

Debra Ruh is featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
You can Check out the Article Here!



Debra Ruh is featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.


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.



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.

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.

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.

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:

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 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, 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


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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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


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)



By Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Communications

I am a big communicator and to be honest it got in trouble a lot in school for chattering. In High School, teachers said that I couldn’t stop talking and my Mom often got notes about this issue. I remember in 5th grade my teacher saying if one more person talks or laughs you will be staying after school. You guessed it that made me giggle and yes – I stayed after school and then stay in my room that weekend on restriction. I love to talk, sing, write and just chatter. My family and friends understand and usually appreciate this about me. Sometimes I think my husband wouldn’t mind gagging me but after 29 years of marriage he would never openly say that because then we would have to “talk” about it. He says that I even talk in my sleep.

So I bet you have guessed it – I LOVE social media. Social Media allows me to chatter with people all over the world. Plus I can get instantaneous chatter back, I remember when Virginia had our earthquake (okay California- no wise cracks) it was traumatic for us. I couldn’t believe how many aftershocks we felt. One night we had a 5.3 aftershock and it woke everyone up in the house. My husband and daughter went back to sleep but I was shaken and started thinking scary thoughts like what if a really big one comes and what if a tree falls on the house. I have a great imagination and sometimes I don’t appreciate it late at night. So I got up and got on my social media to chatter about it and calm my nerves. I chattered with people all over Richmond and it really helped calmed me down and made me feel safe knowing others were feeling the same way.
I also use social media to chatter about the community of people with disabilities (PwD) and accessible Internet, Communications and Technology (ICT). I believe that the community of PwD is starting to find our voices via social media. However, there are some significant accessibility problems with social media. We find that many social media tools and applications are not blending accessibility into their products. So PwD are often left out of the social media conversation and movement because they are inaccessible
Really – come on – can’t everyone be allowed to participate? If we don’t make social media accessible than we continue to widen the “Digital Divide” and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) one in seven people are impacted with disabilities worldwide. Plus 1 out of 3 households in the U.S. are impacted by disabilities. Worldwide, this group numbers 500-750 million people and is a key influencer of the public’s perceptions.
The Internet has opened many opportunities and has greatly improved the quality of life for these users, but they still face barriers. You might think of disabilities in extreme terms such as blindness and deafness, but it also includes many others with visual or hearing impairments that are increasingly common in our aging population, and other challenges such motor and cognitive impairment.
Can an organization really afford to lose this audience? I don’t think so and this community is really chattering on the more accessible platforms so if social media tools are not accessible those platforms stand to lose out on major benefits.
Sometimes we hear that it is too hard to make an application or platform accessible. How ridiculous – accessibility should be built into the system just like you would build in privacy, security or usability.

There is NO excuse to not make your Social Media applications fully accessible so that everyone can use them. In years past, developers were afraid that making the application accessible would make a system less usable or “dummy” the system down. Once again, ridiculous – we have seen amazing strides with accessible social media and now it is BAD design if you do not blend accessibility into the process level.
Want to know more? Join our free webinar on Accessible Social Media or download a free trial version of our Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) it is a knowledge platform that has tons of tips, online training and suggestions for making applications fully accessible.
For further information about TecAccess and their current endeavors, visit their website at SSB Bart Group



By Debra Ruh, Founder of TecAccess, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications
Employers looking to gain a strategic edge may find that hiring technologists with disabilities provides an attractive return on investment. Technologists with disabilities give everyone from private industry to educational institutions a way to improve the accessibility of their technology, hire a diverse workforce, and drive in more business by focusing on social responsibility and inclusion.

