Harold Foxx

Los Angeles, CA, February 17 – Originally from Memphis, Tennessee and now training in Los Angeles at the esteemed comedy theater The Groundlings, Harold Foxx is certain that comedy has been in his blood since day one. Foxx remembers hosting stand-up routines on the school bus every day to a loyal base of fans.

“All of my classmates laughed so hard on the bus to the point where the driver moved all of us to the back because we were too loud…The driver laughed too, yet we also needed her to keep her eyes on the road.”

When his mother would go to work, Foxx would stay at his grandma’s house where he would be absorbed by legendary comedians on “Sanford and Son,” “The Jeffersons,” and “The Three Stooges.”

“Growing up watching those shows, I realized laughing is everything that will light up everybody’s day,” Foxx said, citing his early inspirations to be the likes of Richard Pryor, Sherman Hemsley, and Jamie Foxx. He constantly is learning from the best and continually is adding craft and tools from his Groundlings training into his stand-up routines. These comedic inspirations led to the genius behind Foxx’s web show, “The Harold Foxx Show,” which originally started out as short form skits on Vine where Foxx gained about 50,000 followers. [continue reading…]

Read the report

Los Angeles, Feb. 17 – A new report by GLAAD found that the number of series regular characters with disabilities counted on primetime broadcast TV decreased, down to 2.8% (22 of 775) from a record high of 3.5% last year and 3.1% the year before. The number of characters counted also fell, from 27 to 22. Since Variety VIP+ reports that Americans spent 4.6 hours a day watching video on streaming services and traditional TV in 2021, this representation is vitally important to how people see – or do not see – disabled individuals in society.

“Including a disabled character does not happen by accident,” said Lauren Appelbaum, RespectAbility’s VP of Communications and Entertainment & News Media. “Inclusion of disabled people must be an intentional effort. What we see on screen influences how we act in real life. Thus, when studios make the decision to include individuals with disabilities, they are helping to remove the stigmas that currently exist about interacting with us.”

As stated in the report, “this number falls far below the actual number of those with disabilities in the United States,” as more than twenty percent of people in the U.S. have a disability.

While the numbers in this report are abysmally low, it is important to note that the GLAAD report is based on self-reporting by the networks and content providers. “While the reported numbers have gone down, it also is likely these numbers are underreported, possibly because the industry is not tracking disability internally as much as other demographics,” added Appelbaum. “Even so, the representation of disabled characters on our screens is nowhere near representative of disabled individuals in society today.” [continue reading…]

Washington, D.C., Feb. 16 – Commercials play a major role in how people with disabilities are portrayed in the mass media. Including disabled people in commercials can remove the stigma and stereotypes that surround people with disabilities. While 26% of adults in the U.S. have a disability, advertising featuring people with disabilities lags is practically absent. As a Nielsen study reflects, “with a $21 billion market potential, advertisers cannot afford to miss the opportunity to engage with the disabled community and their allies.” The Super Bowl commercials, among the most watched of any commercials in the country, provide a platform to examine the representation of disabled people.

A recent Nielsen study examined nearly 450,000 primetime ads on broadcast and cable TV in February 2021. Of those ads, 6,000 (just 1%) included representation of disability-related themes, visuals, or topics. The Nielsen analysis also found that just 3% of ad spend in primetime went to ads featuring disabled people or were inclusive of disability themes in the creative. And this year’s Super Bowl commercials appeared to follow this trend.

“Including an individual with a visible disability in a commercial does not happen by accident,” said Lauren Appelbaum, RespectAbility’s VP of Communications and Entertainment & News Media. “Inclusion of disabled people must be an intentional effort. What we see on screen influences how we act in real life. Thus, when companies make the decision to include individuals with visible disabilities, they are helping to remove the stigmas that currently exist about interacting with us.” [continue reading…]

Dr. Deborah Fisher

We are happy to welcome Dr. Deborah Fisher as Interim CEO to assist with RespectAbility’s transition. Dr. Fisher is well known and respected in the disability and nonprofit community. She has been working with multiple members of RespectAbility’s leadership team for several years as an executive coach. She will report to RespectAbility’s Board of Directors through the Chairman of the Board, Ollie Cantos.

“I am delighted to join RespectAbility during this important transition period,” said Dr. Fisher, who has worked with numerous nonprofits during their periods of change. “In my experience, having a transition CEO is a valuable opportunity for organizations to prepare themselves for a new leader, particularly as the next person will be the first successor to the founder. I look forward to assisting the staff in continuing its good work.”

