Mitsubishi Electric: Changes for the Better

Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation

MEAFnet

2010

• New Series Focuses on Successful Inclusion Practices

2009

• MEAF Intern Wins Leadership Award

2008

• Athlete and Advocate Tatyana McFadden
• Mitsubishi Electric Intern Hopes to Help Others
• Paralympics, Law School, and Disability Advocacy Ahead for Former Congressional Intern
• Making a difference -- one starfish at a time
• MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern Joins Senate Staff
• Inclusive Crew named Project of the Year
• Include All Girls Initiative

New Series Focuses on Successful Inclusion Practices

posted April 08, 2010
MEAF introduces a new Promising Practices in Inclusion Series, featuring case studies, best practices and lessons learned from grantees participating in its community inclusion initiative. Go to www.meaf.org/news-practices.php to read more.

MEAF Intern Wins Leadership Award

posted September 01, 2009
Prior to coming to Washington this summer as a MEAF/AAPD Congressional Intern, Leah Katz-Hernandez was already making a name for herself in the political world. In fact, the Latino Inaugural Celebration Committee honored her with the Local Grassroots Community Leadership 2009 Award for her organizing efforts during the 2008 presidential campaign. Recipients of this award must have proven leadership skills and commitment to community participation, have volunteered and encouraged others to do so for a grassroots cause, and have significantly impacted a large population.

Leah, a fourth year student at Gallaudet University majoring in Government and English, passionately believes that citizens should exercise their right to vote and that everyone should get involved in the political process. As a multiply-hyphenated American -- Hispanic/Japanese/Jewish/Deaf --Leah’s personal experiences drive her commitment to equal participation for all.

During the months leading up to the election, Leah did all of the following and more: encouraged fellow students and members of the Deaf community to vote, facilitated filling out the paperwork required for absentee ballots in different states, and created a nonpartisan movement to get more people involved in the political process.

In August 2008, she launched the blog The Deaf Perspective to chronicle her experience at the Democratic National Convention. The site quickly became a widely used source of campaign information and a guide to empowerment. Leah also helped to organize activities like a voter-canvassing trip to Virginia.

Just one year later, Leah completed her MEAF internship on Capitol Hill in the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). She wants to become a lawyer working for a nonprofit advocacy organization focusing on accessibility, bilingual education, equal treatment, and better job opportunities for the disability community.

Speaking about her internship, Leah feels “as if a door to golden opportunity has been opened and by walking through the doorway, I gained invaluable experience in Congress. I am extremely honored and will use this opportunity to share my experience with rest of the Deaf and hearing community -- to show that indeed the Deaf can do anything, but hear.”

Check out Leah’s blog—The Deaf Perspective at:
deafcampaign2008.blogspot.com

Leah was also featured on the Faces of Gallaudet, Profiles at: admissions.gallaudet.edu/Academics/FOG/Leah_Katz.htm

Athlete and Advocate Tatyana McFadden

posted November 14, 2008
Wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden of Clarksville, MD really showed her stuff at the Paralympic games in Beijing this summer, winning 3 silver medals in the 200m, 400m and 800m, and a bronze medal in the 4 x 100m relay.

But in addition to being a world class athlete, Tatyana is also a world class disability rights advocate. She was recently featured in the Girl Scouts of the USA Leader magazine, along with the MEAF-funded Include ALL Girls initiative. A former Girl Scout, Tatyana recently spoke to 600 Girl Scout leaders gathered at their annual National Meeting stating, “Sport is my passion, paving access for others is my purpose.”

As one Council CEO commented after hearing Tatyana speak: “The message of the critical importance of full inclusion was imbedded in every word Tatyana spoke and in the conversations between participants that followed.” This CEO now feels empowered to include all girls in scouting.

While in high school, Tatyana took on the Maryland school system in court, winning the right for her and her fellow athletes to compete with their peers in school track events. As she starts her freshman year at the University of Illinois, she will continue to sprint ahead as a disability rights advocate.

Mitsubishi Electric Intern Hopes to Help Others

posted September 26, 2008
Elaine Touch is the second participant in Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA’s summer internship program for young people with disabilities.

Elaine, a native of Long Beach CA, graduated in May from California State University Long Beach with a degree in Sociology. She spent the summer working in the MEUS Corporate Communications department, where she gained experience in customer care, research, and public relations.

“I loved it,” she said of her internship. “I learned how this company sees people with disabilities as ordinary people, not someone to be treated differently.”

Elaine, who was born with cerebral palsy, has never considered disability as an obstacle to realizing her career goals. Now that her internship has ended, she would like to pursue positions in public relations or communications. But her long-term goal is to work with students with disabilities on college campuses -- to help give others the kind of positive experience she was lucky to have. Elaine describes college as a transforming experience, in which she learned to feel proud of herself as a person with a disability, thanks to strong support from her university’s Disabled Student Services.

“I want to be in a job where I connect with people on a daily basis. I love to help people.”

As Elaine’s internship comes to a close, we at MEAF would like to thank her for raising disability awareness among our colleagues and demonstrating the abilities of people with disabilities. Elaine will continue to be connected to Mitsubishi Electric through serving on the MEAF Inclusion Task Force—a volunteer group that is helping to promote MEAF’s mission of helping young people with disabilities to be fully included in society.

Paralympics, Law School, and Disability Advocacy Ahead for Former Congressional Intern

posted July 30, 2008
Beth Kolbe, a former MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern, has an exciting year ahead of her. The Harvard graduate and champion athlete qualified for the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team, and she’ll be going to Beijing for the Paralympic Games in September. She will also be starting law school at Stanford, but has deferred enrolling until 2009 in order to compete in the Games.

In the summer of 2006, Beth served as a MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern in the Capitol Hill office of Senator John Kerry. When she returned to Harvard to complete her studies, Sen. Kerry invited her to work in his Boston district office.

The internship had a big impact on Beth, who has been quadriplegic since a spinal cord injury at the age of 14. In a recent interview in Disability Issues newsletter commented, “Professionally, it made me much more interested in politics. It was an eye opener that there are so many details…so many different policy areas that have to be taken care of….Bouncing ideas off the other interns and learning from them was a really wonderful experience. And we were able to meet a lot of leaders in the disability community. My generation grew up with the ADA so it’s easy to take it for granted. Learning from the people who did have to fight…was empowering.”

One of her most memorable experiences as an intern was being able to join Senator Kerry on the Senate floor during the stem cell bill debate. She was then profiled in a front-page story in the Boston Globe.

Beth’s career ambitions were directly influenced by her experience on the Hill. “I definitely want to work in the disability field, whether through health care policy or disability law. I can see myself working in politics, being a lawyer or working in an academic setting on health policy issues.”

But for right now, she’s concentrating on making a splash in Beijing!

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