With summer around the corner, commercials for all kinds of colorful clothing are popping up on any screen I happen to look at. And every once in a while there will even be a model with a disability s

“Google it” has nowadays become the go-to response to questions we actually don’t know how to answer. But imagine you or someone you love, have just become paralyzed, due to an injury or

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

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

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

The Ruderman Family Foundation has announced the winners of its fifth annual Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, five grants totaling $250,000 awarded to companies and organizations that operate innovative

The advertising and modelling industries have long been under fire for unrealistic portrayals of the human form—particularly of women, though men have not been immune either. Seeing countless depict

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

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

Football. It’s America’s obsession and most of us are not ashamed to acknowledge that. For 21 glorious Sundays throughout the fall and winter our nation is glued to television sets a

In all the hype surrounding two of the largest international sporting events in the world—the Olympics and the Paralympics—we’ve heard about grueling training routines, deep backstories, scandal

Only a week ago, the Paralympics were in serious trouble. As we wrote in our last blog, they’d sold barely 12% of the available tickets—just about 290,000. That was only a fraction of the 2012 Par

In a previous piece on how to avoid offending minority groups, I wrote how you should not call a person with a disability inspiring just because they do basic, mundane things. “The first time someon

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

Whether or not you actually watch the Olympics and Paralympics, if you’ve at all been on social media in the last two weeks, you probably haven’t missed this video:

Produced by UK’s Channel 4,

WARNING: This post contains SPOILERS …
Smiling or crying. I (nearly) guarantee these are the only two actions you will be capable of- sometimes at the same time- when you watch the newly relea

I’ve been doing martial arts—various forms of jiu-jitsu—for about eight years now. Whenever I tell people that, I inevitably get the semi-joking, “oh, so you could beat me up” line that

Girls and their dolls. It sounds like a cliché, but the relationship between these anthropomorphic toys and their owners is quite real and has durably stood the test of time. Even in 2016, when peop

Captain America, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Superman, and the list goes on and on, and we’re still talking only about the superheroes that were featured in big-budget movies this year al

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

Let’s be honest: contrary to much of our current media coverage, most people value courteous and productive communication. Most of us don’t aim to offend anyone purposely and we’re fully aware o

Foundation horrified as latest blockbuster suggests those with disabilities should consider suicide; organization aims to meet with Hollywood studio heads and casting directors to discuss the problema

Watch before scrolling. SPOILER ANALYSIS/COMMENTARY BELOW.

 
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Wow… Perhaps I’m not the most sophisticated film connoisse

It’s almost not a hyperbole to say that we are constantly bombarded by news of technological advances. Every time you look at the screen of that tiny super-computer in your pocket, you’re likely t

The Ruderman Family Foundation is dedicated to the inclusion of people with disabilities in society. While the Special Olympics is focusing on community inclusion of their athletes, the venue they pr

Last week, my partner and I upheld our long-standing tradition of watching kids movies together and went to see Disney’s latest creation—Zootopia. To give you some much-needed context, I am one of

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