Transcripts For CSPAN Equality For People With Disabilities Forum Part 2 20170806

Im looking for the next guest speaker. Okay, perfect. First of all, welcome back. We are a Nonprofit Organization fighting stigma and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities. The next session is going to be moderated and im really quite delighted about this because hes such an extraordinary leader and has recognized as a National Expert on ability, aging and health care policies. Hes more than 20 years of experience to manage the policy issues for diversity and stability community and advocates for diversity and inclusion within the Entertainment Industry. He particularly enjoys bringing his expertise to the policy to the Entertainment Industry supported. It can be an incredible ally and he is proving that today by bringing the leon daniels buckler to be with us today. He has a long line of experience and expertise i want to thank him for his work at the part of health and Human Services when is the Deputy Assistant secretary for planning and evaluation. He is one of the original Board Members from the board of advisors. If we can invite you to come up and sit down next to him, he is going to first introduce you to like many here in dc dot i. Said i wanted to start with respectability, lets do it and she said remarkable words. Its interesting being in dc after nearly a decade with president bush. Its taught me a lot about life and working with people on both sides of the aisle. And i think what happened is i believe the Entertainment Industry is such a powerful force for changing mindsets for the better. And what ive been hearing is working with daniels buckle andw viola davis and her husband and the Writers Guild of america to show the marketability of inclusion, gender, disability, whatever because we are a part of the fabric of america and despite our challenges and should be appreciated and with that i want to introduce my dear friend leah daniels. We are like family. Let me just say that too many times, communities work in silo why are you advising viola, why are you doing this and i say you know what, we need to build a bridge and Everybody Needs to cross it together because if we dont bring down the barriers, we will never make change. With that, my sister, leah. [applause] thank you for inviting me to speak on diversity and inclusion of hollywood today. This is a little different for me because i do work and in obviously hollywood and they work behind the camera so this is new for me being in front of the camera. Im going to do with a friend tolwhat a friendtold me to do ay heart but i do have a guideline if you will. My dear friend and advisor has pointed out i am a casting director and producer in the film lee daniels the butler of the Academy Awardwinning film precious and talk to the Fox Television show in pioneer. The diverse acting color or gender and disability has recently led to being appointed the National Board director for the casting society of america. Through Television Shows and movies we are focused on stories that reflect the hardships and humanities that the community space. Stephen reached out to me and he wrote the leading characters onn empire with hidden disabilities. We all know that talented people with disabilities such as harry s. Tuchman, ray charles, Stevie Wonder could have a positive effect on the minds of many. Stephen has served as a content expert on disability and making the case for Disability Inclusion as good businesses. In hollywood we need to build a network of doctors and other key players with disabilities towards increasing Storyline Development and hiring so that the abysmal 2. 5 representation on tv the 0. 9 in film has changed with disability and communities. The Family Foundation in the center 2016 have done studies with similar statistics according to the census 2016. 57 americans are living with a disability among the population are some of the most talented people on earth. Stephen connected me to be diversity teathediversity team r thank you for that . I wanted to say thank you again. He connected me with the team that led to a table on Disability Inclusion. Its available for hire where they are ablebodied character or disabled if they have an equal chance for higher. Furthermore i recognize that an actor with a disability could in fact fell so many roles that are typically built by ablebodied actors. The National Inclusion and diversity is partnering with the actor and diversity departments inclusion in the er, the California Association of the media committee, the naacp and other advocacy groups to develop a comprehensive inclusion and Diversity Handbook to be distributed in the Entertainment Industry later this year. Covering a Broad Spectrum of Diverse Communities will detail how to be fully inclusive from the creation of the breakdown for the addition of hiring process finishing with helpful tips on how to prepare the Production Team. They were culminating in a National Call this here for the performance disabilities veterans and films and transgender actors of the body and you will inclusion and diversity expo in hollywood featuring vendors in a wide range of organizations who actively advocate for inclusion and diversity in the arts followed by a Panel Discussion to join the industry professionals into the development of an Inclusion Diversity training program. Thank you. [applause] mike check. Okay. I guess we will open up to questions. Any questions . About whats going on in hollywood and where we are getting as far as the diversity, and more importantly as stressed is that we are not really worried about diversity. Its more about inclusion. We are a diverse country. Its about opening opportunities for all parts of society. So theres a lot of questions if i will run around with a microphone. You had one earlier. Can you talk about somebody you think is doing a good job in hollywood . She is absolutely unbelievable. Disabled and lgbt. There are a handful of excellent people in hollywood. Leah is very important to this effort because without, these producers cant fill the role and so it is imperative if you are disabled and you dont have talent, youre not going to get a job. Lets face it. We cant approach the industry as the principle we have to hire the right person for the role. Who are the people you would pick that are the trendsetters . I havent worked with them oneonone but thone on one butn team i think they are doing a great job. I think also the Production Team from this is us, there are quite a few that are doing a lot. It starts there is obviously as i said earlier it starts with the narrative to try to get them to understand you have to write these stories so we can include actors with disabilities. But a lot of times it doesnt. Its not on the page so that it becomes the casting directors part to try to get them to think why not consider so and so for this. I will give you a personal example as you all probably know, twin peaks is back on showtime, 20th anniversary. To show you the director david lynch called me one day as olympia can testify and said [inaudible] anyway, i was on the First Episode within the first half hour of twin peaks and ive gone on to do three independent films, which is really good for actors to do independent films. I did a music video with rapper big sean. And now we are going back to hollywood and i will be doing a movie with a rather famous rapper actor Sean Mcdonald said its just proving everything into the idea that it wasnt have to be always in ablebodied actor. I landed in delhi in 73 and to see this was a rare situation. Sammy davis junior would do an appearance on all of th in the y but thats about all you could get it now as a guy thats been represented when you go to bring a project and the first thing they say is lets take it to lebron james company, these are things that didnt exist even five years ago. They are now doing a remake of mary poppins. I think hollywood sets the boundary and open source quicker than anybody else and i think the diversity that is going on quite honestly was up with the wind in from nasa and you hear these stories and think they could use the same bathroom and it was in my lifetime that was going on and they were not made aware of those situations, so we have going leaps and bounds. The first black billionaire and by the way a woman millionaire by creating hair products, so in the community she is the goddess. Absolutely, absolutely. Shes finally getting the movie made about him walker which is another part of our history that 99 of the people its finally been done. Oprah was going to do it and then it finally fell by the wayside, but its happening now. Thank heavens for you and your brother and everybody finally accepting that. There is so much diversity in