Individuals with disabilities represent a huge market segment and a large untapped workforce. Additionally, with the recent amendments to the ADA and the updates coming soon to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, technological accessibility needs to keep pace with the new legislation. These developments will require employers to address accommodation issues in the workplace, something that can be helped by having employees with disabilities in high tech and management positions.
However, disability related myths can impede this process. I worked with one large company that basically said, “We are going to decide what jobs can be done by persons with disabilities and then direct individuals with disabilities to those positions”. But it’s not the place of the employer to determine what jobs people with disabilities can do. An employer simply need to make sure that its HR systems and processes are fully accessible, and if a candidate applies and is qualified for the job, interview them and hire them to do the job. Period.
Employers can make a wise investment in hiring technologists with disabilities. A recent Department of Labor report indicated that workers with disabilities consistently meet or exceed the job performance of coworkers without disabilities. One good example can be found in a Canon facility outside of Chicago that began refurbishing cameras. They hired people with intellectual disabilities and the first year the program saved over $19 million. They also noticed that the plant’s overall productivity increased at a higher rate than other locations. Employees at the plant also reported increased morale and pride to work for the company. Such intangibles can be valuable to employers seeking a competitive edge in the marketplace.



Many people are surprised to learn just how much of the world’s population is affected by a disability, and how valuable accessible design of electronic and information technology (E&IT) also known as Internet, Communications and Technology (ICT) is to local, state, federal and government, private industry, and educational institutions across the globe.
Making technology usable for all has become imperative for unleashing the potential of all and is critical for any organization wishing to remain relevant in the 21st century. Technology is accessible if it can be used just as effectively by people with disabilities – including the elderly and veterans with disabilities – as it can by those without. Half of the world’s population is impacted by a disability in some fashion, making accessible design critical to private industry, government, and educational institutions.
To understand the impact one has to look no further than the World Health Organization which indicates that people with disabilities are the world’s largest and fastest growing minority group. With the population of the United States aging, and the likelihood of developing a disability or other mobility limitations increasing with age, the growth in the number of people with disabilities can be expected to rise dramatically. Also impacting this formula is the growing population of veterans with disabilities.
The World Health Organization (WHO, 2003) indicates that people with disabilities are one of the largest and fastest growing minority groups. Public and private entities that make their technology accessible can reach and better serve an untapped and underserved market, a demographic that represents both spending and voting power, a population that exhibits a strong desire to learn and improve despite facing physical and developmental challenges (The Solution Marketing Group, 2007).
Around the world more than 750 million people with disabilities are gaining recognition as a significant and growing market for products and services, and they are making their needs and expectations known to governmental bodies, organizations, and businesses. Using information and communication technology that is accessible is the fastest way in which to reach and serve people with disabilities and the elderly in an equal fashion as those without disabilities.

Millions of people with disabilities regularly travel, shop, go to school, and eat out with family and friends. A study by the U.S. Department of Education found that one in three households in the U.S. is affected by a disability. The 2000 U.S. Census reported that almost 42% of older adults (65+ years) have one or more disabilities. In fact, in the US the percentage of people with disabilities is larger than any single ethnic, racial, or cultural group. At 19.3%, the number of people with disabilities exceeds the next largest group — Hispanic people (14.9%) — by a fairly wide margin (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005).
Harmonization of state, federal and international accessibility legislation, regulations and standards offers the promise of constraining the cost to vendors to test and certify E&IT product compliance to diverse sets of otherwise similar accessibility guidelines. Consumers of all abilities benefit from the reduced cost of bringing accessible E&IT products to market when harmonization of accessibility laws, regulations and standards is embraced.
An inclusive and universal design approach to technology is critical to both government agencies and private industry wishing to anticipate future needs of this growing population. By recognizing the importance of the protection and promotion of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities through assistive technology, the world is just beginning to strengthen policies, strategies, and programs along with an increase in awareness of the public at large of the importance of the issue of disability and assistive technology.
Where environmental and privacy issues are more homogenous, issues around E&IT tend to be more disparate. Due to the many types of disabilities and age-related impairments, one size accessible product solution does not fit all.
Providing accessible E&IT products, web and non-web-based information and services also benefits the growing population affected by age-related impairments, in addition to people with disabilities.
“Underlying the legal and practical realities of the ‘information age’ is the recognition of the vast capacity of accessible technology to unlock human potential, to tap into great reservoirs of intellect and ability that have gone largely untapped until now, and to maximize productivity and performance for all,” says John Kemp, a leading disability law expert and CEO of Abilities! A NY based non-profit that supports people with disabilities. www.abilitiesonline.org
Nations across the world are currently adopting new laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability, as well as increasing the protection of civil rights for people with disabilities and expanding freedoms for all.
Demand for accessible technology and services will continue to rise as well as the public’s understanding of, and requirement for, technology that is usable by every citizen. (Forrester Research 2003.)
To comply with guidelines and to include this valuable group of consumers, it is important that all diversity and HR processes, information, communications and technology (ICT), product development and service touch points are fully accessible to everyone. This includes mobile technology, kiosk, software, documents, social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.), websites, and other forms of communications. The need to be accessible grows as our reliance on technology and use of social networks increases.
For further information about TecAccess and their current endeavors, visit their website at SSB Bart Group



