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Washington, D.C., Aug. 22 – As America celebrates the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote, diverse women with disabilities still face barriers to success. While the passage of the 19th amendment with women’s suffrage was a massive step in the right direction for women, because voting means a greater chance at ensuring political representation, it was only a start. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) women did not gain the right to vote until decades later. Additionally, there are still many barriers for voters with disabilities of all genders. This includes a lack of accessible polling places or mail-in-voting measures necessary to ensure safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 2019, there were 164,776,771 women with disabilities in the United States. The 19th amendment brought many women the right to vote and therefore the option to participate in society to advance equity and progress.

Even as society works to ensure voters with disabilities have access to vote, many individuals with disabilities are excluded from participating in society in another way – the opportunity for employment. Many women with disabilities still cannot fully participate in society in ways that women without disabilities can for both voting and working. [continue reading…]

As you have no doubt read over the past several Shabbat Smile emails, RespectAbility has been conducting a seven-part Disability Access and Inclusion Training Series for Jewish Organizations. While we plan on conducting more trainings in the future, for now we are happy to share with you that all seven trainings are live on our website, with open captions, transcripts, and accessible PowerPoint slides! If you missed one, a few, or all seven trainings in the series, or just want a refresher on some of the topics covered, we invite you to visit our Jewish Inclusion website!

The website also has our “Opening Your Virtual Gates: Making Online High Holiday Celebrations Accessible to All” toolkit. As I wrote in the toolkit’s introduction, “it is easy to make online services, and related events, accessible to everyone — if you know how.” And this toolkit should teach you how! I hope you find it helpful and will share it with every congregation you know so that all online Jewish convenings can be accessible.

Below, read a great piece written by Jared Goldin about the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled (ISCD) and their Go 60! challenge! [continue reading…]

Individual headshots of Matan Koch, Ariella Barker, Bobby Silverstein and Matthew Dietz smiling. Text: Training: How to Ensure Legal Rights and Compliance ObligationsThe number seven has incredible significance in Judaism: the seven days of creation and the holiness of Shabbat; the seven Patriarch and Matriarchs; the seven branches of the menorah in the Temple; the seven blessings and circles in weddings; and the seven days of mourning after the death of a close relative – just to name a few. (Perhaps I should add two more, to make my list a symbolic seven?)

It fits, therefore, that the initial run of our Disability Access and Inclusion Training Series culminates in the seventh “How to Ensure Legal Rights and Compliance Obligations.” As Matan Koch, Esq. – a lawyer and director of RespectAbility’s California and Jewish Leadership – explained, “having established a clear vision of how to do inclusion, the series culminates not by advocating a bare minimum, but by placing our aspirations in a legal framework.” [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, California, August 11 – A coalition of 24 Jewish organizations, led by the disability nonprofit RespectAbility, is pleased to announce the release of a new toolkit to help congregations ensure their High Holiday services and related events are accessible – Opening Your Virtual Gates: Making Online High Holiday Celebrations Accessible to All.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing many synagogues and communities of worship to move at least part of their High Holiday services, if not all, to an online format. The Jewish world is spending significant time and energy determining how to create a meaningful, spiritual experience online, and RespectAbility, working with Rabbis Lauren Tuchman and Darby Leigh, created a guide to ensure this includes the one in five Jews with disabilities. Leigh, who is Deaf, and Tuchman, who is blind, bring both their deep knowledge as rabbis and critical lived experiences. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program Summer 2020 Cohort. Individual headshots of 12 Summer/Fall Fellows smilingRockville, Maryland, August 9 – Twelve enthusiastic individuals, many of whom have disabilities, recently began RespectAbility’s Virtual National Leadership Program. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. Fellows learn about disability advocacy and gain the real-world skills required to become highly employable and impactful once they enter the workforce. Each Fellow specializes within areas of the organization that align with their career goals, including: public policy, nonprofit management, communications and community outreach.

