Greetings audience! It's Stephen Gaiber: The Autistic Traveler again. This blog will be about something completely different than travel. On Saturday, September 15, 2018, I went to an excellent dinner fighting for those with disabilities. I went to the FDR Dinner for the Disability Rights Legal Center. It was an amazing event. There were three different awards and I'm going to discuss them and what they represent. The three awards presented include Vanguard Award, Chuck Siegal President's Award, and Dream Award.
A lot of different people and companies come in and discuss how they help people with disabilities. My two mentors -- Keri Bowers, who is head of The Art of Autism, and Tom Iland, who wrote the book Come To Live -- were there to sell their services. Starbucks managers from West Los Angeles were there to discuss how they hire those with disabilities. Exceptional Minds, an animation and visual effects school in Sherman Oaks, attended the event. Elaine Hall aka Coach E and Julia Moss came in and promoted the amazing Miracle Project. I might potentially be part of that program in the coming months.
The first award given was the Vanguard Award, which was presented by The American Cancer Association. This award was presented in the Disability Rights Legal Center fight to help those who are battling cancer. Battling cancer takes a toll on your life from employment to battling insurance to getting the life-saving treatment necessary. The Disability Rights Legal Center goes out of its way to make sure people get the legal support they need and sue whomever to get those rights. This award is a great honor for the American Cancer Society because of what they do to fight cancer. The speech was amazing.
The next award is a significant award for both the disabled and film communities. The Ruderman Family Foundation presented Chuck Siegal President's Award. This award is presented for displaying disability in film. The example they referenced was Dwayne Johnson having a fake leg in the movie Skyscraper. This award spotlights characters with different abilities and their inclusion in entertainment. I hope that they bring up shows like The Good Doctor or Atypical -- both dealing with autism -- for the next award ceremony.
The best part of the night was the Dream Award, which was presented by Scott Silveri, the creator of Speechless. Micah Fowler, who plays J.J. in the show and also has cerebral palsy, and Cedric Yarbrough, who plays Kenneth, gave the speech in honor of Scott. Scott gave an amazing speech about how disabilities have had an impact on his life. The example he brought up was his brother, who had cerebral palsy and was mistreated in a home. He died at the age of 41 due to lack of care. Scott talked about how he made it his mission to help those with disabilities, including by creating the show Speechless, which is about a family who work to help their disabled son J.J. I liked the first two seasons, and season three is coming up in a couple weeks. Also, Coby Bird, who made cameos in episodes of Speechless and The Good Doctor, was in the audience. What an excellent way to end the award ceremony.
The night concluded with the director giving an amazing speech about how history repeats itself and what the direction of our country is. I felt this was an amazing award ceremony and I am glad that I got to write a piece for them. These groups of lawyers really go out of their way to help those with disabilities achieve their potential and fight to sue whomever they need to. Hopefully I will be able to attend the award ceremony next year.