What type of mobile phone user are you? Are you a Blackberry, Android, iPhone or another device? I am still a Blackberry user and fairly happy but peeking over the fence at iPhone and Androids. At first I stayed with the Blackberry because I travel internationally and they seemed to get better coverage. Plus I work all the time (bad habit of mine) and Blackberry really met my needs. However after I started using an iPad in May 2011, yes I was a slow adopter but thanks to Tim Springer I went to the other side and I really love my iPad. I like it so much that now I am considering moving to the iPhone to replace my Blackberry. Now I am not willing to give up my windows based Laptop but using all these devices together is sublime.

I have a lot of choices however many people have very few choices because there are still a lot of accessibility problems with mobile phones not to mention the Digital Divide where many consumers cannot buy the latest device available. It is discouraging to see my friends and family not having the same choices that I do because of accessibility issues.
In February CBS News did an article stating that the number of mobile phone subscriptions had reached 4.6 billion and was expected to hit 5 billion in 2011. It is critical that everyone have access to communications and technology and that includes people with disabilities.
“Mobile phone providers in rich countries offer advanced services and handsets, while people in developing countries increasingly use the mobile phone for health services and banking, said the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). “Even during an economic crisis, we have seen no drop in the demand for communications services,” said the agency’s Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure.” (1)

Mobile devices are being used to access all kind of data including financial data. “Between 500 million and 1 billion people will access financial services by mobile by 2015, depending on estimates. The MFS market will be dominated Asia, driven by mobile operator-led initiatives in developing nations to bank the unbanked. Remittance/transfers by mobile is growing three times faster than m-banking.” (2)
So what needs to be done to assure everyone can participate. A good first step is to design the device following Universal Design and Accessibility Standards. Blind, Vision Loss, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Mobility Impairments, Intellectual Disabilities and the Elderly are impacted by inaccessible devices.

Everyone needs access to the internet, communications and technology. I applaud companies that have made accessibility part of the development life cycle. In the future, I will be blogging about some of these amazing best practices.

(1) www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/15/business/main6209772.shtml
(2) http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats


What obligation do we have to society? Are we born to improve lives for other people or to just take care of ourselves and our families? I believe that we are born into this amazing and complicated world to contribute. We should use the many gifts we have to make the world a better place. I also believe we can bloom where we are planted regardless if we have access to resources and money.