Throughout the next six months, they will work on projects such as policy briefings, grant writing, social media content curation and media outreach, as well as soft skills including networking, public speaking and issue advocacy. [continue reading…]

Headshots of Linda Burger, Dorsey Massey and Sally Weber. Text: Training: How to Create and Implement Successful Diversity and Inclusion InitiativesAs we begin to cautiously look towards the future and imagine the new shapes that institutions – such as schools, synagogues and other organizations – may take on, it is crucial that accessibility be considered while laying these frameworks. Right now, we are beginning to think about what education may mean for this fall. We strive for balance, to ensure that students can learn, teachers can work and everyone can stay safe. In doing so, we need to focus on how this can also serve students with disabilities. If this is a concern for you or your child, RespectAbility has put together a wonderful resource guide at https://www.respectability.org/virtual-education/.

At the same time, on our Jewish calendars, the return to school is when we begin thinking about the High Holidays and how we will observe them. We need to make sure to create as much of a community as possible, where all are welcome and able to participate, even if we are not all physically together. Keep an eye out early next week for a new guide from RespectAbility, released in conjunction with many of our webinar partners, on exactly this question. [continue reading…]

New guide provides advice, resources and guidance on ensuring success for students with disabilities this fall

Washington, D.C., August 6 – As millions of students with disabilities and their parents face a new school year in the weeks ahead, the national disability inclusion nonprofit RespectAbility is releasing free resources to help students with disabilities succeed during the COVID-19 crisis. The new guide, entitled Virtual Education & Students With Disabilities: Supporting Student Success in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond, is available for free on RespectAbility’s website. The guide covers critical topics such as virtual resources from a wide range of disability advocacy organizations, home-based programs for students of all ages, live synchronous learning opportunities, state-specific information for parents of students with disabilities and mental health resources.

“Educational success is daunting for all students, families and teachers during this pandemic,” said Debbie Fink, a former educator and RespectAbility’s Director of Community Outreach and Impact. “However, it is even more daunting for students with disabilities. This is especially the case in underfunded school districts and for families without access to internet, technology devices and other key supports. Hence, we hope these consolidated resources will help students with disabilities of all backgrounds, as well as their families and educators.” [continue reading…]

Toolkit provides advice and local resources for finding employment in challenging economic environment

Los Angeles, California, July 31 – Angelenos with disabilities have a powerful new toolkit to help them prepare for and find new jobs and great careers. The Los Angeles office of RespectAbility has partnered with the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability, UNITE-LA and Fiesta Educativa to release a comprehensive toolkit for job seekers with disabilities in Los Angeles, which will, in the words of Mayor Eric Garcetti, “grow and build upon their own professional strengths, and put them to work — so that we can create a better city of the future for all of us, together.”

The toolkit, entitled “Finding a Job as a Person with a Disability in Los Angeles,” will be launched during a keynote address by Stephen David Simon, Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability, who describes the toolkit as a “cornerstone of regional efforts to help people with disabilities to gain, retain, and advance their employment opportunities.” Simon’s keynote, on Friday, July 31, will anchor the final day of RespectAbility’s #ADA30 Summit 2020, offering his vision for people with disabilities in LA in the coming years, as part a day-long focus on the way that citizens and the government can partner for the future. [continue reading…]

Brad Sherman headshotWashington, D.C., July 29 – With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging communities nationwide, California Rep. Brad Sherman is speaking to the nation about disability rights, inclusion in financial services, and community investment on the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Starting this Monday, July 27, the national disability nonprofit RespectAbility has been hosting a series of virtual #ADA30 events focused on some of the most critical issues impacting people with disabilities in our nation today. [continue reading…]

#ADA30 Summit 2020 Leadership Making A Difference for the Future. Headshots of speakers with their titles. Friday July 31 at 1 PM ET. Registration link. ASL interpretation symbol. RespectAbility logo.Los Angeles, July 28 – This week, America has been celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the most comprehensive piece of civil rights legislation ever passed for people with disabilities.

In celebration, the disability advocacy nonprofit RespectAbility, with a significant operation in Los Angeles, is hosting #ADA30 Summit 2020. Its crowning day will focus on how citizens and the government can partner to bring about the future that we would like to see by the time the ADA turns 40. It will be star-studded with messages from national, state and local leaders, including National Governors Association Chair Gov. Larry Hogan, Former Gov. and Cabinet Secretary Tom Ridge and Sen. Chris Van Hollen. [continue reading…]

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