“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” – Stevie Wonder

Okay, so I am not a man, and this is a piece for Women’s History Month, but I love this quote because it’s a reminder that my blindness does not define me or my vision. Honestly, in some way, my blindness makes me stronger and more resilient because I have to work harder. My blindness puts me more in touch with my other senses.

I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) when I was five years old, so my parents left Bangladesh, their family, and their livelihood to come to America in search of a cure. They never considered that they might remain in the U.S., but gave up going back home, as they realized that the hope of finding a cure for RP was better here than overseas. Unfortunately, there was no cure to be found then nor now, here nor there.

So, I always knew that I might lose my vision one day. However, knowing and experiencing something is completely different and it took some time to change my outlook on life. As a woman with a disability, it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. I mean, did you know that 80% of woman with a disability are victims of abuse and rape? That’s really high – and scary. So, I don’t trust people easily, despite my friendly personality. [continue reading…]

Sponsors include Cast & Crew, Comcast NBCUniversal, Final Draft, Fox Corporation, Murray/Reese Foundation, Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company

Summer Lab 2019 participants at The Walt Disney Studios. Credit: Jeff Maynard

Los Angeles, California, March 12 – Great entertainment requires authentic stories and genuine representation of all people. This includes diverse people with physical, cognitive, sensory, mental health and other disabilities. Hence, RespectAbility, the nonprofit that produced The Hollywood Disability Inclusion Toolkit, is thrilled to offer the second annual innovative Lab series for emerging entertainment talent, as well as a track for mid-level career professionals. This 5-week, 10-session summer Lab is for people with disabilities interested in – and with experience in – development, production and post-production, including careers as writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, animators and other production roles.

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RespectAbility to hold LA session on Thursday, March 12th on “How Disability Inclusion & Equity Can Add to Your Success”

Los Angeles, CA, Mar. 9 – Even as coronavirus quickly escalates into a major economic disruption for the nation, new data shows that Californians with disabilities already were struggling to keep their place in the state’s labor force.

According to the recently released 2019 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium, there are more than 1.8 million working-age Californians living with a disclosed disability, but only 700,456 have jobs. That puts putting California’s disability employment rate at just 36.9 percent, below the already low national average of 37 percent. This rate is less than half of the 75.6 percent of Californians without disabilities who have jobs. [continue reading…]

“Remember to look at life accurately and to utilize every moment.”

Shabbat Shalom, and a peaceful Sabbath to you all. My name is Hilla Hadas. I have been the CEO of ENOSH – the Israeli Mental Health Association – for the past 13 years. My academic background includes a Ph.D. in Life Sciences. I live in Israel and reside in the city of Modi’in, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Enosh was established 42 years ago by brave mothers who wished to support their loved ones – people with psychosocial disabilities – and their family members. Our organization has become the leading voice of people with psychosocial disabilities, fighting stigma and raising awareness. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, California, March 5 – “I don’t look like people in Hollywood. I’m small. I have a disability. I wasn’t sure if I could have a career.”

Writer-director Ashley Eakin is breaking barriers. Once ashamed of her physical disability, Eakin is now proud to be an advocate and filmmaker in this community.

“My journey into accepting this part of my identity has been a very long one. For over 30 years, I was an unknowing ableist because I was so ashamed of my disability. I was consistently hiding my bone disease, until one day I realized I had my own unconscious bias. Unfortunately, a lot of society does see disability in a negative context, which had influenced the way I felt about myself all those years. I think once I was able to confront that bias, and understand the history and type of culture I was born into, I started to accept that maybe it’s not my fault I feel this way. This was a big catalyst for my mission on wanting to change the way the world sees us.“ [continue reading…]

108,638 New Jobs for Women with Disabilities in the U.S., 94,749 Lost Jobs for Men with Disabilities

Washington, D.C., March 5 – As we celebrate Women’s History Month, women with disabilities have particular reasons to celebrate. Comparing the annual disability statistics, the nonpartisan disability inclusion organization RespectAbility shows that approximately 108,000 women with disabilities entered the workforce in 2018.

This is a major accomplishment given that the disability community writ large struggled nationwide to add more workers to the economy. In fact, during the same time period, 94,749 working-age males with disabilities left the workforce. This means, in terms of job growth, there was just an increase of 29,893 jobs for people with disabilities in 2018, a ten-fold decrease compared to the more than 343,000 new jobs for people with disabilities two years ago. [continue reading…]

“We all have gifts and talents. Discovering our strengths and leading from a position of ability is the way forward for us all.”

– Valora Blackson

Valora Blackson, an ally to people with disabilities, participated in a RespectAbility training program at Guttman Community College in New York City: Empowerment Training for Female College Students with Disabilities. The training focused on women’s disability leadership, inclusion, advocacy, and empowerment for college students in the greater NYC area. Valora led a small group session, entitled Community-wide Advocacy 101: How to Broaden Inclusive Advocacy Beyond Campus. She focused on internships, volunteer experience, and the issue of when to disclose a disability to an employer. Valora was inspired by the incredible women she met and considers it an honor to have been asked to participate in the empowerment training. [continue reading…]

The Matan team is proud to recognize Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), by providing a free resource, which can be used year-round: Matan’s JDAIM lesson plans can be downloaded at matankids.org/jdaim-lesson-plans. These lesson plans are designed for use by congregational and Jewish day school educators. With these resources, any teacher can guide their students through important themes, interactive activities and meaningful Jewish discussions about disability. As importantly, the lessons serve as models for teachers to think about accessibility in all of their lesson planning going forward.

The lesson plans are divided into 3 sections: Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 3rd to 5th grade and Middle and High School. Each section contains various options so that an instructor can decide which is the best fit. Every lesson follows the same general format, which includes: [continue reading…]

As the country celebrates the contributions of African Americans during Black History Month, webhost La’Rina Carolina reflects upon her intersecting identities of being a being a deaf Black woman in the United States today, noting each of these three parts of her identities becomes a “barrier.”

“I am proud of being black and I love myself and my heritage,” Carolina said. “But driving while black is real and driving while deaf is even scarier. I don’t understand why, we aren’t treated equally.” [continue reading…]