We watched the media surrounding the signing of the ADA on television 25 years ago. My husband and I had followed the efforts being made in Washington, D.C. with great interest as persons with disabilities championed for the passage of this important legislation. It had become personal to our family. Before it became personal we believed that all Americans should have equal rights, but we did not understand all the implications and nuances.

Our daughter Sara Ruh had been born a few years earlier with Down syndrome (DS). She was not diagnosed until she was four months old, which was unusual at the time. I was 28 years old when I got pregnant with Sara and so the doctors did not recommend prenatal testing because there was no history of disabilities in my family.

I do remember that right after Sara was born a strange thought floated through my mind that she looked like a baby with DS. I immediately dismissed this because I did not know what babies with DS looked like and I did not know anyone who had it. Plus I was on pain medication because of the difficult birth.

A few months later, following some tests, a doctor diagnosed Sara as having DS. The doctor called us into the office and gave us the news that changed our lives. He doctor told us that she would be easier to raise than a child with ADHD. He also noted that she might never learn to walk or talk. He sent us to a geneticist and we were told that she might get pregnant at 16 so be careful. These well-meaning doctors were not very helpful. We decided to not listen to their negative comments with information that seemed out of place.

As we sat in the meeting room, hearing the news that our daughter’s path was going to be much different than what we had anticipated, we did not realize that people all over the United States were fighting for the rights of persons with disabilities.

The 25th Anniversary of the ADA is powerful for our family and for people all over the world. The ADA was one of the most powerful civil rights legislations of our time. The United States has accomplished so much during the 25 years of the ADA. Our family is so thankful to the people that fought for Sara and other persons with disabilities.

Sara Ruh did not get pregnant at 16 and she learned to talk and walk. Today she is an artist, a thespian, a dancer, and a motivational speaker. She has spoken all over the world to audiences as large as 5,000 at a time. She has been employed with Nordstrom’s for the last 9 years.

Sara has a good life and she spends a lot of time volunteering and helping other people. Her life matters and she has more options because of the people that fought for her rights and got the ADA passed 25 years ago.

The United Nations promulgated the Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and unfortunately, the United States has yet to ratify it despite the fact that 150+ other countries have done so. There’s a perception that signing the CRPD is unnecessary as we have the ADA. However, in order to incorporate newer benchmarks of accessibility, we need to be part of a global mandate that fosters a culture of inclusion for all citizens, including senior citizens. Disability is not a narrowly defined concept, but a spectrum that is inclusive of all abilities.

Join G3ict and other leaders in helping assure that persons with disabilities have access to ICT, education, employment, and a host of services that go towards making life productive, successful and valuable.

To learn more about Debra Ruh please visit: www.RuhGlobal.com.

– See more at: http://g3ict.org/resource_center/newsletter/news/p/newsletterId_/id_534#sthash.qrCQAYZn.dpuf

Debra Ruh is a digital marketing professional who enables people with disabilities’ voices to be heard and included in marketing and communications outreach. As the founder of Ruh Global Communications, a strategic communications and digital marketing firm, she strongly believes that social media empowers a diverse array of perspectives to be shared, and is optimistic about the future of digital.

Science and medical technology advancements are helping people with disabilities see, hear and walk again. In a recent BBC article Cyborgs: The truth about human augmentation reveals exciting technology and scientific advances that are augmenting people’s lives. Exciting times for people with disabilities assuming you have the means to pay for these life-changing advancements. Let’s look at a few examples:

Bionic Eye

Another BBC Article is about Argus II or the Bionic Eye: I am Blind…now I have Bionic Eyes. It is a system that includes three parts: glasses, converter box and an electrode array. The glasses have attached a camera and they transmit images to the converter box. The converter box sends signals to the electrode array that was implanted on the retina.

What is it like to see again after years of blindness? Fran Fulton’s sight was restored with a remarkable new eye implant, price tag: $150,000.
Bionic Ear

The bionic ear is being credited as the first device to replace a sensory organ. The ‘bionic ear’: the couple who helped the world to hear explores the topic. A cochlear implant or Bionic Ears is a small, complex electronic device that can help provide a sense of sound to people that are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

The Computerized Exoskeleton Could Help Millions of People Walk Again. ReWalk is a wearable robotic exoskeleton that provides powered hip and knee motion allowing individuals with Spinal Cord Injury walk.

