Ruh Global Communications

February 12, 2016

I am proud to support Journey Along the Erie Canal

I am proud to support Journey Along the Erie Canal. My friend John Robinson will ride from Buffalo NY to Albany, NY in 17 days. John is quad-amputee and the founder of Our Ability. They are raising funds to support the ride. To learn more about the ride please visit www.ourability.com or call 518-429-9256. I have also included the Press Release below about the event. Thanks, Debra.

Journey Along the Erie Canal

With the goal of raising awareness of the ability inside all people, Our Ability will lead the largest event ever for People with Disabilities in New York State beginning June 23 with the Journey Along the Erie Canal, a 17-day bike ride starting in Buffalo and ending in Albany.

Our Ability, Inc., founded by quad-amputee John Robinson, is an organization that mentors and inspires people with disabilities through positive video stories. In 2012, Our Ability traveled to London for the 2012 Paralympics where it experienced the power of inspiration, sport and achievement.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of the ability inside all people and raise funds along the journey to support Adaptive Sports, Accessibility, Education and Employment for New Yorkers with Disabilities through the Disability Educational Forum of New York, a 501c 3 organization,” said John Robinson.

Robinson and members of Our Ability will bike, boat, run and walk across the state, looking to attract thousands to join them and support the mission of raising the consciousness with the public of the ability inside all people.

Joining them will be People with Disabilities, New York State organizations, Disabled Sports USA and local affiliates (STRIDE, Greek Peak and Cape Ability Outrigger Ohana) veterans and what’s hoped to be thousands of supporters. Each day during the Journey Along the Erie Canal, they will be collecting stories and raising awareness for People with Disabilities, all while sharing the beauty of New York State!

The Our Ability cameras will chronicle the ride providing daily video and blog updates on www.ourability.com, as well as through various social media outlets, all the while recording stories for a television documentary. These stories will focus on the inspirational people met along the way, from other people with disabilities to community leaders, athletes, war veterans, parents and children.

In a follow-up to the PBS documentary, Get Off Your Knees: The John Robinson Story, Our Ability will produce a television documentary and ‘web-episodes’ of Robinson, his family and other people with disabilities crossing Upstate New York along the historic Erie Canal.

The lead sponsor of the event is New York State Industries for the Disabled, Inc. (NYSID). For more than 35 years, NYSID – a not-for-profit member agency organization – has been meeting the purchasing needs of state and local government agencies while advancing employment for New Yorkers with disabilities.

“At NYSID, our mission is to provide opportunities for employment, an important focus for all New Yorkers – with or without disabilities. What John and his family are doing to raise awareness of accessible tourism in our state is yet another aspect of a fully inclusive life. As the Robinsons prepare to put their best feet forward from one end of our state to another, we commend their inspirational example of the human spirit.”

NYSID acts as a “virtual storefront” for a statewide network of 165 community rehabilitation agencies and private sector business partners to employ skilled people with disabilities in production facilities and community-based jobs.

“We are thrilled that the Our Ability Tour will be taking place along the Erie Canal and Erie Canalway Trail this summer. The event will highlight the many opportunities that exist for people of all ages and abilities to experience the scenic beauty and rich history of the Canal System,” noted Canal Corporation Director, Brian U. Stratton.

“We’re in for an adventure this summer with Our Ability’s Ride! Whether you’re cheering from the sidelines or joining them for part of the trip, you’ll experience the ride of a lifetime along the Erie Canal,” said Beth Sciumeca, Executive Director, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.

An estimated 2 million people each year are attracted to events along the corridor (Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, Annual Report 2012, Page 2).

Corporations are being invited to sponsor days along the ride to show support. Volunteers and individual donations are also welcome. To learn more visit www.ourability.com or call 518-429-9256.

Sincerely,

John Robinson, CEO Our Ability, Inc.