Production Companies so weve gone leaps and bounds but now everybody wants to know how do we make that happen in the rest of the world, where else can we make that happen . Do you want to answer that . My husband kind of said it best especially in the community we have to be accepting of it. A lot of times we sweep things under the rug because you are embarrassed if your kid has a disability or learning disability or reading disability or whatever kind of disability they have been getting them the proper help. That is one of the big things we have to recognize is not to be ashamed to talk about it and to try to get the help that is needed. With producers and writers and others how about the full crew from makeup to costume to the logistics to housing all of the other components because that is a critical moment as well. I agree with you 100 and i think it starts with awareness. People will tell you i just didnt go. I shouldnt say i didnt know. I didnt think about it. It was not in the forefront and when he brought it to my attention, you are right how come we dont see disabled actors are often. It featured an actor here. I cant think of the show. It was something that was done and i was surprised how you dont see that more often but its just raising the awareness, there has to be somebody that has a talent whether it is hair, makeup, crew, whatever that is that is going to be an advocate for that and set out for those people. It is also behind the camera working on the Writers Guild of america the Disability Committee and we are working on making sure the more writers with disabilities get jobs and also directors. It is across the decades so its not just about the camera, the most important jobs in the industry are producers and executives, and until we get more executives we will not see the change we need because believe me where i work with nbc as an advisor i can tell you its nasty because they want to see returns on investment. So you have to change the mindset. We have so many questions we will see this one after another independent you can answer so if you could ask your question and then we can get them together. Given the fact that you are still incrediblyourestill incre schools being graded so they can be qualified to work in the field etc. Because that may be the only way to bring this up. School of business at georgetown university. My question is when it comes to cross pollination of ideas, where exactly do you look to find things like best practice, and who are the people that you listen to when you are trying to think of new ideas for the storyline and that sort of thing . I am a special ed teacher and i found out while learning about the special needs of my Masters Program that i have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as a few other unseen disabilities. I am an actress and a producer and have an interest in casting. I appreciate what you touched on the agency you are starting will be directing the actors or people behind the camera as well because i have an interest in getting involved in that. Im going to ask this young man in questio a question and tl go over to this side of the room. Spirit i dont know why all of a sudden hes scared but hes been dying to see you. Anyway, thank you so much. It is an honor to meet you and i want my name is eric and i want to be a in an actor, bishop had so much more. I have two documentaries out. I heard your mother speaks very highly of you. You have a lot going on for such a young age. Thank you. I will answer your question first. Correct me if im wrong. Is it about the training for the actors [inaudible] thats kind of what we did when we did the diversity thing. We held a workshop where it was geared towards actors with disabilities by solving a few of the other casting directors for the casting society of america and then we also reached out to other casting directors that do not sit on the board. We had a workshop morning and afternoon we split the tab stop and each of us took a group of maybe 12 to 20 actors with disabilities and worked oneonone in classes and that is what we are hoping to continue. You do have to have the proper training. That is what we are trying to do to have ongoing classes because they are prepared and ready as opposed [inaudible] if you dont understand that, its not going to work. I was on a primetime drama and you go in, do your lines and thats it. You have to understand you are probably going to get a no but thats okay because you will fit the role that is bad for that is for you. What is your Favorite Movie . Thats like picking a favorite pair of shoes. I dont know. At the very first time i saw my name in a credit i always refer back to that its the one that is the most dear to me because that is the first time i was in the Movie Theater and saw my name scroll up. There was quick if you blinked you would miss it for the first time. It was a spoof a long time ago but i think the one i really enjoy, i was able to learn a lot that i didnt know. He likes the movie so my question is why do you think it is easier to have this kind of thing happen im sorry, i forgot. Im really excited. Do you think people will have an open mindset where this generation is more accepting and realizes everybody is equal or what do you think is it different in that it kind of helps a that is a good question. When you go to an audition are there individuals you are going up against, so have you seen the light throughout the years increase . Definitely it has increased. Im doing a new show that is going to be airing on bep called the comedy gets down. There was a role that came up for a wheelchair user and for the breakdown out it was for a specific age he had to be 18yearsold so originally the producers when we talked about it they just wanted an actor and then i said why not get a real wheelchair user why are we casting this with an actor in a wheelchair i work on the diversity committee. [applause] so we did meet a lot of factors but the problem i did find it by just being honest come in a certain age group who might be a lot of wheelchair users that they are in their 30s or 40s so its finding that specific age group in getting those actors trained so there is a lot more to do. Theres a lot of actors with disabilities but in certain categories when you break it down they have to be able to fit the narrative caught to bac so t is one of the biggest challeng challenges. I do think that todays generation is more open. I have a niece and nephew. One was raised by another brother and they are a couple and raised these kids in their household so i just know they are so much more open, they dont judge and they want to experience more. They are more wellrounded because of the things that they were exposed to me that they were not quick to judge. For years ive been getting into the industry however im coming across where now if i see a casting from you i cant get there because i have to look for an agency into the art of opening up for people with disabilities. In that instance i tell those that dont have representation is you have to do the groundwork your self. You have to seek out the casting director in the show that you want to be on. There are so many different platforms right now, you have fox, lifetime, so many different platforms not only that but the new media. There is so much more content out there. Find out who is casting the shows and submit the picture. Seek them out, send your pictures in. Just remind them. It comes across at the right time so i cant tell you how many times ive seen the same car to come across my desk but the one moment it comes across im looking for this person at this time so do the groundwork your self. For the resume about a talent agent, you have to do your work and be persistent. If someone was interested in the background Video Production into that type of thing where would you start for that arena . It is a good question and its like i said earlier, i think if there are people with disabilities already working in this area you have to come forward and be an advocate otherwise you are never going to know if people will never fight for it. What we are doing again is trying to do our part where we can with actors but theres other groups you have liked the Writers Guild, every one of the behind the scenes that make up the Production Team. What they have t the have to dod someone that will advocate for them. The companies are up and its very big on hiring a Diverse Workforce its also for production. Apply for entry level jobs. Thank you for being here in facilitating this. All in all those you do in the industry to create a toolkit bringing together all the pieces actors and actresses that want to be part of the support with directors and other people who have talent in the industry and in addition