RespectAbility is an American nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to empowerment and self-advocacy for individuals with disabilities. Its official mission is to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities. Started by one-time

political consultant Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi (born May 8, 1964, in Durham, North Carolina) is an American disability rights activist and an advocate for Israel. She serves as president of the disability advocacy nonprofit RespectAbility. She is also the co-founder an ...

and philanthropists Donn Weinberg (its founding chairperson, from ''The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation'') and Shelly Cohen in 2013. Its chairperson is Steve Bartlett, who was a principal coauthor of the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

. RespectAbility is currently headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. The organization was recognized for its innovation by Slingshot. It is also recognized by Guide Star at the Platinum level for its inclusion, transparency, and excellence. In 2017, a flag was flown over the United States Capitol in honor of RespectAbility's work on behalf of Americans with disabilities. On June 3, 2018, the Maryland General Assembly gave an Official Citation to RespectAbility for its dedication and commitment to the inclusion of people with disabilities. Sulam presented RespectAbility with the Advocacy Leadership Award in June 2018.

Education and employment for persons with disabilities

RespectAbility is working to expand education and employment opportunities for people with disabilities and its president, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, has published hundreds of articles on disability issues. On C-SPAN she outlined many of their goals. RespectAbility has worked with 46 governors to help advance and realign state programs to help people with disabilities obtain competitive, integrated employment opportunities. RespectAbility has provided testimony on disability employment in all 50 states and at the federal level. One of RespectAbility's main projects focuses on employment for people with disabilities in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. In November 2017, a resource guide was published on resources for people with disabilities in Long Beach. This was made possible by Long Beach Community Foundation and a grant from the Knight Foundation.

Disabled persons in media and movies

RespectAbility is working to change the narrative in Hollywood to ensure accurate and positive media portrayals of people with disabilities. RespectAbility is working with several partners within the entertainment industry on the full inclusion of people with disabilities, both in front and behind the camera. '' Born This Way'', which recently won an Emmy for best Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program in 2017, stars seven diverse young adults with

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

as they deal with issues around employment, independent living,

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

and

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

. The show was created by RespectAbility board member

Jonathan Murray Jonathan Murray (born October 26, 1955) is an American television producer and co-creator of MTV's '' The Real World'', ''Road Rules'' and '' The Challenge'', and the Oxygen Network's ''Bad Girls Club''. Early life Murray was born in Gulfport, ...

. It was launched at an event on Capitol Hill hosted by RespectAbility along with Congressman

Brad Sherman Bradley James Sherman (born October 24, 1954) is an American accountant and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in ...

and

Congresswoman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Murray was recognized for this and other inclusion work by ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''.

National Leadership Program

The National Leadership Program, funded by the Ford Foundation, is a fellowship program which enables individuals with and without disabilities to gain experience in

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

, fundraising, publicity and general

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

discourse surrounding individuals with disabilities and their integration into the community. The fellowship program is divided into four categories: * Public Policy and Employment * Communications and Stigma * Program Development and Fundrasing * Faith Inclusion

Criminal justice reform

RespectAbility created a white paper that showed that youth and adults with disabilities are at special risk for the school-to-prison pipeline. Their publication, Disability & Criminal Justice Reform: Keys to Success was featured on ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events. Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the pro ...

''.

Political outreach and advocacy

RespectAbility is the parent organization for www.TheRespectAbilityReport.org, which covers the intersection of politics and public policy. It covered all the presidential candidates in the 2016 presidential campaign. Their political advocacy was featured in a segment on the PBS NewsHour, ''

The Diane Rehm Show ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nati ...

'', page 1 of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', and page 1 of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, HME News, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' and other publications.

Controversy

The organization has come under fire due to its CEO

's comments about race and the 2016 election. Although Mizrahi was making a highly technical (and probably incorrect) point about what might turn the election in favor of Hillary Clinton, multiple

disability rights The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities. It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocat ...

bloggers objected to Mizrahi's comments.Intersectional Justice: Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi's Post on White Voters and Disabilit

/ref> After Mizrahi's September 21, 2016, comments on her personal

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

page, the organization stated Mizrahi did not speak for the organization on matters of that type in her personal blog. However, the following day, Mizrahi spoke on behalf of RespectAbility USA when she was quoted on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

about white disabled voters. In response, RespectAbility issued an apology, which many disabled bloggers felt was a non-apology since she never actually apologized. Later the organization issued a more detailed apology amidst pressure from the disability community. The Harriet Tubman Collective, have called out RespectAbility and Mizrahi on their social media platforms, for her racism, and appropriation of the work of their members, who are disabled black women.

Events

On August 16, 2017, the organization orchestrated an event called “Diversity, Equity and Equality in Hollywood” alongside Hollywood producer

, known for his Emmy winning show '' Born This Way''. In conjunction with this, a

focus group A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...

was held where people joined and talked about existing stigma and

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

s of persons with disabilities among Hollywood decision makers. The focus group was featured in Ability Magazine. On July 31, 2017, RespectAbility held a summit at Rayburn House on Capitol Hill in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, with speakers focusing on advocating for persons with disabilities in Hollywood.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.respectability.org/ Disability organizations based in the United States Disability rights organizations Non-profit organizations based in Maryland Disability rights