In 1987 a doctor told my husband and me that our 4 month old daughter had Down syndrome. We were stunned, confused and devastated. What would that mean for this baby and for our lives? I also started to wonder what I could do to help the community of people with disabilities. Over the years we figured that out step by step because there are so many ways we can contribute to our society and communities. Our daughter continues to inspire us every single day and we work hard to add value to the community of people with disabilities.
Steve Jobs is a shining example of what can be done to make the world a better place. How can technology make the world a better place? The ways are abundant. Technology can be used to help a young child communicate with their parents for the first time using the iPad and some cool applications. Allow a brilliant writer with Cerebral Palsy to finally write that book that has been locked in her head. Help a programmer with vision loss become more productive because now they have access to better communications and tools. Help a veteran with TBI remember the sequence of steps to handle an application that he rarely use to support his job as a technician.
Technology can help level the playing field. Can it solve all the problems? Of course not but it can allow people with disabilities to actively participate in all aspects of society including the workforce.
I have never met Steve Jobs and was surprised at the impact his passing had on me. I am very sad and feel the loss in a way that is deep and surprising. To help me work through these feelings – I reached out to others feeling the same way via social media and started reading and contributing to the chatter.

One post that touched me was created by Tim Carmody a contributor to Wired Magazine. I have never met Tim but after reading his tweet knew he was “part of my community”.
Tim’s tweet:
“@tcarmody I’m on my way to PHL to see my son, who uses a device Steve Jobs invented to help him talk. He will never know. He will never know.”
That tweet gave me chills as I read it and brought tears to my eyes.
I then read his blog:
“My son is on the autism spectrum and has a severe receptive and expressive language delay. He’s 4 years old, and can read and spell words, and sing entire songs, but is more like an 18-month- or 2-year-old in normal conversation. He cannot use a telephone and has a hard time sitting still for video telephony. He has a thoroughly well-loved iPod Touch, filled with videos and apps that have helped him learn to speak and augment his ability to communicate.My tweet about my son was retweeted almost 500 times, more than anything else I’ve ever written in 140 characters, and put me in touch with other parents of children with special needs — strangers — some seeking information, some wanting to share their stories.
It may be a stretch to say Steve Jobs invented the iPod Touch or most of the technologies contained in it. But Steve Jobs certainly put it in my son’s hands, both by making it a sub-$200 device (and in our case, giving it away free with a laptop) and by helping to create an ecosystem of software applications for people with disabilities — perhaps especially communication disabilities.” http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/steve-jobs-disability/

I think that summed up what I was feeling – Steve Jobs changed the world with his technology, leadership and ideas. I watch our 24 year old daughter with Down syndrome use her iPad to play Angry Birds, listen to podcasts, improve her reading, communicate with her friends and surf the net. She has used other laptops and operating systems but always with a lot of help. With her iPad she can do all of this independently and it has improved the quality of her life. Many times adults like Sara Ruh get isolated after they leave the school system. She works part-time for Nordstrom’s but her hours were cut back during the worst of the economy. She has worked for Nordstrom’s for over five years and is proud to be one of their team members. The iPad allows her to stay connected with friends and an active part of society. Those accomplishments may seem small to some people but believe me these are life changing accomplishments for our family.
1 out of 3 households in the U.S. is impacted by disabilities. Worldwide, this group numbers 500-750 million people and is a key influencer of the public’s perceptions. Recently the World Health Organization published a report that noted 1 in 7 people worldwide are impacted by disabilities. The Internet has opened many opportunities and has greatly improved the quality of life for these users, but they still face barriers. You might think of disabilities in extreme terms such as blindness and deafness, but it also includes many others with visual or hearing impairments that are increasingly common in our aging population, and other challenges such motor and cognitive impairment.
Plus this is not just about people with disabilities, 96% of American has said they will spend more money to support an organization that includes everyone and is involved in social good.
Want to understand the strength of the chatter by our community – look no further than Apple under the amazing leadership of Steve Jobs. They made the iPhone and iPad accessible for the community of people with disabilities. We are now singing their praises and buying their products like never before. I have read and written article after article, blog after blog about their efforts.

Steve Jobs has left an amazing legacy and the world is a better place because he was part of it. He will be missed and many of us will wonder what else he could have done if he had more time. Steve Jobs will be remembered forever and I believe that his legacy will continue to grow and expand. What legacy will you leave?