to the token that would centralize this are their efforts to create an informal database of people with disabilities who want to submit their information so they can tell you about the strength et etc. They will have an entree into say we have several thousand what is the profile you need. It is a great idea that someone should start if it hasnt already been started. With the society is doing with all the other advocacy groups to sort of build that community, and hopefully it i know that it will be before the end of the year but hopefully it will continue and build but i think it is a great idea and you should start the database [inaudible] with respectability as we mentioned in the new organization thats one of the things we want to help with in hollywood and anybody that wants to work on that we put on the website for example from acting schools they specifically work with people with disabilities. Others but specifically on working with actors and disabilities are activists like pam dixon and others that are working to really move this forward but what we have seen is the Diversity Movement has been in the silos where there is a group of people that want to see representation in the community. One thing about this about what he is it community. So we see ourselves as a potential convener of the different silos of people that can Work Together because i think as a Disability Community it is far stronger for the inclusiveness and celebrating the diversity of life in america at im going to take the moderator is privilege and ask a question on children and the non hollywood question. You know what its like to raise kids and boys. Not every mom wants to believe if the kid has a disability. What is your message to other parents who may have a kid with a difference with it as a physical difference you can see or attention Deficit Disorder what can you say as a parent or some advice that you would like to give on these issues . What i would like to say i kind of touched on earlier is to not be afraid to get the proper help that your kids may need. Need. Asthma has been stated earlier, we have a son who just made it into the nfl. [applause] but at a very early age we were told that he had add and we were still against the medication. It was like we didnt want to get it for him. We didnt know at the time that he couldnt, he was a smart kid that we didnt know at the time he didnt have the Attention Span to finish the schoolwork and what he needed to do to get the grade he was capable of and didnt happen until middle school. This bundle of energy that was quick doing everything. But then it came time to sort of pinpoint if we couldnt. I would say to parents, dont be afraid to do that. To get the help. It may not be just one thing. You may have to try out Different Things but dont be afraid to do that then other people are not afraid to talk about it. Then it opens up okay. First he didnt want to tell them thaanybody at school and we realized everybody else at school was on it because there were so many kids that were not afraid to talk about it so i think that as parents we first have to be okay with it and then once we let them know it is okay, its not something you should be ashamed or embarrassed of. I want to invite everybody to give a big round of applause. [applause] thank you for having us. Im going to invite jennifer to come to the front. Also there was a flag flown in your order and hes about to get a private tour of the capitol, so good luck. One of the amazing Public Servants in washington, she is a brilliant woman, she is a fighter for people with disabilities and is a wonderful role model but most importantly for us, she has been running the policy a of the u. S. Departmentf labor and is doing a spectacular job. We are so thrilled to be able to partner with her on a number of different initiatives. She is going to give you a very brief talk and i apologize she doesnt have more time. I thought she was going to be out of town and then i found out the trip didnt happen so we put her in for ten minutes though she is a major keynote for us. People passed a major piece of Bipartisan Legislation whose goal was to open doorways and on ramps for people with disabilities in america. People can get into schools and concerts in all kind of places, shopping malls, sporting stadiums, but they were not able to get into jobs. But in the last 16 months for the first time in 27 years, all of a sudden, and its like an overnight success here seeing a difference and its finally going up so i introduce you to jennifer and thank you for your amazing work. [applause] im sure that bubble of the fascinating and entertaining speakers today this is the presentation you are looking forward to hearing most. While jennifer is doing that, i am the acting assistant secretary for the office of disability employment policy. Ive been acting for two and a half years, so does that qualify me for a sag . No im kidding i will not quit my job and it is wonderful and we are having a lot of success because we are partnering with people like jennifer and organizations that are accelerating the pace of policy into raising the expectation for people with disabilities within the private industry and elsewhere. We are a nonregulatory policy office. The test and develop policies to increase Job Opportunities for people with disabilities but because we are small we do not take that step without working with partners and we work with congress and the white house and organizations and employers to figure out where the current barriers and opportunities for people with disabilities . We love what we do, we are committed and have National Experts and i will tell you a couple things that will help the Entertainment Industry and certainly those with disabilities who want to work in the Entertainment Industry. The Competitive Industries greatesindustriesgreatest of tht now the Unemployment Rate is as low as it has been in many years so employers are competing for the best talent and dont stick my get in the way of finding that is not a successful business tactics. So in our office we talk to employers and states to find out how we can help. We have our Technical Resource Center and find out about the three sources. This is the tactical Assistance Center that sets up strategies for countrywide id support for people with disabilities and finding the talent and making sure that youre getting the right message for the job. We have tools in the videos but also employers to set them up. One of the priorities we are working on now is helping people while the work and maintain their job or active work. You write something that is a big problem like it is for people with disabilities only have a 20. 7 labor force participation. That means most people with disabilities are not looking for a job. What if you are a person of experience as a back injury or illness or disability, and you are at risk of losing your job because of the disability. Lets say you are going to write your own movie script and you get treated you apply for disability and you may end up on the disability benefit of less than 5 of people ever get back to work. We want to be behind the scenes, behind the cameras helping all your company but also for yourselves as people of disabilities. Thanks very much. [applause] thank you so much jennifers chiquis. Jennifer sheehy. Im going to invite my new boss Calvin Harris and our panelists i see some but not all of them here but Eleanor Clift icu and that the others are here please join us. Let me introduce our brandnew chairman because respectability is celebrating our fourth birthday. We are for yourself and this is our transition to a new leadership so Calvin Harris is a new chairman and ronald quince is here. Wheres arnold . He is our new treasure and we have several Board Members who have been with us but i just want to say a couple of things about calvin. First of all he has been involved with disabilities since he was a small kid because his mom was really involved in disability issues and he was involved in as a Camp Counselor with disability issues. What i like best about him is that hes able to see all perspectives. Went to Morehouse College undergrad and did his graduate work at brandeis. He said the Bipartisan Policy Center sillies used to looking at left and right and really solving problems and bringing them together. John is one of our new Board Members and eleanor and others and we are very excited because we have tried to pull together people from left to right to try to solve problems to bring in a new agenda but im going to turn the panel over to calvin and close this up with some amazing speakers who are coming up next. Thank you, calvin. [applause] thank you very much for your kind words jennifer. The panelists who have come up