Mitsubishi Electric: Changes for the Better

Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation

MEAFnet

2008

• Athlete and Advocate Tatyana McFadden
• Mitsubishi Electric Intern Hopes to Help Others
• Paralympics, Law School, and Disability Advocacy Ahead for Former Congressional Intern
• Making a difference -- one starfish at a time
• MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern Joins Senate Staff
• Inclusive Crew named Project of the Year
• Include All Girls Initiative

Athlete and Advocate Tatyana McFadden

posted November 14, 2008
Wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden of Clarksville, MD really showed her stuff at the Paralympic games in Beijing this summer, winning 3 silver medals in the 200m, 400m and 800m, and a bronze medal in the 4 x 100m relay.

But in addition to being a world class athlete, Tatyana is also a world class disability rights advocate. She was recently featured in the Girl Scouts of the USA Leader magazine, along with the MEAF-funded Include ALL Girls initiative. A former Girl Scout, Tatyana recently spoke to 600 Girl Scout leaders gathered at their annual National Meeting stating, “Sport is my passion, paving access for others is my purpose.”

As one Council CEO commented after hearing Tatyana speak: “The message of the critical importance of full inclusion was imbedded in every word Tatyana spoke and in the conversations between participants that followed.” This CEO now feels empowered to include all girls in scouting.

While in high school, Tatyana took on the Maryland school system in court, winning the right for her and her fellow athletes to compete with their peers in school track events. As she starts her freshman year at the University of Illinois, she will continue to sprint ahead as a disability rights advocate.

Mitsubishi Electric Intern Hopes to Help Others

posted September 26, 2008
Elaine Touch is the second participant in Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA’s summer internship program for young people with disabilities.

Elaine, a native of Long Beach CA, graduated in May from California State University Long Beach with a degree in Sociology. She spent the summer working in the MEUS Corporate Communications department, where she gained experience in customer care, research, and public relations.

“I loved it,” she said of her internship. “I learned how this company sees people with disabilities as ordinary people, not someone to be treated differently.”

Elaine, who was born with cerebral palsy, has never considered disability as an obstacle to realizing her career goals. Now that her internship has ended, she would like to pursue positions in public relations or communications. But her long-term goal is to work with students with disabilities on college campuses -- to help give others the kind of positive experience she was lucky to have. Elaine describes college as a transforming experience, in which she learned to feel proud of herself as a person with a disability, thanks to strong support from her university’s Disabled Student Services.

“I want to be in a job where I connect with people on a daily basis. I love to help people.”

As Elaine’s internship comes to a close, we at MEAF would like to thank her for raising disability awareness among our colleagues and demonstrating the abilities of people with disabilities. Elaine will continue to be connected to Mitsubishi Electric through serving on the MEAF Inclusion Task Force—a volunteer group that is helping to promote MEAF’s mission of helping young people with disabilities to be fully included in society.

Paralympics, Law School, and Disability Advocacy Ahead for Former Congressional Intern

posted July 30, 2008
Beth Kolbe, a former MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern, has an exciting year ahead of her. The Harvard graduate and champion athlete qualified for the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team, and she’ll be going to Beijing for the Paralympic Games in September. She will also be starting law school at Stanford, but has deferred enrolling until 2009 in order to compete in the Games.

In the summer of 2006, Beth served as a MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern in the Capitol Hill office of Senator John Kerry. When she returned to Harvard to complete her studies, Sen. Kerry invited her to work in his Boston district office.

The internship had a big impact on Beth, who has been quadriplegic since a spinal cord injury at the age of 14. In a recent interview in Disability Issues newsletter commented, “Professionally, it made me much more interested in politics. It was an eye opener that there are so many details…so many different policy areas that have to be taken care of….Bouncing ideas off the other interns and learning from them was a really wonderful experience. And we were able to meet a lot of leaders in the disability community. My generation grew up with the ADA so it’s easy to take it for granted. Learning from the people who did have to fight…was empowering.”

One of her most memorable experiences as an intern was being able to join Senator Kerry on the Senate floor during the stem cell bill debate. She was then profiled in a front-page story in the Boston Globe.

Beth’s career ambitions were directly influenced by her experience on the Hill. “I definitely want to work in the disability field, whether through health care policy or disability law. I can see myself working in politics, being a lawyer or working in an academic setting on health policy issues.”

But for right now, she’s concentrating on making a splash in Beijing!

Making a difference -- one starfish at a time

posted July 29, 2008
P.J. Wehrwein, a 15-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, was recently featured in an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about a group of teenagers on a Mississippi River expedition.

"It is kind of liberating to leave my cell phone on my bedside table," said P.J., who has cerebral palsy and is a member of Wilderness Inquiry’s Adventure Leadership Program (ALP).

ALP, an outgrowth of the three-year, MEAF-funded Beyond Special Populations initiative, is a leadership development program for youth aged 13-18. P.J. and other ALPers (as they call themselves) leave the comforts of home to join – and eventually lead – wilderness adventure trips throughout the year. One of the program’s unique elements is that it engages youth of all abilities and experience levels.

P.J. recently spoke at MEAF’s Annual Workshop in Long Beach, CA, and told the audience of Mitsubishi Electric executives and employees about the difference ALP has made in his life. He then presented a Wilderness Inquiry award of appreciation to Akira Tasaki, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics (USA) Inc. and President of the MEAF Board of Directors. As P.J. made his presentation in perfectly pronounced Japanese, ending with “Domo arigato” (“many thanks”), the audience broke into applause.

Following the Workshop, P.J.’s mother wrote to MEAF: “I believe this trip had a profound impact on this wonderful young man...Simply put, P.J.’s experience with Wilderness Inquiry and Mitsubishi will be hard to beat. An incredible difference has been made with this one starfish. I feel truly proud and happy.”

Through ALP and its other programs, Wilderness Inquiry is helping to promote the full inclusion of young people with disabilities and to develop the potential of young leaders like P.J. We at MEAF can only say, “Domo arigato!”

Read the Star Tribune article at www.startribune.com/local/25922459.html

MEAF-AAPD Congressional Intern Joins Senate Staff

posted March 07, 2008
Stacy Cervenka was once an intern in the office of Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS). Now she serves as a Legislative Assistant on the Senator’s staff.

Stacy owes her spot on Capitol Hill to the MEAF-AAPD Congressional Internship Program, which places outstanding college students with disabilities in internships on Capitol Hill each summer. The program provides opportunities for the students to learn about the policy-making process, and for Congressional Offices to see people with disabilities as independent and capable individuals. Stacy participated in the Internship class of 2004, and was then offered a full-time position.

When she isn’t working on policy issues for the Senator, Stacy, who is blind, leads tours of the U.S. Capitol. "My big fear was that I would point to a vending machine and be like, `And this is a picture of George Washington,'" Stacy said in an interview with Roll Call.

The Internship Program, entering its seventh year, counts many other successes, including having one Senator remodel his office after realizing wheelchairs could not be accommodated.

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