One in five Americans has a disability, and this includes people from all genders, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and other minorities. In addition, due to accident, aging or illness, disability can impact anyone at any time.
RespectAbility is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. RespectAbility believes all people with developmental, physical, sensory, mental health and other differences deserve to be able to achieve their hopes and dreams, just like anyone else.
With its mission to educate and inform about the diverse experiences of people with disabilities,
RespectAbility works with entertainment, policy makers, educators, self-advocates, nonprofits, employers, faith-based organizations, philanthropists, journalists and online media to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities.
Every year, the nonprofit welcomes up-and-coming young leaders who have an interest in advancing inclusion of people of all abilities in America's institutions. This year, RespectAbility celebrates 15 fantastic young leaders who just completed the summer Fellowship program. Many have returned to school, both undergraduate and graduate. Two have received jobs, one in early childhood education and one in philanthropy.
The National Leadership Program has three cohorts of Fellows – fall, spring and summer – for a total of at least 24 Fellows. We now are accepting applications for Spring 2018, which allows for flexible dates between January 2 and May 25, 2018 for a minimum of nine weeks. Applications for Summer 2018 also are open. The dates for Summer 2018 are June 4 – August 10, 2018, with room for flexibility. Learn more and apply today.
2017 RESPECTABILITY SUMMER FELLOWS
Brieanna Iyomahan Communications Fellow
Iyomahan is pursuing her bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her early exposure to special education through volunteering in her mother’s classroom made her passionate about disability rights, especially concerning education. Her passion has driven her to promote equality through education within the classroom as well as in the community.
She has experience with teaching skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that will help them succeed in social situations. Additionally, she also has educated the community through her research on police interactions with people who have ASD. Read more
Lilly Grossman Communications Fellow
As a young woman who has a rare genetic disease that causes her to be physically disabled, she is a passionate advocate for people with disabilities. By using her writing and social media skills, she shares her story of being misdiagnosed for 15 years so that no one else has to go through the same uncertainty and struggle. Grossman also shares her story in order to inform researchers and scientists about her condition in hopes of them eventually finding a treatment.
Grossman interned at Illumina, the largest genome sequencing company in the world, as a part of the Internal Communications and Social Media departments. Read more
Ella Issacharoff Communications Fellow
During Issacharoff’s two years of National Service (2013-2015) in Israel, she lived and worked in a distressed agricultural community on the border at an elementary school where she managed the third to sixth grade after-school program
Issacharoff also worked in the educational field in various international locations. In 2016, she spent a month in Cape Town, South Africa while volunteering in a township school. There, she was an English teacher for third-grade children. Some of the children were homeless, came from families with criminal backgrounds and/or had AIDS. Read more
Brilynn Rakes Communications Fellow
Rakes is a recent graduate from Fordham University. As a visual impaired dancer, she was the AT&T Spotlight Performer on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars where she performed alongside Emmy-nominated dancer and choreographer Derek Hough.
As a visually-impaired dancer, Rakes has performed works by Donald MyKayle, Christopher Huggins and Jose Limon. She also was invited to participate in the New York City Finals of the International Ballet Competition and Youth American Grand Prix in 2012 and 2013. Read more
Marisela Rivera Communications Fellow
Rivera is a first-generation Latina graduate from The City College of New York in communications and journalism. She is an environmentalist who is an animal rights and disabilities rights advocate. She blogs about both of these issues.
Rivera has experience working with children ages two through 13 as a caretaker for families throughout the Bronx and Manhattan. She also has experience working as a counselor at local community centers. Rivera is a first-generation Latina graduate from The City College of New York with a degree in Communications and a minor in Journalism. Read more
Sneha Dave Policy Fellow
Dave is helping to create an innovative Community of Practice in Long Beach, California, with the ultimate goal of developing a national model of success while advancing opportunities for the people and community of Long Beach.
Dave is a rising sophomore at Indiana University, where she majors in Chronic Illness Advocacy and Economics with a certificate in Journalism. Her enthusiasm for chronic illness and disability advocacy stems from her own condition, Ulcerative Colitis. She is the founder of the Crohn’s and Colitis Teen Times, a nonprofit organization with a mission of providing support to teenagers battling Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Read more
Stephanie Flynt Policy Fellow
Flynt is creating an innovative Community of Practice in Long Beach, California, with the ultimate goal of creating a national model of success while advancing opportunities for the people and community of Long Beach. She also contributes to the Born This Way #BTWchat Twitter chats.