i can introduce you all when you have all come up. Before i began i just want to say it is an honor to be the newly elect good chair at respectability. I see a few of my board colleagues here. Can you raise your hand and let yourself be seen. Thank you all. First i do want to thank the leadership of congressman brad sherman. I believe he is californias 30th district representing. We did a lot of work with them to make sure today was possible so i want to thank him and i want to thank a lot of the people that we had previously today. Thank you for sharing your insights and respect lives and begin making sure that today was possible. Respectability is critical. Correct me if we dont have this number right, 56 Million People in america with disabilities. That is quite a bit and one of the things another one of my board colleagues actually just pointed out, you know diversity is a good thing and the stringfellow country and the strength of society truly lies in our differences, not just our similarities, you know and the more that people with a disability are, people of color in people from different sexual orientation, the more they are pushed out of society we are limiting folks to the beauty that is out there. Im really happy and honored to be working with respectability and making sure this work gets done. I am honored to be meeting this panel today. We have two really awesome individuals that im excited about introducing you to. Number one, Eleanor Clift. She is a legend when it comes to journalism. She currently is washington correspondent for the daily beast and she reports on white house and congress and we just heard from lea Daniels Butler but for you movie buffs eleanor has an amazing role in quite a few movies that one of my favorite was independence day. We have one of our fellows at respectability, shania. She just turned 19 so im excited to hear her millennial hip. Shes a sophomore at indiana public speaker and shes actually the founder of crohns and colitis team so im asked cited to hear about her perspective as well. On my left we have meg oconnell who is the vp of work place initiatives for the Family Foundation and im excited. She works as a consultant working with many big time multinational corporations such as starbucks, toys r us, lose helping them on a lot of their Disability Inclusion as far as hiring practices go. I would like to first ask these folks a couple of questions and then im excited to open it up to the audience for questions. Before i begin i would like to start with shania. First of all you are one of our fellows at respectability. I would love for you to talk about your experience and your peers on campus. Howard disabilities and special needs addressed . I would say ask cal mentioned i will be a sophomore at Indiana University and i would say disabilities are discussed but not in the month my age of students especially in terms of respecting our chronic conditions, our Mental Health conditions but i think there needs to be more discourse around the issues that we are going through. A lot of times we find that the College Students are being diagnosed with various Mental Health conditions because there put upon a lot of stress as they are entering their undergraduate years with a new time in a new experience. So being able to be more open among peers is really critical. Thank you. We heard a great Jennifer Sheehy talk about her work and the administration on disabilities and i think thats a great segue to meg. Give us some of the Success Stories that you have had working with multinational corporations and i would love to hear some perspectives youve havent some of the challenges to that in the private sector. You know, the words that i keep hearing today our opportunity and thats what this is all about when we talk about employing people with disabilities in helping Companies Realize the True Potential of people with disabilities and the opportunities that exist for companies to do well when they include everyone. When we talk about people of color, women, lgbtq come all the diverse groups even we been talking about, bringing all the fabric of americans into the workplace is the great equalizer. Im having trouble with my words. We see this with Big Companies who are finally getting it. They understand that diversity is so important and they are saying, we forgot people with disabilities. We have been doing diversity for 25 plus years in Corporate America for people with disabilities have been the forgotten segment so now we have these amazing companies, International Brands who you all know are saying gosh, we havent done it right and now we need to do it so you have companies who are for the First Time Ever saying we are not going to lower performance standards. We are going to set the same expectations for people with disabilities asleep do everybody else. They are paying competitive wages and making sure that the structure is ready to support people with disabilities and thats by having effective policies programmed to procedures and all those things in place that make a successful in the workforce. You asked about terriers. Our biggest bear years are attitudinal barriers. Disability makes us uncomfortable and so the more training we can do with companies to help spread the story of disability does not mean inability. It just means finding the right people for the right job just like every other diversity group. We just had one of our other panelists step in. The legendary clarence page, Pulitzer Prize winner and renowned columnist for the tribune and Tribune Media services. Thank you for joining us today. I will let you get situated for quick second. Id like to ask eleanor a quick question. Eleanor is one of the outstanding people that we have serving with us on the board. Just given your work as a White House Correspondent for years i would love to really weigh in just within the policy world and how has the discourse around disabilities changed over the years . In reference to my its part of the mclaughlin group. I am not wonder woman. Im not jumping off of tall buildings. Thats the next generation of women. When we had the Antiwar Movement , we had the Civil Rights Movement and we had the Womens Movement so im accustomed to thinking in terms of movements to generate such social change and this Disability Rights Community is really on the cusp of claiming that title of a movement. If i had to chart the modernday evolution of this issue i would have to give credit to george h. W. Bush, president bush and the ada coming together with tony kwai low on the democratic side and the majority leader of in the house at the time. That really raised awareness and it created so many policy opportunities. I think we have been operating with that as a foundation. I think time on these issues has up in recent years. I guess you could call it the trump time. Hes only the president hes only been president six months and it feels like 10 years. I think a lot of policy issues, you feel like you are really on steroids and its time to either protect what you have or to make significant beginnings and i think we have been engaged population now more than in recent times. With the engaged population comes lots of opportunity. Thank you. Clarence, i had a quick question. I would love for you to weigh in on this. You know a lot about disability issues and is a columnist you have written about many things from poverty and diversity so leo Daniels Butler really touched on the intersection to disability and i was wondering as far as some of those intersections between disabilities you know, what are some of the sword of light, how do you think those crossroads are seen by companies and howard. Being per. When you think of stigma within different communities . Well thank you very much and id like to first of all thank you very much for being here today. This is a very important issue and you were quite right. Theres a lot of confusion over it and in fact i was pulled into the world of disabilities when we found our son had adhd and it was debatable whether adhd have to be considered a learning disability or not. As we were trying to get some background on this we were talking with the psychiatrist who says this is all an inherited trait my wife looked at me and said well not in my family. [laughter] i pursued it though and i found i do have add. On the scale of Something Like a seven on a scale of 10 and this helped to answer some questions for me actually. I have a theory that most journalists have add, daily news journalist because first of all people who have a true disability of the sort you always seek the path of least resistance. Thats why switch over to journalism first of all. We are legendary for having characters in newsrooms as well as a lot of selfmedicating going on at