America’s Got Talent Phenom Mandy Harvey to Perform at 2017 Ruderman Inclusion Summit!

Deaf singing sensation Mandy Harvey has just been announced as a speaker at this year’s Ruderman Inclusion Summit, November 19-20 in Boston, where she will also perform. The Summit, arguably the largest of its kind in the world, will bring together 1,000 people from a variety of sectors to network and share best practices, striving for the full inclusion of people with disabilities into society.

In early June of this year, Mandy Harvey stunned America’s Got Talent judges and audiences alike in her first audition for the show, singing a beautiful rendition of her own song and revealing that she had been fully deaf since the age of 18. The video instantly went viral, accumulating an astonishing 250 million views across social media.

After receiving a standing ovation by every judge on the show, Simon Cowell hit the famed ‘golden buzzer’, which immediately sends contestants to the live shows. Eventually, Harvey took 4^th place in the season – an absolutely terrific and heroic showing. “I’ve been doing this a long time,” Cowell told her after her audition. “That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen and heard.”

“I’m so excited to be speaking and performing at this year’s Ruderman Inclusion Summit,” said Harvey. “Disability inclusion is a critical issue in our society that often gets overlooked, and I’m thrilled to take part in such a wonderful Summit to bring about positive change.”

 

Over 1,000 activists from the field of disability inclusion will come together for the 2017 Ruderman Inclusion Summit, November 19-20, at Boston’s Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center. The participants hail from a variety of sectors including tech, policy, human services, Hollywood and the arts, education, social justice, housing, advocacy and more, with the goal of inspiring, motivating and arming attendees with the know-how to keep up the work of advancing the full inclusion of people with disabilities in every aspect of life.

 

“It is imperative that we continue galvanizing the size, scope, and sheer momentum of the disability rights movement. That is the goal of the 2017 Ruderman Inclusion Summit. We’re bringing together the movers, shakers, and thought-leaders of disability inclusion in order connect, share best practices and together create a society that fully includes people with disabilities in every aspect of life,” said Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation. “We’re excited that Mandy Harvey will lend her beautiful voice to the hundreds of others working to  make this a reality.”