February 12, 2016

Debra Ruh’s first book has published on Amazon and Kindle: “Find Your Voice Using Social Media”

“Find Your Voice Using Social Media”

To purchase a copy of my book, visit Amazon!

Positive feedback is really appreciated too.

The book focuses on how a corporation, brand or individual can use Social Media to follow their passion, create positive social change and make a difference. If wanted to know how to use Social Media or to up your game Social Media this book can support your efforts.

I blend our story all through the book. So the book has a lot of information about including people with disabilities in employment and other aspects of society. It also tells the story of my daughter Sara Ruh that was born with Down syndrome. I believe it will find a large following with the community of people with disabilities, baby boomers and many of my former and current clients.

February 10, 2016

The Second Annual Conference and Exhibition on Communications and Information Technology for People with Disabilities: Inclusion, Empowerment and Participation in Cairo, Egypt – April 2nd & 3rd 2013

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The Second Annual Conference and Exhibition on Communications and Information Technology for People with Disabilities: Inclusion, Empowerment and Participation in Cairo, Egypt – April 2nd and 3rd 2013

Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Communications, Founder of TecAccess

Sara Ruh, Chief Inspiration

In April 2013 my daughter Sara Ruh (born with Down syndrome) and I were invited to speak and represent G3ict by the office of the International Labor Organization of Egypt. We were very proud to represent G3ict (www.G3ict.org) because of the campaign it orchestrates all over the world to promote accessible Information and Communications Technologies and include people with disabilities in society. G3ict – the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies – is an Advocacy Initiative of the UN GAID, the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development, launched in December 2006 in cooperation with the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at UN DESA.

Logo: G3iCT The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICT’s. Image from: http://g3ict.com/

I have always been impressed with G3ict’s mission because if we do not make Information, Technology and Communications (ICT) accessible the digital divide continues to widen for People with Disabilities (PwD). G3ict also supports the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. “According to the UN there is an estimated one billion persons living with disabilities worldwide, making accessible and assistive ICT solutions a priority for industry, users, and policy makers and representing both a major Human Rights milestone and a considerable market driver for Assistive and Accessible ICTs.” Source: G3ict

Sara Ruh with Guests from the Conference and Exhibition on Communications and Information Technology for People with Disabilities.

Our host the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Egypt is working on a program called Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People. The ILO is fully committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce and labor pool. To learn more about this program and other ILO activities in the region please visit: http://www.ilo.org/cairo/

We were very impressed with the caliber of speakers, efficiency of the conference, and the amazing exhibitors in the exhibit hall. We have visited many countries but the people of Egypt are some of the nicest, most amazing people you will ever have the pleasure to meet.

The conference hosted by H.E. the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology presented The Second Annual Conference and Exhibition on Communications and Information Technology for People with Disabilities: Inclusion, Empowerment and Participation. The international conference was held in Smart Village Convention Center in beautiful Cairo, Egypt on April 2^nd and 3^rd 2013.

Leaders from all over Egypt came to support and speak at the conference. Dr. Abeer, Shakweer, Advisor to the Minister of Communications and Information for Social Services opened the conference with exciting news of how the ministry will create an education and employment program for people with disabilities. The audience was impressed with the plan and excited to support the efforts.

Other Egyptian leaders included Dr. Abdelsatter Shaaban, Advisor to the Minister of Education for Special Education, Eng. Saed Al-Hamelly, CEO at Etisalat, Eng. Ahmed Aly Ahmed Aly, Govenor of El Fayoum, Dr. Mohamed Fouad Gad Alla, Advisor to the President for Legal Affairs, H. E. Ambassador James Moran, EU Ambassador to Egypt, H.E. Dr. Mostafa Mosaad, Minister of Higher Ed

ucation and H.E. Eng. Atef Helmy, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

It was inspiring to watch the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Minister of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Higher Education on the technological development of People with Disabilities (PwD) centers at public Universities in Egypt.