different kinds going back to gutenberg. As i got into it i found when i was growing up i dont think add had been at ended yet. My father used to say hes just a little or the term hyperactive came along later on but i think what we have seen though when i did some research what really disturbed me was in my days as a Police Reporter ive found so many inmates had various kinds of either education issues, high rates of illiteracy in prison or a high rate of different mental issues and different cognitive issues. When i looked into the research on juvenile offenders, this has been discussed for years and years about how much learning disabilities have to do with juvenile delinquent state and we have a high rate of young people who show up on various spectrums of disability, learning disability i should say. If the flame parents are worse worried about my child who is Healthy Habits for higher chance of becoming a criminal . There is no Research Showing that. This is a difficult thing in dealing with statistics. I have found different researchers, how high is the ld rate among convicts and they can bury as low as 10 to as high as 80 depending on what study you look at. But the most widely recognized association with disabilities back a few years ago was 30 of juvenile offenders have some kind of learning disability. Thats a higher rate than the general population and it makes sense. My first recommendation is academic journalist, legislators need more research. What are we talking about here . There are different types of learning disabilities and there are a lot of different types. I feel like im on the mild and frankly and in some ways im able to turn add to my advantage advantages of daily journalists because it helps me focus more until my deadline comes along and a few minutes after deadline i will probably turn my copy and and it has worked for me over the years. In all seriousness though i think this is something that is becoming more and more part of our National Discussion and as it does we need to be more specific about what we are talking about and learn more about what we are talking about. One of the things i would like to follow up on i heard eleanor and the fellow mentioned the importance that this is a movement and we really want to create some type of social change so i would love if you all could provide perspective as far as shania, how can we really create change amongst your peers and again i would love eleanor and clarence if you could dive into what we really need to create, social change not just as special needs and disabilities have talked about within the media but how can we truly get over some of those stigmas that you highlighted and meg if you could touch on how we can get past some of the stigmas and create real change within our private sector as well. Well, i just remember the Civil Rights Movement when dr. King and andy young visited president johnson and said what their demands were and he said i agree, now go out there and make me do it. I think we did see and the defeat of the health care act, we did see disability rights activists were on the forefront of that basically using their body to protest and creating images of Capitol Police moving them out physically. Those were compelling images so i think its a matter of just staying engaged in putting pressure on lawmakers. What respectability it did during the president s of campaign particularly during the primaries showing up at the various events, asking the questions, just being there. Woody allens famous line 90 of life is showing up and i think the Disability Movement is really showing up now. This ability, i am new to this issue. I just joined the board and you get your eyes opened about how many people are affect did and the challenges they face and what the Broader Society can do to be more inclusive to the people. I think this is a critical moment in time and people are engaged and they feel like they have a win seeing the impact on the health bill. I think it puts wind in the sails of this movement. I guess to add onto that i think allen were earlier mentioned opportunity and i feel like something important to me at this point. I lived through different medical challenges in high school and i think its getting the word out that we with chronic Health Conditions and disabilities, we want the same opportunity and we want to be able to advocate on the same level and be able to be secretary of treasury or something at a high level. I think thats something thats really important that we need to get out there. In terms of mobilizing College Students and university students, i do feel like we need to share our stories. We need to get our story out there and really tell them that these are the needs. For example a couple of Indiana University students and i are starting something called the Health Advocacy summit to take place on october and thats where we as College Students a lot of those with chronic conditions are going to be mentoring High School Students for a day and getting them advocacy and leadership opportunities those sharing your story and not settling for a lesser option is really important. I would agree completely. I think we really need to have better conversations and not be afraid to talk about disabilities and what we are seeing trends with in the workforce is people coming forward and being willing to raise their hand and say im a person with a disability. Im a top performer, im a solid employee and im a person with a disability. We know the majority of disabilities are invisible so breaking the stigma around invisible disabilities in helping people really understand that people with disabilities are just like everybody else. We also have two continue to provide resources to our employers. One that i want to mention the Just Launched in may and go to the web site worked place initiatives. Org pizza free on line resource for companies that provides a 100 page doityourself guide on how to start a Disability Inclusion program. Whether you are just kicking one off for dancing the Disability Inclusion Program Within the work force, to great resource. There has been lots of conversation today about learning disabilities, adhd, add. Lots of people of talked about it and one of the resources the foundation helped put together is specifically for parents with kids with learning and attention disabilities. At birds and resources in hopes of getting our kids with learning issues into the worst. I think since i have spent most of my time as a journalist with politicians i think about those two worlds in particular how we need to do a better job of taking this issue seriously and reporting them with some degree of completeness. I think of a valuable lesson i learned the hard way some years back when i heard Rush Limbaugh or some commentator happened to go ape over the airlines being so careful about peanut allergies and banning peanuts from flights and the commentator said this is outrageous. This is an intrusion of my government and etc. , etc. I thought in the material this is really rich here. I wrote a whole column about airline folks in government veaux taking peanuts away. A day or so later i got a very interesting and poignant email from a fellow journalist and newspaper reporter in the midwest who had died and 8yearold daughter who had a peanut allergy and he described to me and it was a very reasonable and compelling letter. He described to me in graphic details what its like to have a 7yearold daughter in the seat next to you changing color not able to breathe and swelling in the face and breathing tubes. It was quite poignant and the point of this all was that this is not a joke to a lot of people out there. I took that with me ever since then now and i always think twice about anything involving people with disabilities because we dont think about these everyday incidents all the time when all the talk comes up in we are hearing it already is, talk about how there are too many regulations on private business. A lot of those regulations involve people with disabilities and involve helping more americans to be a light my friend Charles Krauthammer and others who are part of our architectural building laws and regulations and are able to be fully functioning and productive citizens. I think really its a matter as i said earlier we need to do more research and change language. I think we also need to change your attitudes. Definitely. One of the things i think about quite a bit clearance is we truly need to take this seriously and you shared that we have really need to share our stories. I would love to just kind of dive into that a little bit as far as what are some valuable ways and what are some some strategies we could usually use to share her story and let folks chime in on that. Social media. She