The search for the new CEO will continue as planned. RespectAbility is committed to an inclusive process and will continue to work with David Hinsley Cheng and DHC Search to identify our new CEO.

Los Angeles, CA, February 15 – RespectAbility Apprentice Roy Payan didn’t set out to spark a national conversation about disability access in higher education. However, when Payan – who is blind – found himself struggling to gain access to adequate and appropriate materials to complete math classes at Los Angeles Community College, he began his quest to make improvements for himself and other students with disabilities.

According to Payan, one campus official claimed, “there were not enough blind students to warrant a change.”

“He also informed me that if I desired, I was welcome to sue them, but that even if I won the case, he would not implement any changes,” Payan says. “So, I sued them.”

That was in 2016. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, CA, February 13 – As many fans are gearing up to watch the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals face off at Super Bowl LVI, just as many viewers are looking forward to the commercials. Television advertising plays a major role in shaping how people with disabilities are portrayed in the mass media. While 26% of adults in the U.S. have a disability, advertising featuring people with disabilities lags is practically absent. As a Nielsen study reflects, “with a $21 billion market potential, advertisers cannot afford to miss the opportunity to engage with the disabled community and their allies.”

A recent Nielsen study examined nearly 450,000 primetime ads on broadcast and cable TV in February 2021. Of those ads, 6,000 (just 1%) included representation of disability-related themes, visuals, or topics. The Nielsen analysis also found that just 3% of ad spend in primetime went to ads featuring disabled people or were inclusive of disability themes in the creative.

“Including an individual with a visible disability in a commercial does not happen by accident,” said Lauren Appelbaum, RespectAbility’s VP of Communications and Entertainment & News Media. “Inclusion of disabled people must be an intentional effort. What we see on screen influences how we act in real life. Thus, when companies make the decision to include individuals with visible disabilities, they are helping to remove the stigmas that currently exist about interacting with us.” [continue reading…]

Six years ago, I became visually impaired. My eyes began to bleed, and I was told the damage was permanent and there was a chance that I could go completely blind. As a Rabbi, reading is crucial to my job. There was a solution in English braille, which I started to learn. As those studies continued, I found that Hebrew braille also existed and that became my new topic of study.

Rabbis tend to ask questions. I wondered if a Hebrew braille Torah scroll existed. Although there were braille Torah books, I could not find a Sefer Torah – the scroll used for congregational readings. There were none in the United States; there were none in Europe; there were none in Israel. [continue reading…]

Friendship Circle MD D.C. aims to promote an inclusive Jewish community through lasting relationships. The nonprofit’s mission is “to provide every child with special needs in Montgomery County and D.C. the friendship, inclusion, and emotional support that they deserve,” and “to inspire and enrich our network of volunteers with the personal growth and fulfillment derived from selfless giving.”

The organization runs recreational, social, and educational programming in the greater Washington area, providing individuals with and without disabilities the opportunity to build friendships. Friends at Home, one of the nonprofit’s weekly programs, pairs high school volunteers with children with disabilities for weekly home visits. Torah Circle, a biweekly program, is a two-hour program where participants and teen buddies bond through Jewish-themed activities. Additionally, the nonprofit hosts Birthday Club monthly which brings friends together for fun parties to celebrate birthdays. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, CA, Feb. 10 – RespectAbility has been approved for a Grants for Arts Projects award to support the RespectAbility Lab for Disabled Entertainment Professionals. Now entering its fourth year, the Entertainment Lab aims to further develop and elevate the talent pipeline of professionals with disabilities working behind-the-scenes in television and film, while introducing them to studio executives and other decision makers who advise Lab Fellows on various aspects of the industry and their craft. This also enables studios and production companies to learn about the talents and benefits of hiring disabled people to work in all aspects of the storytelling process. As such, Lab alumni currently are working at Disney, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Showtime, and more. The RespectAbility Entertainment Lab is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from RespectAbility that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. “RespectAbility is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”

“The Entertainment Lab is a unique program that merges our work in the entertainment industry while pulling in the reason RespectAbility was founded – to create more opportunities for people with disabilities who desire to be employed,” said Lauren Appelbaum, Vice President of Communications and Entertainment & News Media at RespectAbility. “We do not want anyone to have an excuse that they could not find a disabled writer, animator, director, or any other position. We are thrilled to receive this grant from NEA that will enable more disabled entertainment professionals to benefit from this program.” [continue reading…]