The audience cheered as the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Eng. Atef Helmy presented Awards of Excellence to PwD and others supporting PwD’s in Egypt.

The conference was an international conference with representatives and speakers from all over the world including Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, USA and others. The conference was fast paced, interactive and innovative. It was wonderful witnessing all the countries coming together to share ideas and support each other to include and empower PwD. This conference continues to prove that the Middle East is committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Topics included information about Assistive Technology, Accessibility and Universal Design. We also spoke about different disability types including supporting people that are blind, vision loss, deaf, hard of hearing, mobility, physical, intellectual and cognitive impairments and multiple disabilities. The focus on the conference was inclusion and empowerment. How do we include people with disabilities in employment, education and every other aspect of society!

Sara and I spoke about our efforts to include people with disabilities in employment. Plus we spoke about Sara’s transition from school to employment. We also had the honor to provide a presentation about G3ict’s efforts to assure everyone has access to accessible ICT.

The exhibit hall had many amazing exhibitors from all over the region but I must confess that we fell in love with the young people from the Egyptian Association for Sophisticating the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Asdaa). These young people are focused on Robotic Inventions that will help people with disabilities and senior citizens. Their enthusiasm for their inventions and their desire to make the world a better place for everyone was infectious. If these young people are any indication of the brilliance of the youth in Egypt then it is going to be interesting to see how they change the world for the better in the future. I would love to see Asdaa come over the United States and partner on robotic projects with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Associations.

This conference sets the bar high for other international conferences on inclusion and empowerment. Egypt is a lovely country and the people were welcoming, inviting and gracious. Sara and I look forward to returning to this amazing country very soon. We also wish them great success in their continued efforts to include people with disabilities in their society.

Follow Ruh Global Communications — To follow up on Debra Ruh’s current endeavors, follow her on social media: @DebraRuh or visit Ruh Global Communications

February 5, 2016

Deb Dagit, President of Deb Dagit Diversity, LLC

Ruh Global Communications Logo designed by Emily Ha

Photo of Deb Dagit. Image from: http://www.leadershipexcellenceanddevelopment.com/

Deb Dagit, President of Deb Dagit Diversity, LLC has 22 years’ experience as a diversity practitioner and has worked as a top executive in both the Information Technology and Health care fields informing both HR and business practices and strategies.

She is known for her pragmatism, subject matter expertise with regards to all dimensions of diversity, and results orientation.

She recently retired from her role as the Global Diversity & Inclusion Officer and Vice President at Merck, where she spent over a decade advancing the Company’s global diversity and inclusion strategies.

Deb Dagit. Image from: http://www.lpad12.org/D12_links.html

From an early age most people’s expectations for Deborah Dagit were very low. Doctors told her parents when she was born that it was unlikely she would live to see her second birthday. They asserted that if she did live beyond that milestone, she would not be able to engage in any normal life activities. Educators were similarly pessimistic about her ability to learn. Her first two years in school she was segregated with other children who were considered too disabled to participate in a regular classroom, in an environment that was in essence a babysitting service for children with a disability.

Deb’s working-class single mother knew that although her daughter was physically fragile, she was also bright and capable of learning. Deb had learned how to read before Kindergarten, and was described as precocious by most adults. Deb’s mom pleaded with a local elementary school Principal to allow Deb to attend public school in the second grade. At that time (1966) there were no legislative policies or protections to promote school mainstreaming, and she would be the only child in her school with a disability through the remainder of her K-12 experience.

Despite more than 70 fractures and 25 major operations to repair and straighten her legs, Deb was always a straight A student and graduated from high school with honors in 1977, just before her 18^th birthday. She was also active as a student leader and received many accolades at public speaking competitions. She went on to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in Clinical Psychology. She applied her academic and leadership skills to become one of the premier Fortune 100 corporate leaders in an emerging HR discipline that came to be known as Diversity. Along the way she married her husband Dan, and they adopted three children, who also have various disabilities. She also became very active as a community leader serving on the boards of a broad array of national nonprofit organizations.

