Search: Iowa

Eric Ascher at Apple Park’s Visitor Center

Eric Ascher is one of the most interesting young leaders in America. He’s a fountain of knowledge around two key passions – live television talent contests and innovations in technology. It’s like he’s always looking for the best in man and in machines.

Eric Ascher is the Communications Associate for RespectAbility, where he is on the front lines of fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for and with people with disabilities. As the Communications Associate, he is responsible for supporting RespectAbility’s Vice President of Communications in developing and implementing advocacy efforts and communications of various types. Ascher manages RespectAbility’s social media channels, website and emails; organizes and develops webinars; and supervises Communications Fellows. [continue reading…]

Voters with disabilities can learn candidate plans on disability, education, jobs, immigration, climate crisis, criminal justice and more 

Washington, D.C., Oct. 7 – As Americans are voting in record numbers and just before the Vice Presidential debate tonight, the nonpartisan disability group RespectAbility has released 50 state voters guides containing key information on where candidates stand on issues impacting Americans with disabilities.

Voters with disabilities are a massive pool of potential voters who have often been ignored in past elections. However, those voters are now more engaged and active than ever. According to a recent study by Rutgers University, up to 38.3 million eligible voters are people with disabilities. This represents a massive increase in participation by voters with disabilities compared to past elections. Further, millions more Americans have friends or loved ones with disabilities. [continue reading…]

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Washington, D.C., Sept. 14 – With 50 days left until Election Day and with many voters deciding to vote early, candidates across the political spectrum are reaching out to a previously ignored block of voters: people with disabilities.

Polling conducted earlier this year showed that more than half of the electorate in the battleground (59 percent) self-identifies as having a disability (16 percent), having a family member with a disability (32 percent) or having a close friend with a disability (11 percent).

According to Rutgers University, 14.3 million citizens with disabilities voted in 2018. Those voters will be crucial as both Democrats and Republicans vie for votes this year. In response to this opportunity, campaigns and candidates across the country are going on the record about their policies and plans to help Americans with disabilities. Those plans are being documented online by RespectAbility, a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.

RespectAbility is a non-partisan group and have been thorough in reaching out to Democratic and Republican candidates equally. The team at RespectAbility is still actively soliciting responses to their questionnaire from campaigns that have not yet done so.

RespectAbility has been actively engaging with campaigns to both educate them about disability issues and to get campaigns to complete RespectAbility’s 2020 Disability Voter Questionnaire.  You can find full, detailed converge online at https://therespectabilityreport.org. [continue reading…]

Table 2 provides a list of all the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) offices in Los Angeles County by the communities they serve. DOR will ask you to set a job goal and provide services to help you get there. This could include helping with accommodations, paying for additional education, creating a career development plan, job exploration, skills and self-advocacy training, and opportunities for job experience. [continue reading…]

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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#SNAPDeliverySavesLives

Washington, D.C. July 21 – With the COVID-19 pandemic raging out of control and many resisting wearing life-saving masks, something as simple as going to the grocery store can become a life or death decision. People with disabilities and other underlying medical conditions are uniquely vulnerable to this disease and need access to safe options for putting food on the table.

According to the CDC, 90 percent of COVID-19 hospitalizations are people with underlying conditions. Moreover, it is very hard for people who are blind to see who does or does not have a mask on. People who use wheelchairs cannot simply jump out of the way when someone comes near them without a mask. Thus, in places where people are not wearing masks or practicing full social distancing, RespectAbility – a national disability nonprofit – is encouraging people with disabilities to use food pickup or delivery so they can stay healthy. [continue reading…]

#ADA30 Summit 2020

Sen. Tom Harkin represented Iowa in the U.S. Congress for more than four decades. He served Iowa’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985 and was a U.S. Senator from 1985 to 2015. Sen. Harkin’s legacy policy priorities have included federal farm policy, civil rights for Americans with disabilities, childhood nutrition and food access, healthcare access and reform, labor issues, and access to and improvement of education. He co-authored the Americans with Disabilities Act and was its chief sponsor in the Senate. He lives in the house where he was born in Cumming, Iowa.