Gene Laureano walks with the aid of ExoSkelton made by ReWalk, price tag: $69,500

These scientific and medical breakthroughs are changing people’s lives. The problem is that these advancements are out of reach for millions of people. The good news is that we have the funding, knowledge, and the social drive to eliminate many of the barriers.
Here are a few programs bringing scientific and medical advancements to people in developing countries.

World Wide Hearing provides access to affordable hearing aids to youth in developing countries.
Fred Hollows Foundation has helped restore the sight of more than 1,000,000 people worldwide.
The Nippon Foundation is assisting with the operation of schools to train them, in the hope of restoring the mobility and independence of persons with disabilities in Southeast Asia.
Clinton Foundation and Standard Chartered Bank expand their fundraising and eye care programs to help reach the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and WHO’s VISION 2020 initiative to eradicate avoidable blindness globally by 2020.

Society needs to expand on these types of programs to assure these advancements are available to more people in the future.

To learn more about our work please visit: www.RuhGlobal.com

The changing landscape of accessibility across the globe will be a huge factor that influences technology advancements. The World Health Organization has identified persons with disabilities as the fastest growing minority group. With the Baby Boomers reaching the age where mobility becomes tougher and tougher we will see a huge shift in accessibility. There is no way that things can remain the same, with such a large  part of the population needing accessibility in a way they have not before. We need to make our city streets wheelchair accessible, even this task sounds daunting.

While the changes may seem to be difficult to make, never the less, we need to make them and soon. This is just the tip of a very large iceberg that we are viewing from the surface of the water, unfortunately the hidden part is just as important as the visible part. With everyday changes and preparations we can be ready for mobility in the world even if our bodies have trouble with some difficult tasks. The world view on disability needs to shift into one that we consider in our day to day operations. With the world becoming more digital by the second and with things like the digital-divide to consider technology is under the scope for scrutiny. Technology is a part of life and has enriched life for most of the population. We simply need to consider who has been left out of thought, if anyone has, and then help them to join in. This can be done with simple technology like phone keyboards that are predictive and user friendly. User-friendly becomes very important and if we consider all different users it becomes easy to make accessible. ”Technology is accessible if it can be used just as effectively by people with disabilities as it can by those without.” Debra Ruh writes.

This is so true and accessibility is vital, but it should be part of our thinking while designing and not an afterthought. After all, we create minorities that are not represented when we leave some as an afterthought. We can be a prosperous global society that includes all communities, because everyone working together adds value in a way that working against one another we never could.

So many people are sad and have lost their ability to find the simple joys in life.  My Mom is one of those people and as she has aged she has become more and more negative and sad.  She has always been the half-empty type person but when we lost my Dad last year her filters went with him.  She struggles seeing the world as a good place and often gets lots in the darkness.

I try to gently remind her of all the joys and wonders all around her.  Instead she tells me that I am in denial about the sad state of the world.  She also thinks that I should lose the Rose Colored Glasses.  I love her and will always be there for her but her view of the world makes me sad.  I see the world as such an amazing place and as I get older want to continue to contribute to the world.

I have been blessed by a happy marriage for over 32 years and we have two grown children – Sara and Kevin.  Our oldest daughter Sara was born with Down syndrome and we named her after my mother.  Everywhere we looked we were told the dark, negative stories associated with raising a child with disabilities.  We decided the experts were wrong and proceeded to prove them wrong.

Our beautiful, loving, joyful and simply amazing daughter has been a great teacher to us.  She lives the great spiritual truths: “stay in the moment”, “see the good in everyone”, and “Life is about Love”.  I also practice these truths but it is truly a walk in faith sometimes.  If our intelligence was measured on how a person lives the greatest spiritual truths – Sara would be a great sage.

Sara’s brother Kevin has also been positively impacted by his sister.  Read his blog “Lessons Learned From my Sister” http://ow.ly/COnrj

Sara has inspired my work and I have spent the last twenty years in the disability field working hard to empower persons with disabilities (PwD).  I have worked with countries all over the world to create programs and policies to include PwD in every aspect of society with an emphasis on the workforce.  I have had the pleasure to work with huge corporations (national and multi-national) to help them understand how to include this segment of the population in their workforce and marketing efforts.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 1 in 7 people are impacted with a disability.  In the United States 1 in 3 families are impacted.  Source: NOD

Disability is part of life and we all will experience disabiity in our life times.  As we age more of us are acquiring disabilities.  I have worked hard to shine a different light on disabilities.  Instead of seeing it as a tragedy – we should realize it is part of life.  Obstacles allow us to find our greatest strengths and treasures in life?