Deb Dagit Speaking Image From: http://www.educationupdate.com

Advocates and thought leaders for people with disabilities are often from the medical or health care community, who often consider people with disabilities as a population in need of a cure and/or relief from the symptoms associated with their diagnosed condition. No other diverse population is subject to this type of assessment in modern society. While women, racial minorities, and gay people have historically been labeled as genotypically predisposed to be weaker, less intelligent, and or medically compromised – only people with disabilities continue to bear this burden in modern times.

Throughout her career Deb has been a compelling and vocal advocate for people with disabilities. As the only Chief Diversity Officer with a visible disability, she has often found herself in the unenviable position of being the sole voice in the room to advocate for societal and workforce inclusion for people with disabilities.

Deb Dagit on Diversity Magazine. Image from: http://abilityaxis.com/debdagit.html

Her journey to achieving personal and professional success is all the more remarkable given the lack of belief that these achievements were even remotely possible.

Deb has an anonymous advice column called “Dear Deb” on her website www.debdagitdiversity.com. It is a unique resource for practitioners to seek support, affirmation, and ask questions re: how to cope with the emotional roller coaster that can come with performing diversity and inclusion roles.

Visitors can pose questions and provide a name that is anonymous to others. Only Deb will know the original author from their e-mail address and any other identifying information they wish to provide. (e.g. signature that appears could be something like “Troubled in Toledo”)

Typical topics may include:

expectations of colleagues who share the same demographic affiliation as the practitioner who are requesting a primary focus on their needs and interests
concerns about how to respectfully address and show up as an effective ally for groups a practitioner is not familiar or confident with
addressing internal conflicts that can arise when what is expected in the diversity role and how a person was raised to think about and interact with people from different backgrounds creates stress and/or confusion
demonstrating confidence and executive presence when working with senior leaders
friction that can arise with colleagues who do not share a similar priority/passion for diversity work

To learn more about Deb’s firm please visit:

Please visit Deb Dagit Diversity, LLC at www.debdagitdiversity.com

February 5, 2016

Love, Compassion, Tenacity and Desire to improve his Sister’s Life – a story about Eric Zeiberg

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Love, Compassion, Tenacity and a Desire to improve his Sister’s Life: A story about Eric Zeiberg

By Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications

What can we accomplish when we put our minds to it? Eric Zeiberg of Connecticut believes we can accomplish anything even helping his big sister learn to communicate with him.

Andy Zeiberg Image from: whatsnext.nuance.com

It is always interesting when a friend or family member creates a product to help another friend or family member. This is a cool story about a young man that wanted to make a difference in another child’s life. At the time Eric was in the 6^th grade and 11 years old. One of Eric’s family friends has muscular dystrophy and has trouble speaking. She is practicing physician and writes on a simple notepad that she wants to say, and shows to people to communicate. Eric was fascinated as she wrote something on paper and showed it to others. “It could have been so much better if she could write on iPad and iPad would “speak” for her,” Eric thought.

Eric was intrigued and did some research to discover there were no handwriting-to-text applications. He decided to create one because he knew it could help his friend but also could help his sister Julie. Julie now 23 was born with Autism and has speech impairments.

Eric Zeiberg, 12, and his sister Julie work on an iPad. Eric designed an app that converts handwriting to speech. Photo by Harlan Levy/Journal Inquirer. Image from JournalInquirer.com

Eric says “Julie was my inspiration for the whole project. She can’t communicate, and it’s really hard for her to get words out. This is a starting point for helping her.” The app was finally ready on Dec. 2 with the debut of HandySpeech at Apple’s app

store, the only handwriting-to-speech iPad and iPad Mini. The application can help anyone with speech problems including people with Autism, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, CP, stroke, muscular dystrophy, and post-operation voice difficulties.

