Diversability Unplugged: Workplace Realities

Diversability (as featured in theGuardianandForbes) is an award-winning entirely disabled-led and disabled-run social enterprise to elevate disability pride, build disability power, and advance disability leadership. Join our communities onFacebook(our free network with over 6000 members) and theDiversability Leadership Collective. For more information, visitmydiversability.com

Diversability

A conversation on disability employment featuring: Andrea Dalzell, Eric Harris, Joe Vazquez, and Rachel Handler.


Please email kieran@mydiversability.com if you have additional access needs by November 23rd, with subject: "You've Got A Great Attitude Accommodation."
If you’re not apart of our Diversability community, please be sure to join us at: http://bit.ly/diversabilitycommunity !

Double-edged compliments about our upbeat personalities punctuated by a jab at our functionality. However, in the workplace, a smile neither makes a curb-cut, braille sign, nor ASL interpreter appear out of nowhere. But self-advocacy does, and it often comes at a cost to disabled employees. On December 1, in recognition of International Day of People With Disabilities, Diversability is hosting our signature event, &quot;Diversability: Unplugged&quot; bringing together a panel that spans the spectrum of disabled identity &amp; culture to discuss the reality of working disabled in a non-disabled universe.We hope that you can join us for this event on this important topic!

People of all abilities and from all communities are invited and welcome.Accessibility: ASL interpretation and live captioning will be provided.Where: Link will be provided to all attendees by Monday, November 30thIf event reaches capacity on Zoom, please join the livestream on Facebook at http://facebook.com/diversability.Speakers:<ul><li>Andrea Dalzell - "The Seated Nurse"</li></ul><ul><li>Eric Harris - Special Advisor for Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement (SPACE) for Disability Rights California</li></ul><ul><li>Joe Vasquez - Venture Partner at Revel Partners</li></ul><ul><li>Rachel Handler - Actor &amp; Filmmaker</li></ul><ul><li>Kieran Kern (moderator)- Project Manager, Diversability</li></ul>Agenda:6:55pm - 7:00pm: Welcome &amp; Opening Remarks7:00pm - 7:55pm: Panel Discussion7:55pm - 8:15pm: Q&amp;AMeet Our SpeakersAndrea Dalzell Andrea Dalzell is the first registered nurse in a wheelchair to get through nursing school in New York City. Andrea is known as a pioneering activist for people with disabilities. She has emerged victorious against all the obstacles in her path including being diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis at a young age. She did not allow her disability to become or define her. Andrea completed an undergraduate degree at the College of Staten Island majoring in Biology and Nursing. She was the first to complete the nursing program using a wheelchair for any CUNY school. As an advocate and activist for the rights of people with disabilities, she's garnered various awards. She was awarded CUNY’s Emerging Leader of The Year Award and also received the Cindy Loo Disability Rights Advocate Award in 2015. Aside from juggling her career as a school nurse, she finds the time to travel and spread awareness for issues that affect people with disabilities such as health, transportation ,accessibility, and gender disparities affecting the LGBTQ community within the disability community - amongst many more. Andrea was crowned Ms. Wheelchair New York 2015, and utilized her title and platform " Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Access" to promote her message and belief that people with disabilities can live a fulling life. She has recently been featured on Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, Forbes magazine and perviously with O Magazine, Apple and other publications and media outlets. In her commercial with Apple, she inspire’s the innovative addition to the Apple Watch to track pushes instead of steps for everyone who uses a wheelchair- as apart of tech inclusion. Andrea is becoming a house hold name and glad to welcome her here today."Eric Harris Eric Harris is currently a Special Advisor for Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement (SPACE) for Disability Rights California. Prior to this new position, he was a legislative advocate at Disability Rights California. Before coming to DRC, he was a legislative advocate with the California State NAACP. Mr. Harris is from Sacramento and attended Christian Brothers High School. He played on a National Championship wheelchair basketball team in high school as a member of the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP). This team gave him the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the country and compete with and against other top adaptive athletes. Mr. Harris was recruited by some of the top wheelchair basketball programs in the country and chose to attend the University of Arizona on a wheelchair basketball scholarship.While at the University of Arizona, Mr. Harris balanced his education with wheelchair basketball. He had the opportunity to compete on the Under-20 USA wheelchair basketball team in Brisbane, Australia, where his team won an international championship. He also interned for United States Representative Barbara Lee, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mr. Harris then went to the University of Oregon School of Law. He experienced more great internships at the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. and the American Association for People with Disabilities (AAPD). Mr. Harris has continued to build experience in government at the local, state and federal levels. He has also been an advocate on behalf of Black people, people with disabilities and other marginalized communities. Mr. Harris has been a board member of the local NAACP in Sacramento. He joined the Resources for Independent Living Board in Sacramento in 2019. Mr. Harris is a co-producer on the Family Matters Forum radio show on 97.5 FM and a proud member of the fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, Inc.Joe Vasquez Joe Vasquez is a Venture Partner at Revel Partners, a Network Leader at Village Global, and an innovation advisor for global brands through iLab Collective. He was most recently a Director at Runway Innovation, a leading startup incubator and corporate innovation lab in San Francisco that was acquired in 2017. In his capacity at Runway Innovation, he oversaw a 60+ startup ecosystem and advised Global 2000 clients including Lenovo, Panasonic, KDDI, ADT, Fujitsu, and many others. He was also an early co-founder at StartX, Stanford's leading startup accelerator program. Leveraging his experience in venture capital alongside his deaf and Latinx identities, he's excited to support Inclusivx in bringing more diversity and growth to venture capital in Latin America.Rachel Handler Rachel Handler is an actor and filmmaker based in NYC. She won the AT&amp;T Underrepresented Filmmaker Award for her short, “Committed” and the Sundance Co//ab June Monthly Challenge for her script “The A Doesn’t Stand for Accessible.” Since joining the disabled community she's found a passion for writing, producing and directing; advocating for inclusion in every project she creates. Her writing credits include the award-winning short films, “The Housewarming," “Committed,” "The Vanished," and "Authentically Me" which won the Reelabilities 27 Second Film Competition and screened in taxi cabs throughout NYC. Handler's TV acting credits include Law &amp; Order: SVU, Goliath, New Amsterdam, Bull and NCIS: New Orleans. Some of her favorite stage credits include Marian in The Music Man, Lady Anne in Richard III and Maria in The Sound of Music.

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Diversability Unplugged: Workplace Realities

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Diversability Unplugged: Workplace Realities

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