My Mom has been a great teacher to me and she has been trying her entire life to manage her mental illness.  Life is tough for her and I try to be authentic with her and love her regardless of her negative view of the world.  I have heard experts say to stay away from negative people but at this time in my Mom’s life she needs me.  So I try to be authentic with her and try not to make her walk more difficult.

I view her negative lens of the world as an inspiration for me to always be grateful and see beauty in all things.  Maybe it is a defense mechanism but I have become a better person because of my Mom.

I also believe we can learn a lot from people like our daughter Sara Ruh.  She inately seems to understand the value of staying in the moment.  Eating when she is hungry, sleeping when she is tired (no matter where she is – smile), and staying 100% in the moment and fully authentic.  She is an amazing soul and I am so blessed to be part of her life.  Both the Sara’s in my world – my Mom and my Daughter have been great teachers and gifts to me.

To learn more about our work, please visit: www.RuhGlobal.com

Finding new aspects to accessibility within the new devices that are forthcoming is exciting and sometimes troubling if accessibility has not been consider. With the recent release of the Apple iPhone 6 questions loom about the added features that make this new device unique and innovative can also cause accessibility concerns.
The screen is slightly larger for the new edition of the iPhone. A larger screen is good for users with a visual impairment as it is simply easier to see. A person with fine motor impairment can make navigating a tiny touch screen accurately very difficult. In that case a larger screen can be an upside to the user. Users that manage the small motions fine may find the larger strokes create a challenge and find it cumbersome. Limited motion due to size has caused some users to criticize the iPad.
The battery life has been improved on the iPhone 6. This is usually seen as a positive to all users. Especially when the user uses their device as communication device or as assistive technology. Longevity is also a huge benefit to everyone but is especially helpful to consumers with disabilities and anyone that needs the device to be accessible.

iPhone 6.0 1
iOS 8 has strived to be an accessible operating system and has accessibility features that previous iOS’s versions inspired. The new iPhone 6 will run iOS 8 when it is released which many hope will include access features that have not yet been announced.
The new OS also promises to run the new Apple Pay, which is a new type of program that is striving to replace credit cards entirely. The accessibility implications of this are numerous. The idea is to use your iPhone to securely transfer money is one that is astounding and would allow many of us easier access to monetary transactions. When the iWatch is released it may too have many accessibility accomplishments that we have yet to imagine. These devices show that accessibility can be a great way to widen the use of mobile technology for all.

Apple has been a leader in accessibility and their innovation has change lives. I hope they continue to blend accessibility into every device, app and service that is offered.

Call for submissions! If you are a person with a disability or have someone close to you that is affected by disabilities then we want to hear from you! Do you have a tattoo? Whats the story behind it? Do you want to get a tattoo? Are you against tattooing? What is your opinion on people who have a disability getting tattooed? What kind of meaningful content do people want? We want to hear your opinion on the subject! If you are a tattoo artist we would love to hear about this topic from your point of view. Are you worried that the tattoo shop may not be accessible or maybe the staff will not be comfortable dealing with a client with a disability? My sister Sara was born with Down syndrome and is now a wonderful 27 year old woman. When she wanted to get her first tattoo at the age of 20 and a family friend expressed concern when our family mentioned that we would be 100% open to Sara getting a tattoo if she wanted one. Who is to say she should not be allowed to get a tattoo, and why? She understands that it will hurt, and not go away. But she is an adult and although she gets support from her family for day to day living she wants to be as independent as anyone would and wants to make her own decisions. After a lot of talk and presenting Sara with the idea that people may not think it was a good idea and may be judgmental. She had the same stance that most do when they have decided that a tattoo is in their future, Who cares what anyone else thinks, this is a tattoo for me and on me. How can I or anyone who loves and respects sara and her opinion say otherwise. The selection process for the Artist who would ink the design was shorter than we expected. The first Artist we visited was told by the shop owners that Sara had a disability and he said he was comfortable with that and would simply like to meet her before and discuss every aspect of the tattoo, this is not uncommon for any tattoo artist to do, you always want to know who you’re working with and it is important to do this on both sides. As an artist talking to a client and as well as someone who is commissioning artwork from an artist. Well thats my story in a nutshell, we hope to hear from you and yours about this, please take a few moments to submit your story to: Kevin@ruhglobal.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.

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.

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.

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

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:

• 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 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

For more information please visit www.RuhGlobal.com