Latest in Ruderman Family Foundation

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Entertainment has become the fourth major studio to sign the Ruderman Family Foundation's pledge to audition actors with disabilities for each of its new productions. The Foundation says that SPE's commitment also furthers its campaign to continue to improve the portrayal of disabilities in…

EXCLUSIVE: In advance of Sunday's Oscars, the Ruderman Family Foundation has given a $1 million grant to the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to advance its diversity and inclusion efforts with respect to people with disabilities. The Ruderman Foundation is one of the nation's…

EXCLUSIVE: Disability rights group the Ruderman Family Foundation has honored the final season of the Will & Grace revival as well as Fear the Walking Dead, Sex Education, Emmerdale and Call the Midwife with the latest round of recipients for the Seal of Authentic Representation. "After witnessing significant progress…

NBCUniversal has committed to audition actors with disabilities with each new studio production, joining the roster of organizations pledging to follow guidelines created by the Ruderman Family Foundation to make film and TV more inclusive. "NBCUniversal remains committed to creating content that authentically…

When it comes to the conversation of diversity and inclusion in Hollywood, representation of the disabled community is becoming more and more front and center. Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer has joined the Ruderman Family Foundation to call on the film and TV industry to increase the casting of people with disab…

EXCLUSIVE: Ruderman Family Foundation has unveiled its latest "Seal of Authentic Representation" honors which recognizes films and television series which demonstrate a commitment toward full inclusiveness in popular culture. The disability rights organization is honoring This Is Us, See, Atypical, Spare Room and The P…

In a new study commissioned by the Ruderman Family Foundation, it was revealed that 22% of all characters with disabilities on network television and 20% of such characters on streaming services are portrayed authentically by an actor with the same disability. This is good news as it shows a significant boost from the…

Dozens of award-winning actors, writers, directors and producers have signed an open letter to the entertainment industry urging the studios and networks to be more inclusive in the casting of actors with disabilities. Signers include Mark Ruffalo, Norman Lear, Glenn Close, Bryan Cranston, Tony Shaloub, Marlee Matlin…

The Ruderman Family Foundation has honored TV series Ramy and This Close, as well as films, Give Me Liberty and The Peanut Butter Falcon with its Seal of Authentic Representation for accurate depictions of people with disabilities. This is the second time the foundation has awarded its Seal and the first time it has…

A new report finds that while about 20% of Americans have a disability, only 1.7% of all the characters portrayed on TV last season were visibly disabled. The report, from the Ruderman Family Foundation, which advocates for the inclusion of people with disabilities in society, also found that "an astonishing 95% of…

EDITORS NOTE: Over the past two weeks, a controversy has been brewing over the casting of Alec Baldwin as a blind man in the Michael Mailer-directed indie Blind. Led by the Ruderman Foundation — a non-profit that advocates for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of life — the issue was raised …

EDITORS NOTE: Michael Mailer, director of the Alec Baldwin-starring film Blind that opens today, was criticized this month by the nonprofit Ruderman Family Foundation for casting an actor who was not actually blind as the lead. (In the Vertical Entertainment film, Baldwin plays Bill Oakland, a novelist who lost both…