In 2014, Flynt mentored with a disability rights advocate in Mississippi, where she gained knowledge and first-hand experience advocating for other visually impaired students in a classroom setting.Her knowledge and experience evolved into a passion that Flynt has continued to embrace as a motivation to continue serving students with disabilities during her college years. Read more
Amelia Heiden Policy Fellow
Heiden is a disabled Afro-Latina who has lived with Epilepsy from the age of eighteen months old. She graduated from the University of South Dakota and has interned with the Department of Justice at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Heiden’s ability to face and overcome adversity has taught and motivated her to bring awareness to the social and systemic issues that have a negative impact on the disabled community. Heiden is also a first-generation American born. Read more
Ricky Rendon Policy Fellow
Rendon is working on his master’s degree in clinical rehabilitation counseling. Previously though Project HIRE (Helping Individuals Reach Employment), he helped students with disabilities graduate and gain employment.
His primary role at RespectAbility is using education and training to help people with disabilities in Long Beach to obtain employment. Through his role, Rendon also is participating in discussions on current policies and joining the organization’s efforts to fight stigmas and stereotypes faced by people with disabilities.
Read more
Ana (Hee Jae) Song Policy Fellow
Song is a rising senior at Villanova University. Her personal and professional experience sparked a commitment for promoting education about mental health to end stigmas and inform people about psychological disorders.
Song’s interest in the disability community was initially fostered through the relationships she built with her campers as a counselor at Camp Promise—a no-cost, weeklong overnight camp for kids, teens and adults with Muscular Dystrophy or select neuromuscular diseases. Song’s experience sparked her commitment to promote education about mental health to eliminate stigmas and to inform people about psychological disorders. Read more
Emma Adelman Program Development and Fundraising Fellow
In addition to her development work, Adelman manages the organization’s Twitter account and contributed to the Born This Way #BTWchat Twitter chats. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College.
As a child in North Carolina, Adelman became accustomed to advocating for her own rights and the rights of her classmates. While in high school and at Mount Holyoke College, Adelman worked with faculty, staff and students to advance the status of students with disabilities on campus. Read more
Judith Lao Program Development and Fundraising Fellow
Lao is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at Brown University. As an individual with a mental illness, her personal experiences with stigma and marginalization have translated into a passion for advocacy.
She is an individual with a mental illness and believes that her personal experiences facing stigma and marginalization have translated well into an active passion for advocacy. Lao is part of Project LETS at Brown University, which supplements traditional mental healthcare with accessible, empathetic peer support focused on empowerment of the peer. She is interested in the relationship between mental health and mental illness. Read more
D.H. Lee
Program Development and Fundraising Fellow
Lee is a senior at Boston College. He is the Director of Programming for the Council for Students with Disabilities in the University Government of Boston College. He has advocated for increased dorm accessibility.
Lee has been involved with many community service opportunities before and during his college career, volunteering at locations such as Boston Rescue Mission, Haley House, St. Francis House, Cradles to Crayon and His House. Through these experiences with various organizations, Lee developed a passion to advocate for individuals with disabilities. Read more
Matthew Lerner Jewish Inclusion Fellow
Lerner is pursuing his Masters in Public Health at Boston University (BU). Lerner’s main interests lie within Maternal and Child Health, Public Health advocacy, and inclusion work for people with disabilities in religious groups as well as in the healthcare sector.
Lerner is also currently applying to medical school where he hopes to one day become an Obstetrician. Read more
Rachael Schindler Jewish Inclusion Fellow
Schindler took an interest in the field, especially intellectual and developmental disabilities, at an early age through personal connections and her mother’s occupation. She is a junior at Brandeis University and is active with Best Buddies.
Schindler took an interest in this field at an early age. She was surrounded by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through personal connections and her mother’s occupation. Schindler is active in the Brandeis Buddies program, taking active role in the College Park Best Buddies Walk that her siblings chaired.
Read more
RespectAbility is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that fights stigmas and advances opportunities for people with disabilities. RespectAbility believes all people with developmental, physical, sensory, mental health and other differences deserve to be able to achieve their hopes and dreams, just like anyone else.
With its mission to educate and inform about the diverse experiences of people with disabilities,
RespectAbility works with entertainment, policy makers, educators, self-advocates, nonprofits, employers, faith-based organizations, philanthropists, journalists and online media to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities.
Every year, the nonprofit welcomes up-and-coming young leaders who have an interest in advancing inclusion of people of all abilities in America's institutions. This year, RespectAbility celebrates 15 fantastic young leaders who just completed the summer Fellowship program. Many have returned to school, both undergraduate and graduate. Two have received jobs, one in early childhood education and one in philanthropy.
The National Leadership Program has three cohorts of Fellows – fall, spring and summer – for a total of at least 24 Fellows. We now are accepting applications for Spring 2018, which allows for flexible dates between January 2 and May 25, 2018 for a minimum of nine weeks. Applications for Summer 2018 also are open. The dates for Summer 2018 are June 4 – August 10, 2018, with room for flexibility. Learn more and apply today.