is more of an expert on that than i am but thats the primary way. Yeah i would defer lycee social media is a great way to go but i also think taking up more on the professional level in terms of establishing with different organizations and companies are really Efficient Office awesome way. I get to work and travel around with pharmaceutical companies so i get to kind of work with them and that this discourse and share my story about how we have reached the pharmaceutical gap. In addition to that other traveling opportunities but i feel like really using oliver platt warms whether thats reaching out to news outlets or just writing blogs and trying to share that content, think thats really important. As i said i think companies doing campaigns. We are seeing a lot of ceos, executive stand up and say hey i have dyslexia or i have epilepsy or whatever theyre disability is and not being afraid to share that with their staff. I am a person with a disability and able to be successful in the workplace and perform at the highest level. From a practical standpoint one of the things we talked to companies a lot about is making sure as you are looking for the top performers dont have things in your Job Description there derulo people with disabilities. The statements that you will often see that say you know must be able to see, hear, walk, lift 50 pounds sometimes a standard language that gets carried over and over again year after year and nobody has paid any attention to. Its something in our process that is systematically discriminating against people with disabilities so if there are any employers in the room i encourage you all to go back and make sure you are making sure that your application processes are accessible in peace people with disabilities can apply on line and start having those better conversations. Before i continue with dialogue i did want to reach out to the audience over what we have covered thus far. Does anyone have any questions or would like for speakers to expound on any other comments . The gentleman back there. I am allen at the innovation summit. What are some of the opportunities for people with disabilities to serve themselves and others by creating products and services and what are some of the opportunities for others in this Huge Community and are there federal and state incentives and Foundation Funds to help create services for the huge number of people, one in every six americans. It sounds like a meg question. At the foundation we work with National Nonprofits and companies to help them expand their Disability Inclusion programs. We have what we have pulled together as a collaborative nine other National Foundations that funds disability issues and its really a learning lab for us. We share types of projects that we are funding. We cofunds together projects all with a focus of outcomes. The Workplace Initiative has been up and running since 2014 and we set an aggressive goal at this time of 7500 new jobs for people with disabilities by the end of 2017. That all is staring me hard in the face and 2017 that we are at 6500 jobs now so i feel confident we will make by the end of the year. All of that is to say there are lots of foundations and more and more foundations arent focusing on disabilities. Their lawn has been a disconnect between social justice and disability. Youve seen a lot of foundations that would Fund Health Care or poverty. All of these things focus on individuals with disabilities so disabilities are becoming more and more front and center for foundations who are funding disability related issues. You mentioned the disconnect between social justice and disabilities. I would love if more of our panel is with dive into that. I think the disconnect is fair because as i said at the beginning disabilities have very much been the forgotten diversity segment. We as a country have not been we have spent time institutionalizing them and paying them without minimal wage and all of these things that have made them less than an putting people with disabilities away because we dont want to see them or we think theyre not capable and we need to take care of them. We have a huge cultural shift that is happening right now and culture doesnt happen in a moment. Happens in the movement and we are at that point in her movement of really making a shift of seeing people with disabilities as competent, capable and established but thats going to take time. We have had that disconnect because disabilities hasnt havent been seen as part of the social movement. Hi everybody. Im here from los angeles representing the Dash Foundation and we are a social enterprise. We create jobs for people and im curious to question for the panel is what role do you see social enterprise planning and not only reaching out to the companies are looking for jobs that arent necessarily in commendations but how d. C. Design and designing for peoples abilities . Is something that can help us all move forward in the future. We are seeing that in a lot of big and Small Companies so social enterprise is a great way for Small Business owners. We know the majority of companies are employers that run Small Businesses so having that focuses a key as well. We are seeing Foundations Fund social enterprises that higher individuals with disabilities whether it was something i read about the other day about a bakery whose families came together and helped establish that. We are seeing a lot of customization but not customized employment. What i mean by that is we have a companies and ups is a great example in louisville kentucky. They put together a Training Facility specifically designed for individuals with disabilities in the distribution center. Everyone gets to try before they buy it to see if they like it and if it works for them, do they like the job and what happens at the end of the threeweek program with a. Trained prescreened and play. Theres a case study on they were placed initiative. Org web site and we have 20 other case that these on that site that are describing what companies are doing for individuals with disabilities. I have one question i would like to address to the panel. Meg, you mentioned the work of the nine foundations that came together which i think is just amazing and we talk about truly changing minds and hearts and advancing opportunities. Its going to take an all hands on deck approach. I was wondering if some people on the panel could weigh in. What does working together look like to advance opportunities like what do partnerships look like . How can folks truly Work Together and maybe even some bedfellows coming together on advancing opportunities . Im going to leave that to someone else but i was going to point out that one phenomenon that supports the society and the government really face up are the results of two long wars that we have had and veterans coming home maimed externally and suffering ptsd and the efforts to find them jobs. President obama undertook very aggressive initiatives he considered federal jobs but this is a challenge to the country and it does require us to think more imaginatively in terms of Job Opportunities for people with disabilities for veterans and other people will benefit from that increased awareness as well. I would also add to that a think there are things we need to find Common Ground. I feel like a lot of us know people with disabilities. My brother has epilepsy or my wife has this or that and we are able to relate to one another because people with disabilities face similar challenges within society. Think being being able to find a Common Ground and working together on these issues is important. I would just say we need to be as imaginative as possible and recognize changing times. I remember back when i was in the newspaper business. Delivering newspapers, was delivered to your front door. It was a very quaint custom that lasted about werent her tears. When i first came into the business at the Chicago Tribune we have a lot of people who were hearingimpaired working on the floor with the big presses. This worked out very well for them. It was so noisy that the hearingimpaired, they all knew sign language and they could all talk to each other even while the presses were rolling. We moved into a new era and we do have computers and that gives us more flexibility as farce the workplace. Now folks dont necessarily have to come to a Central Place to work. We can take advantage of the new technology in different ways now. I think probably one of the biggest mistakes we have made is talking or thinking about people with disabilities is thinking about it as a charitable out or a thought compared to today. Part of our society and part of our economy and part of our ability to have the society where everyone works to their full potential and