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. 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 as they deal with issues around employment, independent living, education and romance. The show was created by RespectAbility board member Jonathan Murray. It was launched at an event on Capitol Hill hosted by RespectAbility along with CongressmanBrad Sherman and CongresswomanCathy McMorris Rodgers. Murray was recognized for this and other inclusion work by Variety.
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, development, fundraising, publicity and general political discourse surrounding individuals with disabilities and their integration into the community. The fellowship program is divided into four categories:
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 and was featured on PBS NewsHour.
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 PBSNewsHour, The Diane Rehm Show, page 1 of The New York Times, and page 1 of The Washington Post and NPR, HME News, The Atlantic and other publications.
Controversy
The organization has come under fire due to its CEO Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi's comments about race and the 2016 election. Although Mizrahi was making a highly technical point about what might turn the election in favor of Hillary Clinton, multiple disability rights bloggers objected to Mizrahi's comments. After Mizrahi's September 21, 2016 comments on her personalFacebook 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 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 Jonathan Murray, known for his Emmy winning show Born This Way. In conjunction with this, a focus group was held where people joined and talked about existing stigma and perceptions 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., with speakers focusing on advocating for persons with disabilities in Hollywood.
