Globehopper: The Sara Ruh Story

Sara Ruh has always had big dreams. Today, she is paid to travel the world to talk about them.

At 21 years of age, Ruh, who has Down syndrome, has appeared on magazine covers, educated legislatures, and effectively advocated for people with a wide array of disabilities around the globe.

“I’ve always had big goals…and I know that I have a lot to offer the world,” she explains, while flashing an infectious smile.

A Hanover resident, Ruh is the official spokesperson for TecAccess, an IT accessibility firm, and is an internationally renowned keynote and inspirational speaker. She has appeared in Fortune Magazine, on the cover of Virginia Business magazine, and is the youngest person to receive Style Weekly´s Top 40 Under 40 Award.

“My disability allows me to see the world differently and with new ideas,” says Ruh, “I help give a voice to others that may not have the ability to speak.”

Having faced challenges and battled misperceptions of what people with disabilities can achieve, Ruh now travels the country and inspires others to follow their own dreams. Not long ago, however, Ruh was told that she should consider collecting shopping carts at a local grocery store as a career path. She knew that this was not what the future held, and instead turned to enthusiastically educating government leaders and corporations about the many benefits of hiring others with disabilities and taking accessibility seriously.

“Please do not look at me and decide that I cannot work because I have a disability. You will be wrong,” she says.

Ruh says that she most enjoys relaying to audiences her inspiring dreams, her experiences transitioning from high school to employment as a person with a disability, as well as her many work and school accolades. For these efforts, she has served as a keynote speaker for disability conferences in Kansas, the kick-off event for the Virginia Special Olympics, National Disability Awareness Month at Walter Reed Medical Hospital, Best Buddies International, and for the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center. She has also traveled to speaking events as far away as Berlin Germany, and has been interviewed for NBC´s People Making a Difference, and participated in feature interviews with SBTV, Wells Fargo, and an Easter Seals commercial with the Mayor of Jacksonville.

In addition, Sara is actively pursuing her interests in dance and theatre, performing in a number of productions, and she is instrumental in Special Olympics Cheerleading. When not speaking and inspiring others she helps others, as Sara volunteers her time as a representative for Best Buddies International and at Henrico Doctor´s Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.

“I want to make a difference in the world,” concludes Ruh, “and I believe that the world is a better place because I am part of it.”