Whale fin dipping down with the words "Audience Honor" in yellow bold and capital letters.
Gold triangle with white letters that read, "Anthem Awards 2022 Winner"

2021 Audience Honors Shorty Award in Facebook Live Category

2022 Gold Anthem Award in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion - Community Outreach

About the ADA
Event Information
Show Highlights

ADA30 Lead On was established for the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Our goal is to continue to bring recognition to the history, impact, and purpose of the ADA through celebrations of diverse disabled artists, innovators, and advocates and their allies.
At this time in our nation’s collective conscience, we are asked to confront the harsh realities that are residual echoes of the American ”dream.” As in every social justice movement in this nation, the Disability Rights Movement was born out of the unfulfilled parts of America's potential and it's unrealized an inaccessible dream. Whether it be for suffragists, Freedom Riders, Stonewall rioters, Feminists, each arose as a response and appeal to the nation - “Do better. BE better.” However, even in those movements, the roles of ableism and racism were and are quite prevalent. That simple truth is what makes these ADA Lead On celebrations even more significant.
ADA30 Logo

Image description: Two gold comedy and tragedy masks with red and blue accessible (lip-readable) PPE face masks show the smile of comedy and the frown of tragedy, next to a paintbrush that is creating musical staff, and silhouette of Alice Sheppard, a dancer using a wheelchair. The words “ADA30 Lead On” appear prominently at the top. At the bottom, the text continues, “Celebration of Disability Arts, Culture, Education & Pride.”

In Case You Missed It

ADA31 Lead On - CELEBRIZE! Celebrate & Recognize Non-Apparent Disabilities!

View the archive of event here

Theme: Non-Apparent Disabilities & Stigma Busting, a 90-minute virtual festival to celebrate, educate and take ownership of the experience people with non-apparent disabilities face.

From the Production Team of: ADA30 Lead On: Celebration of Disability Arts, Culture, Education & Pride - 2021 Audience Honors Shorty Award Winner with over 112,000 impressions; National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in October 2020; Black Future Month: Legacy, Present & Afro-Futurism in March 2021.

25% of Americans have disabilities; 2% authentic disability representation; 1% disabled writers in the Writers Room - 100% cast, crew and social media teams of ADA Lead On productions identify as disabled or Deaf. Tari Hartman Squire and Danny Woodburn, producers; Anita Cameron, Consulting Producer for ADA31 Lead On and as social media coordinator.

Thanks to our initial investors - ComcastNBCUniversal Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Facebook, Sony Pictures Entertainment and ViacomCBS.

Two gold comedy and tragedy masks with red and blue accessible (lip-readable) PPE face masks show the smile of comedy and the frown of tragedy, next to a paintbrush that is creating musical staff. The words “ADA31 Lead On” appear prominently at the top. At the bottom, the text continues, “Celebrize! Celebrate & Recognize Non-Apparent Disabilities.” Thank you Dan Wilkins for this great logo.

Image description: Two gold comedy and tragedy masks with red and blue accessible (lip-readable) PPE face masks show the smile of comedy and the frown of tragedy, next to a paintbrush that is creating musical staff. The words “ADA31 Lead On” appear prominently at the top. At the bottom, the text continues, “Celebrize! Celebrate & Recognize Non-Apparent Disabilities.” Thank you Dan Wilkins for this great logo.

African American woman wearing a blue head scarf and red lipstick, smiling at the camera.

"It is beautiful to see amazingly talented people with disabilities: visible and invisible, climbing up in the media industry. What’s more impressive is our community being an ongoing inspiration for others to follow. My motto is, give others the motivation to turn dreams into reality.”

-Trelanda R. Lowe “Tree”, Post Production Supervisor and Editor

Caucasian man with a brown beard wears a blue shirt with a badass expression glares into the camera.

“I think of the ADA as an incredible foundation of needed change for people with disability. That foundation is being built upon every year it is in existence by our community. The strength of it supports our progress, our perseverance, and the power of our united voice.”

-Danny Woodburn

Caucasian woman with dark brown hair, pink blouse and dark suit smile into the camera.

