Even though people with disabilities make up about 20% of the world population, they still are one of the most marginalized groups across the world. They often live in segregated institutions, receive

Foundation Honors Actress Marlee Matlin with Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion
 
In 1987, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Marlee Matlin the Oscar for Best Actress in

The Ruderman TV Challenge was designed to continue our work in Hollywood and advocate for greater inclusion of performers with disabilities. At a time when the discussion around the need for greater

 
Our New Study Reveals Self-Driving Cars Could Open 2 Million Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities
 

 
Introduction
Self-driving cars have almost become a staple of

The canine, “man’s best friend.” The close-knit, inter-mammal friendship between humans and dogs has spanned thousands of years, and this resulting expression has solidified itself as a mainstay

The year may still feel new to many of us, but to expecting parents it is absolutely the same old by comparison to the newness of their coming baby. What is also relatively new for expecting parents i

It’s that time of year again! December 31st is around the corner, which means that about half of us are now thinking about our new year’s resolutions. We’ll be thinking of improving ourselves a

Ah, the holiday season is upon us. It’s a time of celebration, but also of reflection and as we reflect over the year, we at the Ruderman Family Foundation wanted to highlight and share one of our f

On December 5, there was yet another shooting of an unarmed, black, and mentally ill man at the hands of law enforcement, this time in Arkansas. As of the time of this writing, Gary Johnson is hospita

Imagine having a dream- something that is terrestrially possible and already being done by others with regular frequency. Imagine those individuals already living your dream may not be as passionate

The 2016 Presidential Election is finally over! After nearly 600 days of campaigning, this unprecedented contest for the highest office in the land will now be laid to rest in the annals of American h

Last month we published the Ruderman White Paper on Voting Accessibility for People with Disabilities. I co-authored it with Norman Ornstein after an intensive period of qualitative research where we

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and this observance matters to me deeply this year because I have obtained my first professional employment opportunity outside of the advoca

Even if you are not tuned into disability inclusion, you’d have to have been a hermit not to notice the increased focus on people with disabilities (PWD) in this election. Both the Democratic and th

We are now in the middle of what is colloquially known as the Jewish High Holy Days: Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur- the New Year and Day of Atonement, respectively. These two events, outside their relig

THE RUDERMAN WHITE PAPER:
VOTING ACCESSIBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

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We are less than two months away from the 2016

In a few weeks, following the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, the world will once again gather in Rio de Janiero to celebrate the globe’s diversity and compete in feats of athleticism. However, i

Two weeks ago I awoke (uncharacteristically early) to attend the Second Annual Disability Pride Parade, marching from New York City’s Union Square to Madison Square Park. As I rode the N trai

**Senator Tom Harkin is the 2015 recipient of the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, which recognizes an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the inclusion of people with dis

Photo credit: Justin Ellis
Last week at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York, I went to see a film called Margarita, With a Straw. This film, among many others throughout the city, was s

Imagine you and your spouse were heading to your vacation in Italy. And if you don’t have a spouse, well, just imagine yourself super excited about going to Italy. You are absolutely stoked! You

The Ruderman Family Foundation released the first Ruderman White Paper today – a groundbreaking, comprehensive study on the topic of police-related violence and media coverage in cases involving a p

EasyStroll is an easy and fast connector that enables a wheelchair user to move freely and independently with a baby stroller attache. Estimated to cost $400 when commercially available, it’s the fi

By Shai Franklin

With Presidential primaries looming, so much international unrest and a global climate agreement in the works, last week’s gathering of two-dozen top media and political figu

By Liviya Mendelsohn
Liviya Mendelsohn is Accessibility and Inclusion Manager for the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Center (MNjcc) and Inclusion Specialist for UJA Federation of Toronto. She an M.A. in

Dayro Reyes Acosta (at left) with Special Olympian Loretta Claiborne
Dayro Reyes Acosta, an international participant in the Ruderman Inclusion Summit held earlier this month, manages the Office for P

By Shai Franklin
 
Next week I hope to attend the annual General Assembly of the JFNA (“The GA”) , four days of nonstop presentations and deliberations and networking (the term of art is

By Jay Ruderman
Almost all significant social change is affected by social movements.
Social movements are a form of group action aimed at a specific social agenda. The civil rights and same sex marri

If airlines set an example by providing proper service to people with disabilities in view of hundreds of passengers, they will make a greater contribution
By Shira Ruderman
Just days after a widely

 
Photo by Douglas Elbinger, Elbinger Media Group LLC
Richard Bernstein serves as a Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. He is the first blind state Supreme Court justice in the United States.

 
Shira Ruderman is an Israeli philanthropist who serves as the Israel Director of the Ruderman Family Foundation. Shira initiates and leads innovative social and public projects to promote the f

“Inclusion is no longer about looking at people with disabilities as a ‘them’; it’s about looking at our communities as a ‘we’, with every person having something to offer.” Watch Pamela Schuller’s st