Mia
Ives-Rublee

Director, Disability Justice Initiative

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Mia Ives-Rublee is the director for the Disability Justice Initiative at American Progress. Prior to coming to American Progress, she advocated for disability justice and inclusion at nonprofit organizations and businesses across the United States. She has worked with Women’s March, Families Belong Together, DC Action Lab, Adoptees for Justice, Fair Fight, People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation, and numerous other progressive organizations.

Best known for founding the Women’s March Disability Caucus, Ives-Rublee helped organize the original Women’s March on Washington in 2017. The Women’s March was one of the first large-scale events to have certified deaf interpreters on stage. Ives-Rublee’s work pushed for better access to disability accommodations at progressive events and more policy platforms inclusive of the disability community. For her work on the Women’s March, Ives-Rublee was named by Glamour magazine as one of 2017’s Women of the Year Award. She was also recognized by She the People as one of 20 Women of Color in Politics to Watch in 2020 and awarded the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Social Work.

Ives-Rublee worked on several political campaigns during the 2020 cycles. As a North Carolina community regional organizing director for the Elizabeth Warren Campaign for President, she communicated policies and organized events around specific issues affecting the disability and Asian American communities. She volunteered on Warren’s Disability Policy Group, helping shape the Disability Policy Platform and developing the campaign’s private event accessibility toolkit. During the general election, Ives-Rublee worked as the field director for Down Home NC to encourage rural residents to vote. She also worked with the Asian American Advocacy Fund and the Georgia Disability Vote Partnership to help elect Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and the Rev. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) during the 2021 special election.

For six years, Ives-Rublee worked as a vocational counselor at the North Carolina Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services to help disabled people obtain substantial employment and connect with services in their communities. She researched alternative mental health diversion programs at UNC Chapel Hill in 2015 and, in 2017, was the confidential assistant to Commissioner Chai Feldblum at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At the Ford Foundation in 2019, Ives-Rublee created a Disability Inclusion Toolkit for nonprofit organizations.

Ives-Rublee holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in social work from UNC Chapel Hill.

Latest

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A Collaborative Agenda for the Disability and Reproductive Justice Communities in 2023 Fact Sheet
A close-up of the Capitol building

A Collaborative Agenda for the Disability and Reproductive Justice Communities in 2023

The Center for American Progress recently hosted a roundtable of more than 20 advocates from the reproductive and disability rights and justice communities—and has compiled the top five policy priorities important to focus on this year.

Mia Ives-Rublee, Emily DiMatteo, Amina Khalique, 3 More Kierra B. Jones, Anona Neal, Maggie Jo Buchanan

Revolutionizing the Workplace: Why Long COVID and the Increase of Disabled Workers Require a New Approach Report
A doctor holds a patients hand during an appointment.

Revolutionizing the Workplace: Why Long COVID and the Increase of Disabled Workers Require a New Approach

Using new data from the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the impacts of long COVID on the labor market, this report recommends that employers, unions, and policymakers create better workplaces for disabled workers and all workers.

Keeping Americans with disabilities from poverty must remain a priority In the News

Keeping Americans with disabilities from poverty must remain a priority

Mia Ives-Rublee discusses how the Supplemental Security Income program helped her overcome the structural barriers to employment and economic security that millions of disabled people experience and urges lawmakers to strengthen the program.

The Hill

Mia Ives-Rublee

Crossing the Border: How Disability Civil Rights Protections Can Include Disabled Asylum-Seekers Report
The silhouette of a girl walking as the sun rises

Crossing the Border: How Disability Civil Rights Protections Can Include Disabled Asylum-Seekers

Civil rights protections designed to protect disabled people from discrimination, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, are powerful tools for ensuring that disabled asylum-seekers have access to the protection and services they need in the U.S. immigration system.

Trinh Q. Truong, Emily DiMatteo, Mia Ives-Rublee

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