de Estadísticas sobre Discapacidades realizado por La Universidad New Hampshire. El compendio revela una brecha de 40 puntos porcentuales en las perspectivas que existen entre las personas con y sin discapacidades. A pesar de la exitosa economía de Golden State, la cual incluye la tasa de empleo más baja en más de 40 años. Tan solo 707,791 o el 34.8% de los californianos con discapacidades tienen un empleo. Por otro lado, el 74.4% de personas sin discapacidades tienen un empleo.

Según RespectAbility, una organización nacional que lucha contra los estigmas y genera oportunidades de avances para las personas con discapacidad, California ocupa el puesto 34 en puestos de trabajo para personas con discapacidades. Incluso estados con economías más pequeñas como Minnesota y las Dakotas están en puestos más altos que California.  Las estadísticas son decepcionantes ya que la tasa de desempleo de California en diciembre fue de 4.3%, la más baja vista en la historia desde 1976.

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Elaine Katz

Rockville, Maryland, Feb. 27 – This week, RespectAbility invited Elaine Katz to come to speak to the National Leadership Fellows. Katz talked about how she got to her current position and what makes a good grant application; the most important piece of information she shared was about transparency in philanthropy. More and more foundations are going in the “dark” about their process and who they are giving their money to. As we approach a “dark” era of philanthropy, understanding the benefits of transparency and best practices becomes more important than ever. Most importantly, Katz exhibited personal transparency about her career trajectory and explained the Kessler Foundation’s view of transparency in the relationship between the grant maker and grant seeker. [continue reading…]

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was known to many as a champion boxer and a man who fought for racial and social justice his entire life. He acquired Parkinson’s at age 42 and became a role model for people with physical disabilities. What many may not know, however, is that Ali also had dyslexia.

“As a high school student, many of my teachers labeled me dumb…I knew who the real dummies were. I barely graduated…There was no way I was going to college—I never even thought about it. I could barely read my textbooks,” Ali has told others.

When Ali was growing up, teachers and researchers did not know much about dyslexia or how to help children who struggle with the disability. Ali was not aware of the fact that he had dyslexia, either, which led to a lack of confidence in his ability as a student.

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Long Beach, California, Feb. 22 – Californians with disabilities are dramatically less likely to find employment than the general population or even their counterparts in most other states. The newly released Disabilities Statistics Compendium, published by the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, reveals a 40 percentage-point gap in job prospects between those with disabilities and those without. Despite the Golden State’s booming economy, including the lowest unemployment rate in more than 40 years, only 701,791 – or 34.8 percent – of Californians with disabilities have jobs. The figure for people without disabilities is 74.4 percent.

According to RespectAbility, a national organization that fights stigma and advances opportunity for people with disabilities, California ranks 34^th on jobs for people with disabilities. California is far lower than states with smaller economies including Minnesota and the Dakotas. Such statistics are disappointing since California’s unemployment rate in December was 4.3 percent, lower than at any time since 1976.

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NYC’s High School Graduation Rate Also Lags Significantly Behind National Average

New York, NY, Feb. 22 – Even as the national economy improves, New Yorkers with disabilities are left behind. The newly released Disabilities Statistics Compendium, published by the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire reveals that out of more than 1,000,000 working-age New Yorkers with disabilities, only 367,478 have jobs. Adding to that is a new analysis published by RespectAbility, a national nonprofit organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities, which shows that New York now ranks 40^th in the nation for employment of people with disabilities. This is a drop of seven states. Even though more than 5,000 more New Yorkers with disabilities entered the workforce last year, the Empire State is outperformed by almost 80 percent of the country.

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• Floridians with disabilities experience the biggest jobs gains of any state, with more than 35,000 people with disabilities entering the workforce.
• Employers hire more people with disabilities as they find that recruiting, hiring and retaining employees with disabilities benefits their bottom line.

Washington, D.C., Feb. 22 – As America’s governors gather in Washington for the National Governors Association meeting, new statistics show that Americans with disabilities are entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers for the first time. New data from the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire reveals that 343,483 more people with disabilities joined the American workforce in 2016. This compares to only 87,201 in the previous year. Even while Americans with disabilities are entering the workforce in greater numbers, serious gaps in employment exist between different states. For example, 54 percent of working-age people with disabilities in North Dakota have jobs, while only 27.4 percent of people with disabilities in West Virginia are employed.

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Derek Shields with RespectAbility staff and Fellows

Rockville, Maryland, Feb. 21 – Derek Shields, President of ForwardWorks Consulting, LLC and disability mentor, spoke to RespectAbility staff and Fellows about the importance of having a mentor to guide you through life and give advice. He began the discussion by providing an overview of the National Disability Mentoring Coalition, a national include initiative of Partners for Youth with Disabilities. The coalition’s mission is to “increase the awareness, quality, and impact of mentoring for individuals with disabilities across the nation.”

Shields explained that, according to MENTOR: The National Mentorship Partnership, one in three youth in America grow up without a mentor. Further, students with disabilities are 50 percent more likely to be absent from school than non-disabled peers, often grow up without employment expectations, and face advancement barriers when in workforce. [continue reading…]

Deborah Calla

Rockville, Md., Feb. 16 – Deborah Calla is a Brazilian-born producer, writer and director. Calla is best known in the disability community for reviving the Media Access Awards (MAA). Her involvement in the disabilities movement and social justice stem from two sources: her professional experiences in Hollywood and her Judaism.

Calla came to film and TV by chance. A friend of a friend thought that because she directed and produced plays, she would be a good film producer, so he asked her to produce his first film.

“It was a very trying experience as I didn’t really know what I was doing and producing film can be an overwhelming effort especially if you have no experience,” Calla said. “In the end, I survived and loved it.”

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Washington, D.C., February 16, 2018 – The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation joined a small cadre of exceptional champions for inclusion and equality by awarding $145 million in grants to groundbreaking projects that will include people with disabilities equally in their work. MacArthur’s initiative, 100&Change, is a competition for a $100 million grant to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time. A part of the MacArthur Foundations’ review was a series of questions and a check list to ensure the inclusion of people with disabilities in multiple aspects of the grant recipients proposed projects.

“Historically, major philanthropists have not asked potential grantees to see and treat people with disabilities equally,” said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of RespectAbility, a nonprofit that fights stigma and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. She is also the co-founder/director of the Mizrahi Family Charitable Fund. “Funders who would never imagine funding groups that discriminate due to race or gender sadly discriminate against people with differing abilities. Often, it’s not a question of will, but of skill, as even the best-intended philanthropists often do not know how to include people with disabilities. However, MacArthur has now raised the bar on equality by including the one-in-five people on earth who have a disability.”

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