positive terms as what can this person contribute and what can i contribute and what can we do, everybody to be more project have . I think in previous panels we have discussed generations like the millennials and the nature of an inclusive environment and things like that so i was wondering if any of the panelists have thought of the Younger Generation if they see that generation including acceptance when it comes to disabilities with the older generation . Yeah, thats a great question, thank you. I think definitely our generation is a lot more open about talking about her disabilities so i feel like even just to you years ago i was very close to talking about my own condition. I told no one i had all served at colitis and that was very difficult not being able to explain away from its missed so much school and why you have of bean on your arm because you have a pipeline. Sharing your stories makes other people more accepting to your disability in a sense but i think to answer your question more fully a think our generation is considerably more accepting in terms of being able to empathize with each other about our differences. Hello, my name is darren colin im up policy ive taught many kids with disabilities. By the way is so impressive and is so incredible. I see you and i want my students to be as confident with disabilities as you are. How did you get there and what would you tell other kids . Thank you so much for your question. Like i mentioned i was very about my disability at colitis. I wasnt socialized for years because i was so sick. I literally talked to my parents for a few years of my life which i believe they made it difficult to be in mainstream society. The biggest way i was able to really come out and share my story is through riley hospital for children. Being established at that hospital and being able to be a champion and sharing my story at one event which turned into two events really help with me becoming more confident and sharing my disability but i think the other kids, just gaming them to be really open about it and giving them opportunities to really see the same level as other kids. Truly difficult. A lot of students dont have the resources and dont want to accommodate more people with disabilities for students with disabilities. I think making sure that they can still go to the same Leadership Conferences and they can still take the same ap tests, think thats really important. Thank you. Could you address the impact that the strong influx of transition used as they conclude their school entitlement. They have their training and their internship and help them be better prepared to enter the workforce and how thats been addressed and the perception . You might know this since you are asking the question but it is spent almost at the National Crisis level in the u. S. , transitioning youth that may not be collegebound, may not actually get a High School Diploma but get a certificate. There are many instances we teach them and their parents and without a real plan on what to do next. Jennifer has led a huge influence in each state and that is that having impact. We are seeing programs in various states like georgia that are really aggressive in their School Systems. They have one of the lowest graduation rates. Apparently i do too, kids with High School Diplomas and they really struggle. They have rallied around with the School Systems all working together to make an impact on that and have real career learning opportunities. Its slow and there is so much work to be done but it is something significant that the entire nation needs to be focused on. Hi, this question follows up with the question that he asked. Its not very common to have such Young Professionals such as yourself to be advocating and doing all the great work that you are doing. I guess i would like to hear more about, i know you mentioned how you get to that level but what challenges have you faced that you think will be overcome in the future if more people are talking about their abilities . Was that last part . Any challenges that you have been countered or obstacles in society that you think will change if more people talk about their disability and are advocating for themselves and others . I think what keeps me motivated is my own journey and being able to interact with other people. I think everyone has such an amazing story and ive noticed the more than able to speak anymore than able to interact with people with disabilities. Hearing each individual story and i think it also comes from one of her best friends who passed away with osteosarcoma and crohns disease. His motivation to keep fighting for people bless something that keeps me going and casemate humbler my own advocacy journey and in terms of challenges i feel like some obstacles that would change include just being able have people with disabilities at the same level as normal people. I really want to make sure that we are holding the School Systems accountable and holding the Doctors Office is accountable to be the mentors and the agents that can propel this change. I think really being able to see students with disabilities get higher ranking opportunities would help everyone. I want to add a question before it turned that what i wanted to say that i did have an opportunity to speak with some of the fellows earlier this year and one of the things i discussed was one, think whats really missing in our political and Public Discourse today is people surely dont listen. I am a Firm Believer that its truly an act of compassion. You really can empathize with someone and understand something outside of your own circumstance. You dont allow yourself to engage however on the other hand people truly need to feel empowered to share their story and be persistent and even if they dont want to come you can tell your story and im looking at one of our Board Members right here. He has really done just that. I thank you for the insight that you have provided. One thing i do want to ask to the audience because i know we have about 10 minutes left, the future of disability in america when you think about the stigmas from hollywood to hear on capitol hill and how special needs and disabilities are discussed where do you see the future and you can be as optimistic or as pessimistic as possible but what do you see for the future and what do we truly need to do to achieve that future . Like i said im new to this panel and im actually sitting here and im asking myself, i think broad definitions of disabilities, theres no such thing as a perfect human being so well have the disability of one kind or another. What kinds of disabilities are we talking about . Is there a particular focus . We are sitting in a building, part of congress which passed the ada which passed the osha and exempted itself from many of the requirements. Even this institution has made all kinds of adaptations that werent here when i first came to washington. I dont know of somebody would want to tackle that question and give me an answer, how broad is the word disability and should we be narrowing it or is the point of the exercise to broaden it to people see is really about them because its about everybody. I think the future of disabilities will be great. Im very optimistic about it. Just in the past few years that i kind of engaged and the disabilities space i think there has been so many great outcomes. Right now at respectability am in the process of writing a memo about the economic advantages of hiring people with disabilities and one of them that ive find very and testing is the diversity of thought that exists for people at disabilities. When we are adding these different perspectives we are expanding a companys outreach and expanding their ability to think in a different way and thats making us more compassionate and more inclusive thats what i would say. With the work that we do, we are across disability so its everybody. People with invisible disabilities, physical disabilities, Mental Health issues, whatever you can think of, thats what we focus on. The foundation does happen interest in people with attention issues. It was founded by people who have a child with no disability. We dont incriminate. I was distracted by the newsflash there. Mr. Scaramucci is looking for new employment. I told my wife you better watch out im getting more publicity than the boss. Back of the topic at hand i cannot improve on what you say. As far as my outlook for the future im optimistic as jarius days can sometime look. Im optimistic because theres a basic fundamental fairness that americans have and basic respect for the individual and the basic respect for the notion that everybody should be given the opportunity to be all that they can be to steal a popular slogan. That underlies everything. The