2017 RESPECTABILITY SUMMER FELLOWS
Brieanna Iyomahan Communications Fellow
She has experience with teaching skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that will help them succeed in social situations. Additionally, she also has educated the community through her research on police interactions with people who have ASD. Read more
Lilly Grossman Communications Fellow
Grossman interned at Illumina, the largest genome sequencing company in the world, as a part of the Internal Communications and Social Media departments. Read more
Ella Issacharoff Communications Fellow
During Issacharoff’s two years of National Service (2013-2015) in Israel, she lived and worked in a distressed agricultural community on the border at an elementary school where she managed the third to sixth grade after-school programIssacharoff also worked in the educational field in various international locations. In 2016, she spent a month in Cape Town, South Africa while volunteering in a township school. There, she was an English teacher for third-grade children. Some of the children were homeless, came from families with criminal backgrounds and/or had AIDS. Read more
Brilynn Rakes Communications Fellow
Rakes is a recent graduate from Fordham University. As a visual impaired dancer, she was the AT&T Spotlight Performer on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars where she performed alongside Emmy-nominated dancer and choreographer Derek Hough.As a visually-impaired dancer, Rakes has performed works by Donald MyKayle, Christopher Huggins and Jose Limon. She also was invited to participate in the New York City Finals of the International Ballet Competition and Youth American Grand Prix in 2012 and 2013. Read more
Marisela Rivera Communications Fellow
Rivera has experience working with children ages two through 13 as a caretaker for families throughout the Bronx and Manhattan. She also has experience working as a counselor at local community centers. Rivera is a first-generation Latina graduate from The City College of New York with a degree in Communications and a minor in Journalism. Read more
Sneha Dave Policy Fellow
Stephanie Flynt Policy Fellow
Flynt is creating an innovative Community of Practice in Long Beach, California, with the ultimate goal of creating a national model of success while advancing opportunities for the people and community of Long Beach. She also contributes to the Born This Way #BTWchat Twitter chats.
In 2014, Flynt mentored with a disability rights advocate in Mississippi, where she gained knowledge and first-hand experience advocating for other visually impaired students in a classroom setting.Her knowledge and experience evolved into a passion that Flynt has continued to embrace as a motivation to continue serving students with disabilities during her college years. Read more
Amelia Heiden Policy Fellow
Heiden is a disabled Afro-Latina who has lived with Epilepsy from the age of eighteen months old. She graduated from the University of South Dakota and has interned with the Department of Justice at the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Heiden’s ability to face and overcome adversity has taught and motivated her to bring awareness to the social and systemic issues that have a negative impact on the disabled community. Heiden is also a first-generation American born. Read more
Ricky Rendon Policy Fellow
His primary role at RespectAbility is using education and training to help people with disabilities in Long Beach to obtain employment. Through his role, Rendon also is participating in discussions on current policies and joining the organization’s efforts to fight stigmas and stereotypes faced by people with disabilities.
Read more
Ana (Hee Jae) Song Policy Fellow
Song’s interest in the disability community was initially fostered through the relationships she built with her campers as a counselor at Camp Promise—a no-cost, weeklong overnight camp for kids, teens and adults with Muscular Dystrophy or select neuromuscular diseases. Song’s experience sparked her commitment to promote education about mental health to eliminate stigmas and to inform people about psychological disorders. Read more
Emma Adelman Program Development and Fundraising Fellow
In addition to her development work, Adelman manages the organization’s Twitter account and contributed to the Born This Way #BTWchat Twitter chats. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College.As a child in North Carolina, Adelman became accustomed to advocating for her own rights and the rights of her classmates. While in high school and at Mount Holyoke College, Adelman worked with faculty, staff and students to advance the status of students with disabilities on campus. Read more
Judith Lao Program Development and Fundraising Fellow
She is an individual with a mental illness and believes that her personal experiences facing stigma and marginalization have translated well into an active passion for advocacy. Lao is part of Project LETS at Brown University, which supplements traditional mental healthcare with accessible, empathetic peer support focused on empowerment of the peer. She is interested in the relationship between mental health and mental illness. Read more
D.H. Lee
Program Development and Fundraising Fellow
Lee has been involved with many community service opportunities before and during his college career, volunteering at locations such as Boston Rescue Mission, Haley House, St. Francis House, Cradles to Crayon and His House. Through these experiences with various organizations, Lee developed a passion to advocate for individuals with disabilities. Read more
Matthew Lerner Jewish Inclusion Fellow
Lerner is also currently applying to medical school where he hopes to one day become an Obstetrician. Read more
Rachael Schindler Jewish Inclusion Fellow
Schindler took an interest in this field at an early age. She was surrounded by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through personal connections and her mother’s occupation. Schindler is active in the Brandeis Buddies program, taking active role in the College Park Best Buddies Walk that her siblings chaired.
Read more