"26% of the population – 2% of media – 100% cast and crew of ADA30 Lead On and NDEAM. Media professionals with disabilities own this narrative – In front of and behind the camera. A real gamechanger."

-Tari Hartman Squire

Click any of the buttons below to view shows from the
ADA Lead On Productions series

ADA30 Lead On: Celebration of Disability Art, Culture, Education & Pride

Click Here to View the Show

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)

Click Here to View the Show

Black Future Month: Legacy, Present, and Afro-Futurism (BFM)

Click to View Episode One
Click to View Episode Two
Click to View Episode Three
Disability Rights 3

Image description: Photo by Tom Olin, The Olin Collection group of disabled activists using wheelchairs are watching another activist take a sledge hammer to the curb at the Hollywood Walk of Fame to create a curb cut.

Lead Sponsor

In addition to AT&T as Lead Sponsor for both ADA30 Lead On and NDEAM, its Disability Employee Resource Group Ability is also engaged with an important message about mental health and suicide prevention in the workplace.

Gold Sponsor

Colorful letters spell out Google.,
Other sponsors include

Comcast NBCUniversal; Telemundo; Easterseals Disability Film Challenge; EIN SOF Communications; The Foundation for Global Sports Development & Sidewinder Films; Kessler Foundation; Meta (Facebook); Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation; PolicyWorks; Sony Pictures; TransCen/Mid-Atlantic ADA Center; and Wells Fargo.

Partners

Black Hollywood Education & Resource Center (BHERC); Be Influential Films; Blaq Gurl Fya; Bourgeois Magazine LA; Bridge Multimedia; Bus Door; Dreaming Big on a Swing Entertainment; EIN SOF Communications; Exceptional Minds; Fashionably Tardy; Fun4The Disabled; Interpret This!; KripHop Nation; Lights! Camera! Access!; michaels.adams.; Michigan Disability Rights Coalition; Mulberry Tree Group; SignWorld Studios; SoulFul Media Works; 3 Play Media; Visionaries of the Creative Arts (VOCA); and Woman of Her Word.

Lead On: The Life and Legacy of Justin Dart

"I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all."

-Justin Dart

Read more on the life of Justin Dart

Disability Talent Resources

Six multicolor triangular shaped objects point into a circle, representing the six areas of media – television, film, advertising, news, theatre and interactive Underneath, the words Lights! Camera! Access! appear in blue font.

Lights! Camera! Access! (LCA) has three objectives – 1) to increase disability employment in front of and behind the camera/keyboard across delivery platforms – TV, films, advertising, news, theatre, and interactive; 2) to improve disability portrayals and; 3) ensure access to media through captions and audio descriptions.

Website:
EINSOFcommunications.com

White letters appear on a black background: “Black Future Month: Legacy, Present & Afro-Futurism.” There is a yellow glow emanating from the word “Afro-Futurism” that is more bold and thicker that the other letters. Above Black Future Month is the ADA30 Lead On logo: Gold comedy and tragedy masks with red and blue accessible (lip-readable) PPE face masks show the smile of comedy and the frown of tragedy, next to a paintbrush that is creating a musical staff, and silhouette of Alice Sheppard, a Black dancer using a wheelchair. The text continues with “Presents’ in red letters. In front of Black Future Month is a Black Power fist with a Black stylized wheelchair user wearing a face visor, fist raised, leaning forward on the seat of a futuristic mobility device not propelled by wheels.

Visit the creators celebrated in this production and more from the Black Deaf and disability community at their new home.

Website:
Black-Future-Month.org

A representation of the letters D and A made up of geometric shapes that are different shades of blue.

DisArt believes that expressions of a Disabled cultural identity can transform society from awareness to understanding to belonging, creating a community that enjoys the full and equitable participation of all Disabled people.

Website:
https://www.disartnow.org/

In between two laurel branches, appears a PPE mask with the words Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Home Edition.

The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is a weekend-long filmmaking contest, originally launched in 2014 by actor, now also ESSC Board Member, Nic Novicki. Open to all, the challenge provides a platform for new voices in the entertainment industry.

Website:
disabilityfilmchallenge.com