Jay Ruderman

Jay Ruderman
Jay Ruderman (April 2014)
Born Jay Seth Ruderman
(1966-03-16) March 16, 1966
Occupation Activist and Philanthropist
Spouse(s)
Shira Menashe Ruderman (m. 2002)
Parent(s) Morton Edward Ruderman, Marcia Jortner Ruderman
Website www.rudermanfoundation.org

Jay Seth Ruderman (born 16 March 1966) is an American activist and philanthropist. He is the President of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which focuses on the inclusion of people with disabilities and on the education of Israeli leaders regarding the American Jewish community. The foundation maintains offices in Boston, Israel and New York City.

Early life and education

Ruderman was born on March 16, 1966. He is the oldest of three siblings, the son of Marcia and Morton E. Ruderman. The latter cofounded Meditech and other successful business ventures, dedicating his later life to helping others.[1] Ruderman attended public schools in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, and received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University, where he served as president of the student body in 1986-87. He earned his JD from Boston University School of Law in 1993. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as Liaison with the Jewish Diaspora.

Career

Assistant District Attorney, Essex County, MA

Ruderman began his career as Assistant District Attorney in Essex County, Massachusetts.

American Israel Public Affairs Committee

He later worked for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), first as Deputy Director of the New England office and then as Leadership Director of the Jerusalem office.

Ruderman Family Foundation

Ruderman has been President of the Ruderman Family Foundation since 2008.

Activist philanthropy

Ruderman grew the Ruderman Family Foundation from a local foundation serving the Boston Jewish community to one with an international focus. Under his leadership the Foundation seeks to change societal attitudes around disability and to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.[2] The philanthropic strategy of the Foundation is to go narrow and deep: it focuses on a limited number of issues and works with the media to raise awareness of those issues across all sectors of society. These issues center around changing societal attitudes so that disability inclusion is seen as central to civil rights and social justice, and not an issue of charity.

The Ruderman Family Foundation, led by Jay Ruderman, is an international leader in the intersection between social advocacy, disabilities, and inclusion. Part of its advocacy involves publishing white papers on different topics related to disabilities and inclusion.

With the foundation as his vehicle, Jay Ruderman has established himself as one of the leading voices for disability rights on social media. Ruderman has used social media in past years to respond to derogatory language used by public figures toward people with disabilities. Examples of derogatory language to which Ruderman responded include the video showing the rapper 50 Cent mocking a disabled airport employee, and the rude gestures made by President Donald Trump mimicking the disability of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski.[3] The response to the Donald Trump episode led to the Foundation being featured during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

On a daily basis Ruderman engages in rapid response activism, much of which is done through numerous op-eds he has written for major publications in the US and Israel. Recently, the Foundation launched the Ruderman Family Awards for Excellence in Reporting on Disability at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. The prize seeks to encourage excellent reporting on disability, by recognizing the best disability reporting produced each year by media organizations around the world.

Ruderman has also put together several signature programs as part of his activist philanthropy. Among them is the Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, which recognizes organizations around the world that serve as exemplars of disability inclusion. Twenty Ruderman Prizes have been awarded since 2012.

In 2017, the Foundation hosted its second Ruderman Inclusion Summit, which was one of the world’s largest gathering of disability activists with over 1,400 people in attendance. The first such summit was held two years before that, in November 2015 in Boston, with 500 leaders and activists. Plenary speakers at both summits included Oscar Award Winner Marlee Matlin, Former President of Malawi Joyce Banda, former Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), author Ron Suskind, Special Olympian Loretta Claiborne, Michigan State Supreme Court Justice Richard H. Bernstein, journalist and NPR host John Hockenberry, Senator Maggie Hassan (D–NH), Congressman Gregg Harper (R-MS), and Congressman Jim Langevin (D–RI).

Ruderman has also launched Link20, a leadership network for young disability advocates aiming to develop a young cross-disability movement through strengthening the leadership of the participants and helping them raise awareness and shatter stereotypes about people with disabilities. The network began in Israel and has spread to Boston, New York, and Washington DC.

An additional signature program is the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion, which has been given annually since 2013 to an individual for outstanding accomplishment in the field of disability inclusion. In 2013 the award was given to Michael Stein, co-founder and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability. In 2014 it was given to Ari Ne’eman, President and co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. In 2015, the recipient was Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa, retired), a writer of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The latest recipient was Oscar winning actress, Marlee Matlin.

The Foundation created the ADVANCE Conference series in 2011, 2012, and 2013 to educate the Jewish funding community about the issue of disability inclusion. As a result of those meetings the Disability Peer Network was founded at the Jewish Funders Network by the Foundation and others.

In addition to its activity surrounding people with disabilities, the Foundation led by Jay Ruderman also focuses on Israel-American Jewish relations and maintains major partnerships with the Government of Israel and many national Jewish organizations in the U.S. and Israel.

In November 2015, the Foundation organized a series of high-level events in Israel, focusing on the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community. These included the Conference on Israel-American Jewish Relations, with speeches by former Israeli President and Nobel Peace Laureate Shimon Peres, former U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), and U.S. Ambassador Daniel B. Shapiro; a public meeting of the Knesset Caucus on Israel-U.S. Relations; and the formal opening of the third year of Haifa University's Ruderman Program in American Jewish Studies.