Plus it is easy to use. All it takes is a finger or a stylus to write in the yellow section at the bottom of the iPad screen, then hit the speech button, and the writing turns into a male or female voice.

Was HandySpeech easy to produce? “I started from scratch,” Eric said. “I didn’t know anything about the programming languages you use. I just had experience with computers. First I had to learn how to build the application — all the technologies and the Internet and how to code, and I used tutorials and websites to help me build it.”

iSpeech Logo Image from: www.ispeech.org

Eric also gained two partners — text-to-speech software company iSpeech and handwriting recognition software maker PhatWare.

The app provides for automatic corrections, learns user writing patterns, and allows simple finger gestures to insert special characters such as space and return.

Young inventor Eric Zeiberg, 12, created the HandySpeech mobile application. Image from: http://pvamag.com/pn/

Eric has a new version with several new features including:

Phrases: you’ll be able to scroll down a list of phrases such as “Please wait while I am writing” or “How are you?” and click on any one, and a voice will say it.
Speech speed control, so you can slow down or speed up the voice.
Ability to upload the app to an iPhone.

As you can imagine Eric’s father Boris is very proud of his son’s tenacity and desire to help not only his sister but millions of other people around the world.

Eric Zeiberg, 12, left, sits with mother and father, Maya and Boris, Zeiberg and big sister, Julie Zeiberg, 22, in their West Hartford home. Johnathon Henninge/ Hartford Courant

“I am very proud of him because he put his mind together, saw it through, and did something significant, but mostly because he shows that he cares about people.” Boris Zeiberg

The App sells for $29.99 and can write and “speak” in 13 languages, including Dutch, French, German, Danish, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Italian, U.S. English, British English, and Portuguese as spoken in Brazil and as spoken in Portugal.

For details, call 860-874-8212, email info@iSpeak4u.com, or visit www.iSpeak4u.com

February 5, 2016

Take Disability Travel Survey

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Ruh Global has created a survey for clients to determine travel preferences for people with disabilities and all stakeholders. Please take this survey and pass to others to complete. Thanks for helping us gather this critical data. Our goals are to encourage hospitality and tourism to value, accommodate and include people with disabilities. Please share and take the survey. It is not only for people with disabilities but family members, friends and other stakeholders.

Take the Survey Here!

February 5, 2016

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I have had an interesting career and am grateful to follow my passion for inclusion of people with disabilities in every aspect of society. I have been consulting in the ICT Accessibility and Disability Inclusion industry since 2001 and recently founded a new consulting firm, Ruh Global, which will focus on Inclusion of People with Disabilities via Digital Marketing and Communications.

Ruh Global provides innovative yet personal marketing and communication consulting with a superior level of expertise and a strong professional reputation. Our services span communication channels including mobile, social media, websites and digital media, email, direct mail, sales activities and call centers. The firm will design and implement targeted marketing and social media programs that reach and resonate with the disability community while complementing and extending an organization’s current communication efforts. We will also partner with other PR, Marketing, Branding and Communications firms to assure people with disabilities are included in marketing campaigns.

TecAccess, Making the world of technology accessible

In 2001, I founded TecAccess, one of the leading providers of accessible Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) and Section 508 compliance for the largest and fastest growing minority group – People with Disabilities, Baby Boomers and Veterans with Disabilities in the world.

It is always interesting creating a new business because there are so many ways to fail. The reality is that there are many potholes and ways to take a false step, and there was no roadmap to create the kind of business that I envisioned – a for-profit technology firm which could thrive by hiring a diverse group of technologists many with disabilities.

Photo of Debra Ruh and Sean Stapleford, a brilliant Engineer who also happens to be quadriplegic.

Most of the team members at TecAccess were people with disabilities that were hired because they were uniquely qualified to be Accessibility Testers, Trainers and Consultants. Over 80% of our team had disabilities, including individuals who were blind, had vision loss, were deaf or hard of hearing, had CP, MS, MD, TBI, Down syndrome, Autism, Severe Depression, Bipolar, Quadriplegia, Paraplegia, and many more. To say we were a diverse group of individuals is an understatement.

