Loreen Arbus, producer, writer, author, and disability rights activist, will be honored with this year’s Disability Rights Advocates’ Eagle Award in recognition of her outstanding advocacy and commitment to the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities.
The award will be presented at the Disability Rights Advocates’ annual Gala on Monday, October 21st, at the American Museum of Natural History. On the following night, Tuesday, October 22nd, Ms. Arbus will return as a Gala Co-Chair of the Women’s Media Center’s 2019 Women’s Media Awards at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.
Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), founded in 1993, is the leading national nonprofit disability rights legal center. Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities nationwide. DRA represents people with the full spectrum of disabilities in complex, system-changing, class action cases. Thanks to DRA’s precedent-setting work, people with disabilities across the country have dramatically improved access to health care, employment, transportation, education, disaster preparedness planning, voting, housing, and juvenile justice.
“Every year, DRA celebrates outstanding advocates for the disability community who champion our shared vision of equal opportunities for all,” says Kate Hamilton, DRA’s Managing Director of Development & Operations. "DRA’s Eagle Awardees are individuals, organizations, and corporations who model and promote disability inclusion and integration. We are thrilled to have an opportunity, in 2019, to honor Loreen Arbus. Loreen’s work on behalf of people with disabilities through United Cerebral Palsy (founded by her parents), The Loreen Arbus Foundation, Loreen Arbus Productions, and more has positively impacted the lives of so many. We look forward to celebrating Loreen and our other 2019 Eagle Awardees on October 21st at the American Museum of Natural History."
The Women's Media Center's (WMC) 2019 Women’s Media Awards recognize and honor game-changers for women in media. Loreen Arbus will be returning as a Gala Co-Chair of the event for the 10th consecutive year. The Women’s Media Center, founded in 2005 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem, is a progressive, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to raise the visibility, viability, and decision-making power of women and girls in media and, thereby, ensuring that their stories get told and their voices are heard.
The WMC Loreen Arbus Journalism Program, started by her in 2015, supports the research and writing of commissioned articles for the WMC focusing on different aspects of crucial issues affecting women with disabilities and thereby raising the media presence, voice, advocacy, and experiences of differently-abled women. To date, thirty-three articles have been published.
“Loreen Arbus navigates the world with true integrity and uses her platform to elevate the voices and views of women with disabilities,” says Julie Burton, President of the Women’s Media Center. “She made history as the first woman to head up programming for a major cable network and is helping write the history of differently-abled women through the WMC Loreen Arbus Journalism Project. We are proud to partner with this visionary and inclusive leader.”
