RespectAbility Submits Testimony to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Intersections of Students of Color with Disabilities

Washington, D.C., Jan. 17 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, submitted testimony to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in strong support of ending the disproportionate, unjust and counterproductive use of suspensions and expulsions for children with disabilities and students of color.

“The continued use of these tools of exclusion worsens educational outcomes and decreases safety for all students,” RespectAbility’s President, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, wrote. RespectAbility advocates for the 1-in-5 Americans who have a physical, intellectual, sensory, learning, attention, mental health or other disability. This includes six million students with diagnosed disabilities who are enrolled in America’s public schools.
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Nic Novicki

Beverly Hills, Dec. 21 – Recently, Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement have put a lot of attention on abuse in Hollywood. Long overdue conversations are taking place on how Hollywood can not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk, about vital issues. At the same time, Hollywood has an opportunity to walk the walk on a broad range of issues that can make the world a better place.

Last month’s Media Access Awards, which honors individuals both behind and in front of the camera who are advancing the disability narrative, changed hearts and minds for influential entertainment professionals in attendance, leading to pledges of increasing inclusion efforts for people with disabilities in Hollywood.

The Media Access Awards is unlike a traditional Hollywood award ceremony – though honoree Nic Novicki said, “it feels like an Oscar to me,” explaining the awards as “like the Oscars, but with more wheelchairs and sign language.”

Novicki is a little person and understands first hand how difficult it is for actors and actresses like him to find work in Hollywood. He needed little introduction, as presenter Jamie Brewer said, “his name is a known name in this industry.”

Novicki was just one of just nine individuals honored at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. He received the 2017 SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award in recognition of his talent and his work as an advocate for the disability community.

“We’re the largest minority group in the country,” Novicki said while accepting his award. “But yet we do not see ourselves represented. We’re in less than one percent of TV shows and movies.”

According to the 2017 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) report Where We Are on TV, the number of regular primetime broadcast characters who have a disability is at 1.8 percent, representing only a fraction of the one-in-five individuals who has a disability in the world today.

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Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 19 – Directly in the hub of Los Angeles, California sits the Harbor Regional Center (HRC), an organization local to California that strives to make every resident, family and neighbor feel welcome, wanted and productive. And this doesn’t just end in Los Angeles.

HRC is a state-funded organization that provides services to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families within the southeast areas of California. It is just one of 21 other facilities that can be found across California. The services that each center provides begin with a person’s conception and last a lifetime, ranging from providing pregnant mothers with care to assisting students with disabilities find employment to providing services to elderly individuals with disabilities.

“Sometimes people may have a troubled pregnancy and we follow them until age three, at which time the child can be tested for autism or other disabilities,” says Rick Travis, the manager of the health, service and employment team.

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Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 12 – California Resource Services for Independent Living (SCRS-IL) is making sure that people with disabilities are able to live healthy, independent and productive lives.

“As a person with a disability, I think it is very important to know how to navigate our systems. Sometimes these systems are there to help us,” said Jose Gonzalez, who serves as the Youth Transition Specialist at SCRS-IL.

SCRS-IL was founded in 1979 by individuals with disabilities.

“It was a belief in the prophesy that everyone had a future, which gave birth to SCRS understanding that people with disabilities are the forefront of empowering other people with disabilities,” said Gonzalez.

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New Opportunities for 1-in-5 Living with Disabilities

Washington, D.C., Dec. 7 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, recognizes the work of several foundations who are making inclusion and equality of people with disabilities a priority.

The Ford Foundation continues to take major steps to include disability in all their work. Led by their President Darren Walker, they have championed a complete evaluation and inclusion of disability in all the work of philanthropists. A major piece by Ford’s Noorain Khan recently detailed the foundation’s dramatic progress on this front. Additionally, Ford President Darren Walker just did a major interview on this topic with Sen. Tom Harkin in front of more than 200 disability activists/leaders. Harkin co-authored the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In addition, J.P. Morgan Chase’s philanthropy recently gave support to some of their grantees to ensure that their national conferences are accessible. At the same time, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington has created a free online toolkit on disability inclusion that can be used by any nonprofit anywhere while the Chicago Community Trust is doing important work on disability inclusion through their ADA Compliance Guide for Nonprofits.