A photo of Ed Ziegler, TecAccess Accessibility Tester who sustained two Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)

TecAccess merged with another ICT Accessibility firm, SSB BART Group (SSB), in April 2011 and I took on the role of Chief Marketing Officer for SSB. The decision to merge the two companies was an easy one to make, as SSB very successful, had a similar culture and also employed a diverse staff which included technologists and project managers with disabilities.

Although I greatly enjoyed working for SSB, I eventually decided to step back out on my own in late 2012 with the full support and blessing of the SSB executive management team. I created my new company, Ruh Global, to focus on strategic marketing and communications to help ensure the community of people with disabilities (PwD) is included in a meaningful way in every aspect of society with a special focus on employment.

Ruh Global services will enable corporate and public organizations to easily navigate the legal maze and confusing messages about and from the community of PwD.

Our goal is enable business success through innovative marketing and communications programs that are:

Strategically and creatively aligned with corporate goals
Seamlessly integrated across traditional and digital mediums
Tailored to the specific needs of each client
Scalable with measurable results
Delivers integration of messaging for all customers, not separate but equal opportunities for different diversity groups

As part of a family that has been impacted by disabilities, I believe that Ruh Global has the ability to have a unique and empowering voice. My daughter Sara Ruh was born with Down syndrome in 1987. At the time, she was the first person in our family with a disability. Sara’s positive influence has given us the ability to have a unique and empowering voice.

It is believed that 1 in 3 American families are impacted by disabilities. This is an enormous market, but still a very confusing one to many corporations. This market has many stakeholders, including not only people with disabilities, but also their parents, children, spouses, siblings, extended family and friends.

An individual who is considered a Thought Leader in the disability community once told me that the stakeholders without a disability were often much more insistent that their loved ones be included and have equal access than the actual person with the disability. I believe that he is correct, because it has been my observation that people will often fight for another person’s rights more passionately than their own.

I believe we all have abilities and disabilities and it is time to move from a deficit/charity only message to a message of empowerment.

Ruh Global provides innovative yet personal marketing and communications consulting with a superior level of expertise and stronger professional reputation with the community of PwD than any of the larger consulting firms.

We work with our clients to assess and determine gaps between current conditions and future goals across all areas within their marketing and communications plans. In partnership with your team, we will develop innovative solutions for closing these gaps.

SSB Bart Group Logo. Image from: www.ssbbartgroup.com/

“SSB BART Group and TecAccess share the same commitment to ICT accessibility, and both firms recognize the value of employing people with disabilities, as well as the value of their subject matter expertise when working with clients to achieve compliance both with the technical and functional requirements of leading accessibility standards. We wish Debra Ruh great success with Ruh Global and look forward to collaborating with her on future projects.”

Tim Springer Image from: http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/

Tim Springer, CEO of SSB BART Group.

“When I merged my company The Bartimaeus Group with SSB Technologies in 2005 it was a natural fit because each firm brought different strengths to the table. When TecAccess and Debra Ruh joined us in 2010 it added yet another layer of diversity to the firm. It has been a pleasure working with Debra. Her passion for the value and inclusion of people with disabilities is inspiring and infectious (so much so that the two of us are writing a book together about using Social Media to follow your passion). I believe it is this passion that makes her such a fantastic marketer for the disability community.”

Contact Information:

Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications
Ruh Global
(804) 749-3565 (office)
debra@RuhGlobal.com
Follow us on: Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, BlogSpot, SKYPE @debraruh

For more information please visit www.RuhGlobal.com

February 5, 2016

Focus on Abilities, a series: Jessica Cox

Ruh Global Communications Logo designed by Emily Ha

By Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications

I am writing a series about people with abilities and am proud to tell the story of one amazing woman named Jessica Cox.