The Foundation has also brought delegations of members of Israel’s Knesset to the United States to expose them to the diversity of the U.S. Jewish community in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017. This program was instrumental in establishing the Knesset Caucus on Israel-U.S. Relations.

In 2013, with funding from the Foundation, Haifa University launched the Ruderman Program in American Jewish Studies, the only degree-granting program of its kind in Israel.

The Foundation also releases white papers on the topic of the US-Israel relationship, including one entitled The Jewish Vote: Political Power and Identity in US Elections.

Jay has also called for a more democratic, representative and inclusive Jewish community, as shown in an op-ed for The Times of Israel.

Hollywood activism

Over the years, an important part of Ruderman’s activism has focused on Hollywood and the film industry, particularly its representation of people with disabilities and lack of inclusion of disabled actors in leading roles. Ruderman has publicly criticized Hollywood productions, and this has earned him much media coverage.

Most recently, Ruderman publicly criticized the movie Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot for casting Joaquin Phoenix in the role of a disabled man, instead of casting an actor with a disability.[4]

In July 2017, Ruderman similarly condemned[5] the movie Blind starring Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore on grounds that Baldwin played a blind character. Ruderman's main claim is that the movie "is just the latest example of treating disability as a costume."[6][7] He likened the casting of able-bodied actors to portray characters with disabilities to blackface[8] and states that it's time for society to condemn the practice just like casting white actors to play black characters is no longer socially acceptable.[9] The incident led to written exchanges between the movie's director, Michael Mailer, and Ruderman, both published by the industry publication Deadline.com.[10][11]

In response to the release of the 2016 film Me Before You, Ruderman condemned the film's widely criticized portrayal of disability, in which the protagonist–who is paralyzed–ends up committing suicide because he feels his life is not worth living. Ruderman was widely quoted as stating, "To the millions of people with significant disabilities currently leading fulfilling, rich lives, it posits that they are better off committing suicide."[12][13] Ruderman's second major point in this controversy was that it is problematic for an able-bodied actor to play a character with a disabilitiy, a topic he often speaks up about.[14]

In addition to commenting on movie productions, Ruderman has also released two white papers focusing on television content and people with disabilities.

The Ruderman Family Foundation was awarded the 2017 SAG-AFTRA Disability Awareness Award for its work in fighting for self-representation of people with disabilities on screen.

Awards

Jay Ruderman has received numerous awards for his work over the years including:

  • DLC Disability Law Center Edward M. Kennedy Leadership Award (2016)
  • Arc’s Catalyst Award for Foundation Philanthropist of the year (2016)
  • University of Haifa’s degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Honoris Causa (2015)
  • Hebrew College S’fatai Tiftah Award (2015)
  • SAG-AFTRA Disability Awareness Award (2017)

Board memberships

Personal life

Ruderman is married to Israeli-American Shira Menashe Ruderman. They live in the Greater Boston area and have four children.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Negri, Gloria (2011-10-31). "Morton Ruderman, 75; devoted life to helping others". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  2. ↑ "Foundations Should Take a Look at the Largest Poverty Minority. Think Inclusively, Act Inclusively", The Huffington Post, "60 Seconds with Jay Ruderman: The real measure of impact
  3. ↑ "Join Us: "Toward Inclusion: Perspectives on Disability, Social Responsibility, and Belonging"". The Jewish Week | Connecting The World To Jewish News, Culture & Opinion. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  4. ↑ "Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot’ Casting Slammed as Offensive by Ruderman Disability Foundation" IndieWire. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  5. ↑ "Alec Baldwin Criticized for Portraying Blind Man in Upcoming Film". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  6. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (2017-07-06). "Disability Organization Slams 'Blind' for Casting Alec Baldwin in Lead Role". Variety. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  7. ↑ "Today in Entertainment: Blue Ivy makes her rap debut on Jay-Z's new album; Angela Lansbury, Emily Watson to star in 'Little Women'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  8. ↑ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (2017-07-06). "How Alec Baldwin's casting in Blind is part of a catch-22 for disabled actors". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  9. ↑ Dry, Jude. "Alec Baldwin's New Movie 'Blind' Criticized By Disability Rights Group | IndieWire". www.indiewire.com. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  10. ↑ Mailer, Michael (2017-07-14). "'Blind' Director Addresses Backlash Over Casting Alec Baldwin And Not Disabled Actor In Lead Role". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  11. ↑ Ruderman, Jay (2017-07-18). "'Blind' Movie: Ruderman Foundation Responds To Director Over Alec Baldwin Casting Flap". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  12. ↑ "'Me Before You' director responds to controversy over film's ending". Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  13. ↑ "The director of Me Before You is #sorrynotsorry about its controversial ending". Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  14. ↑ "Why are we OK with disability drag in Hollywood?". Los Angeles Times. 2016-07-11. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  15. ↑ Linde, Steve (September 29, 2016). "Jerusalem Post 50 Most Influential Jews: Number 46". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.