This coming Monday, December 11th, the MacArthur Foundation is joining the wave by asking finalists for its major 100-million-dollar challenge to include people with disabilities in their work. Their 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. Never before has a grant anywhere near this size asked grantees to address how they plan to assure access to benefits for persons with disabilities.

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Rockville, Md., Nov. 30 – A brand new and very important study from Cornell University focuses on intersectionality around youth of color and English-as-a-Second-Language learners with disabilities. The fact is that often people see only race and ethnicity when they think about marginalized communities, and forget that disability impacts every ethnic group, gender identity/orientation and race.

On Friday, December 8, beginning at 9:00 am ET, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a public briefing: The Intersection of Students of Color and Students with Disabilities, and School Discipline Policies. Current data suggests that school discipline practices have had a profoundly negative impact on students of color and students with disabilities, and that students of color with disabilities face even higher disproportionate impact from discipline practices than white students with disabilities. This causes a lot of students to either be expelled or drop out, which links to the data you see below, which is a result of the school-to-prison pipeline. This public session will live-stream and there will be call-in line (listen-only): 800-479-9001, conference ID 8362937. If attending in person, you should RSVP to publicaffairs@usccr.gov.

RespectAbility’s own white paper, Disability & Criminal Justice Reform: Keys to Success, showed that more than 750,000 people with disabilities are behind bars in America today. Find a special report on it from the PBS NewsHour.

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Grassroots Leaders Asked to Join in Fight Against Prejudice 

Washington, Nov. 27 –  Key national Jewish leaders are helping spread the word that “Ableism”, discrimination against people with disabilities, is unacceptable.

Grassroots advocates – people with disabilities and the people who love and respect them – are invited to join this social media effort to educate and advocate in support of equality and respect!

Activists can download their own copy of the sheet in the photos on our website. Then they can either put their Twitter address, or if they are not on Twitter, then put their name in the space.

Activists are invited to post the photo of themselves with the sign on Facebook and Twitter and tag RespectAbility on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RespectAbilityUSA and on Twitter using @Respect_Ability and @JewishInclusion. Photos below are just some of the terrific Jewish leaders who have joined this cause!
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Eleanor Clift

Rockville, Md., Nov. 27 – Recently RespectAbility Board Member Eleanor Clift joined staff and Fellows for lunch, enlightening them about her journey as a journalist and in advocacy work at different nonprofit organizations including RespectAbility.

Clift began her journalism career as an intern at Newsweek during the time where the United States was going through many influential movements. The Women’s Movement of the 1970s was the reason she received the opportunity to work at Newsweek. However, the ultimate tipping point that gave her the leeway to gain the internship at Newsweek was the class act law suit the women of Newsweek in New York brought against the magazine for gender discrimination.

“What the magazine agreed to do was a class action settlement where women working at the magazine could do internships,” Clift explained. “I did do an internship and I have never taken a journalism course in my life. In fact, I never even had a college degree but, I’ve been in the magazine for years I have sort of organically learned how to do reporting so I thank the women who brought that law suit.” [continue reading…]

Winner of the 2017 SAG-AFTRA New York Disability Awareness Award, Media Access Awards

Grey’s Anatomy’s Jason George

Boston, Mass., Nov. 22 — The Ruderman Family Foundation, which works to advocate for and advance the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout our society, received the SAG-AFTRA New York Disability Awareness Award at the Media Access Awards, which honors individuals who are showcasing the disability narrative accurately. SAG-AFTRA Diversity Chair Jason George accepted the award on their behalf during the ceremony in Los Angeles, Calif.

“We are sorry we couldn’t be there, but are very proud and honored by this recognition in Hollywood,” said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “Thank you also to the Media Access Awards and all other partners and collaborators in Hollywood who are moving the needle on disability inclusion.”

Ruderman was not present because his foundation was holding its annual Inclusion Summit in Boston that weekend.

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