Pilot, Jessica Cox standing by a plane. Image from www.katolik.ru

I am blessed to meet interesting people all over the world that are making a difference. It is time to celebrate our differences and understand that we come in all shapes, sizes, colors and abilities.

Many years ago a neighbor told me that she cried for me

every night because our daughter Sara was born with Down syndrome. I was shocked because I never thought of Sara being born with Down syndrome as a “tragedy”. Sara has so many gifts and I believe she is perfect the way she was born. She was born with hazel eyes, brown hair, a beautiful soul and Down syndrome. As she grew she complimented these god given talents with a good sense of humor, quick smile, compassionate heart and other talents.

My daughter, Sara Ruh, using different Apple Products simultaneously. Sara has Down Syndrome and loves the Accessibility Features that Apple's Products offer — My daughter, Sara Ruh, using different Apple Products simultaneously. Sara has Down Syndrome and loves the Accessibility Features that Apple’s Products offer

It is time to rethink the negative connotation of a person with disabilities and instead focus on the entire person. Each of us has abilities and disabilities. As we live our lives our gifts, ability and disabilities shift and change.

Jessica Cox is a perfect example of someone that is using all her abilities to make a huge difference in the world.

Jessica Cox a 30 year old born with no arms but born with many other talents. From a young age she was determined to make a difference and fully embrace her life. She is a beautiful, talented and amazing young woman.

Jessica cox, Pilot and Motivational Speaker. Image from: http://media.azw.s3.amazonaws.com/

Jessica Cox has achieved more using just her feet than most people. She also decided at a young age to not let anything get in the way of accomplishing her dreams. She achieved a black belt in Taekwondo at the tender age of 14. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona by typing papers with her toes.

She always dreamed of becoming a pilot, and in 2008, after years of persistent effort, she achieved this goal by soloing a single engine 1946 415C ErcoupeAirplane. Cox loves adventure sports—rock climbing and snowboarding to name a few—and she just made her first sky dive in January. Cox is named in the Guinness World Record for being the first armless person certified to fly an airplane.

Jessica cox, Pilot and Motivational Speaker. Image from: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/

She is also a sought after motivational speaker, mentor, and advocate for living your life to the fullest. She has traveled the world from Europe to Australia and Africa, sharing her inspirational story. She has spoken at the World Economic Forum and the Pentagon, met Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama, and appeared on The Ellen Show and CNN. She also recently won a Susan G. Komen Inspiration Award.

Her speeches emphasize the importance persistence and dreaming big. “There are two words I’ve eliminated from my vocabulary,” Cox says. “’I can’t.’ Because once you say those words, you’ve already failed.” She also emphasizes the importance of inclusion and opportunities of for persons with disability.

Jessica Cox sitting on the side of a plane. Image from www.marieclaire.com

A documentary called RIGHTFOOTED is being created to document Jessica Cox’s life. Her goals are to change attitudes about

Jessica Cox writing. Image from: http://winnerswithinus.com/

what’s possible, and to inspire change. Want to learn more about Jessica Cox and her most recent project? Visit her Indiegogo campaign at bit.ly/Xyx15O where she is currently raising funds to support a trip to Ethiopia to advocate for disabled kids. For more information please see the press release at http://bit.ly/WfxlZj.

Please help me spread these stories by sharing them with your networks. You can find more information about my work at www.RuhGlobal.com. Please follow me on Twitter, Linked-in, SKYPE, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest: @debraruh

February 4, 2016

Is our workforce ready for the coming changes? (White Paper)

Written by: Kimberly Vanderland on January 28, 2013.

The workforce is changing due to deferred retirement of baby boomers and more rapid infusion of people with disabilities and wounded warriors. The workplace will need to adjust to ensure universal experience and provide on demand flexibility for these changes in demand. For more information, see the white paper below.

Workforce Is Changing Is The Workplace Ready Whitepaper (Doc)