most controversial debate these days is probably the socalled bathroom debate around transsexuals. At the same time though we saw last week when this popped up at the pentagon. They are very reasonable about it and said nothing has changed and we go to regular procedures etc. Like they always have. Thereve been thousands of transsexuals who have contributed in the boteri and being an army veteran myself i really appreciate it and how the military teaches us that if you want change, get it at the top and the lower ranks will follow. Thats the leadership works and what we need are good leaders in this area. We have a few more minutes. Hello my name is anthony brown, White House Correspondent scholar. Im curious whether its changing the atmosphere in the corporate setting or investigating writing a new story how do you persons with disabilities about it being political correct this and instead translate it into meaningful progress and change . I dont think this is an issue that has been left than the right. I think there is concern about Political Correctness because there are new terms used almost constantly and people dont want to get a wrong but i think reaching out to people across the political spectrum is an imperative and i think theres receptivity across the spectrum through so much of it is based on personal experience. You could be the most conservative person and think the government shouldnt be involved in health and then you have that child who needs help and suddenly your views change. I think we have examples of that i think its an issue for working together which everybody says they want so lets see if they really mean it. Does anyone else want to weigh in on that . I think you said it well at the beginning when he said its about listening to each other. There is a fear of Political Correctness and everyone is worried about saying the wrong thing or id want to to offend someone but if its pausing and listening to the stories in really understanding how that individual with disabilities impacts them are dustin and having a better conversation, think its really listening to one another. Eleanor wanted to ask you about about the health care votes. John mccain got a lot of attention for his vote on health care but really it was to republican women senators who really carried a lot of water on that issue. Disability disproportionately as a womens issue and i wondered if you could talk a little bit about that, disability is a fundamental womens issue. You are right, it was the women and the republican women in the senate who are the holdouts and you could also add senator capito from west virginia. She voted with the bill but also said she didnt come to washington to hurt people. When you consider how few women are in the Republican Caucus and they were overrepresented in the empathetic caring about what that bill does to ordinary people says something about womens role in society. Women are more like lee to have disabilities if only because they live longer and if you dont have one to start out your life you are very likely going to end up with one. Women are the caretakers in american society. They take care of the children with disabilities and so its an issue that they cant hide even if they wanted to. Clarence talked about the people who are incarcerated and how many of them have disabilities of one kind or another. That percentage is extremely high for women who are incarcerated. I think its closer to 50 so this is a womens issue and back in the day if it was a womens issue of the shoved off into the corner and maybe one or two champion lawmakers would go to bat for you. But womens issues are actually in vogue today. Corporations cater to women. We have buying power. We have voting power and so i think women on this issue and that can be a very good thing. I think we have one more question and then we are going to have to wrap it up. Because of the concern how would an organization that caters to people with disabilities with that balance but dealing with the individuals the and because of that optimism spectrum if it needs their social needs to be addressed like spina bifida and need those to be addressed so hard to achieve that balance even with the end goal . I feel like to have been doing all the talking. [laughter] we have seen them stir with autism so we encourage companies most corporate initiatives that have a passion around a the topic for a connection of a person with disabilities so if you think of a program that was started because the father of someone who had taught his of and then that has spun off to microsoft and now out of atlanta with the initiative focusing on people with autism or asper occurs on what makes your brain different. Or view or a stroke survivor in what makes your brain different. So we do encourage companies to do cross disability hiring with that infrastructure support whether physical barriers a friend of mine is a wheelchair user and she said your bathrooms are not accessible. So there are things like that that seem a very basic without the full spectrum and what part does it touch into the have full access like everybody else . Thinks to my colleagues who attended today. I am very optimistic about the future about the disability discourse with the work of my fellow board colleagues but also to the work of the senior fellows better actually present with us here today. Things to make a and clarence for being here with us today. Thank you so much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] this is wrapping up our Program Thanks to our new chairman. Also respectability is a relatively new organization and only four years old. Check us out of facebook and twitter were looking for National Leadership fellows with and without disabilities who want to work with us to fight stigma and advance opportunities for those with disabilities. Has been a wonderful day the speakers have been phenomenal. And the crowd is amazing. But those with us on cspan you didnt know what youre going to get to watch we hope you were inspired and joined us in this effort. Were looking for volunteers we will be in california working on hollywood issues and and long beach respectabilities. Org if you want to get involved get in touch we would love to have you. The future is bright with people with disabilities. And to the congressman and chairman is amazing for helping us to get this room and organize the event and the fellows under the direction and even from our staff i just want to say fait que to all of you and i want to invite all speakers and members and staff to the front so we can take a picture. [applause] [inaudible conversations] announcer no news makers, Ranking Member of the ways and Means Commission talks about tax reform and whether democrats and republicans can Work Together. There could be room for bipartisan cooperation. It strikes me there is rod agreement. 31 years is a long time to wait before we try another attempt to bring the tax code into conformity with a new globalized economic situation. On the ways and means committee, kevin brady and i had a good relationship. I hope they decide they are going to do this on a oneparty basis that we dont just and up with tax cuts as opposed to tax reform. Talk about priorities for democrats. What areas do you overlap with republicans. Highlight areas you think could be areas. There are strong agreement on moneys. There is some is intangible offsets. Theres an awful lot of money offshore that could be brought back for more productive purposes. Hopefully, for infrastructure for example. On the democratic side there is a yearning to address the issues. F the skills gap 6 Million Technology jobs go unanswered right here and between 16,00020,000 manufacturing jobs unanswered. Worker Participation Rate at 63 . We need technology i we can align Economic Growth with opportunity. We had a constructive meeting. Anything but harsh. It was pointed out, they are going to move dollars around in the current system. Where i think there will be brought this agreement is the suggestion that they will not adhere to distributional neutrality. That is where the resistance will come in on the democratic side. Announcer that was newsmakers with democratic congressman richard neal. Watch sunday at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern time. Chris vanty activist hollen is our guest on sunday. Everybody has an idea the federal government is out of control. The mostasked question i get as we teach what do you suppose that is . Would we do about it . Thee have been teaching constitution properly for the last 150 years, we would know what to do. Announcer she is the author of several books. During her live threeour conversation she will be taking your tweets and facebook questions and calls. Watch live from noon until 3 00