The Landscape

Deb Dagit is an amazing woman who lobbied for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and was present at its signing; was one of the pioneers of the Diversity and Inclusion movement that is in almost all large companies now, and worked for a fortune 500 company in that role. She was born with a brittle bone disorder that kept her in the hospital much of her childhood, and has come to understand that she needs to emphasize her disability instead of expecting people to ignore it. She explains how she came to that understanding in the episode. Deb is truly a pioneer and one of the brightest minds out there! Her current work as a consultant is changing the culture for some of the biggest corporations across the country. This episode also has Deb speaking about how COVID-19 is impacting the disability community, and how technology created for the disability community is helping all Americans who working from home during this pandemic.

Deborah (Debbie) R. Becker, MEd, CRC - Senior Research Associate with Individual Placement and Support speaks about the gold-standard, evidence based method of supported employment for individuals with serious mental illness, which brought hard research into the supported employment world. Debbie speaks about early research, key parts of the method, and the international IPS learning community, which includes 24 states and six countries/regions outside of the United States. 

Emma Dillard has an open, and blunt conversation about having a dual diagnosis of major depression and alcohol addiction. She opens up about the first time she had a drink; how her dealer signed her into rehab; and much more. 

Susie Rutkowski, the co-founder of ProjectSEARCH speaks about the early days, growth, and changes in the internship program for individuals with an intellectual and/or developmental disability (IDD). ProjectSEARCH changes lives, businesses and communities across the United States, and around the world by bringing interns into some of the largest employers in their communities.