Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/dpn/
and
The Burton Blatt Institute
Syracuse University
http://bbi.syr.edu
One–Stop Toolkit
Resources of the Week Technical Assistance Project E–Mail listserv
14 September 2007
Good morning everyone,
Below please find the web site and publication of the week, as well as other resources that we hope will be useful as you work on systems change activities to help improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
To subscribe and / or view past resources of the week archives, access: www.onestoptoolkit.org and click on the link to "Resources of the Week" on the right hand side of the home page.
To view an indexed list of the resources of the week by subject matter, visit the L.P.H.D.C. web site at http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/resources/wig/default.asp. It currently includes 20 categories, covering over 300 annotated references. Each category opens to a new window with each Resource of the Week which covered material in that area.
Have a good day and weekend!
Laura (Farah) Gleneck
Program Associate
Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
P: 617–489–0086
F: 617–489–1374
[ E–mail Lgleneck@mail.law.uiowa.edu ]
[ E–mail LFarah8@aol.com ]
[ http://www.onestoptoolkit.org ]
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (http://www.dol.gov/odep/faqs/ndeam.htm) and Disability Mentoring Day (http://www.dmd-aapd.org/). It is not too early to start planning an event or activity that you can launch in October to add to the collective efforts that will take place across the country. Particularly consider how you can participate in National Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) on October 17!!
Navigators, it is that time of year again to start preparing for the 2007 National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Disability Mentoring Day. Over the years, DOL and LHPDC have been really inspired by the different activities and events communities have planned to raise awareness during these national annual events.
Here are some more resources to consider from the Institute for a Competitive Workplace on Dispelling the Myths about Workers with Disabilities to help you as you plan activities. Remember, let us know what activities you are planning this year for NDEAM and we will produce a chart that incorporates the activities and events you have planned for October and circulate it among the projects. If you would like to receive a copy of a chart that highlights what many DPNs did for last year’s celebration (you may get some ideas of different things that you can implement in your area) and/or to submit your activities and events for this year, please send an e-mail to laura-farah@uiowa.edu.
Did you know that almost 1 in 5 working age Americans (age 16-64) have at least one disability? According to the 2000 U.S. Census, that's 33.2 million people! The numbers are staggering, yet individuals with disabilities remain a relatively untapped source of workers. With worker and skill shortages all across the country, employers are realizing that workers with disabilities could help alleviate the strain.
This October, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) encourages your organization to become more involved in National Disability Employment Awareness Month—a national effort to increase the public's awareness of the contributions and skills of American workers with disabilities. Below are some tools and resources to assist your company in getting more involved:
To help you begin to spread the message, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy has copies of the 2007 National Disability Employment Awareness Month poster available, which depict this year’s theme, Workers with Disabilities: Talent for a Winning Team. In addition to its representation of the national NDEAM theme, this poster is popular throughout the year in connection with events that foster employment opportunities for workers with disabilities.
The print copy of this poster is available in either a 20” x 30” and/or a 10” x 15” size. Please send your request to E–mail NDEAM@dol.gov. You may also download a PDF version of the 2007 poster from the website at http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/ndeam07.htm
We look forward to learning how your community will be celebrating NDEAM and DMD this year!
Applications due: December 21, 2007
Do you wish your collaborative efforts were more effective in meeting the transportation needs of people with disabilities? The 2008 Mobility Planning Services Institute can provide the tools you need if your community is ready to:
Gather some of the key players in your community who represent disability and transportation organizations and bring them to Easter Seals Project ACTION's Mobility Planning Services Institute taking place April 21-24, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
Twenty teams will be selected from across the U.S. They will travel to Washington, D.C., to convene at the Renaissance Washington Hotel to share information and strategies to improve access to transportation services in their communities. Teams are comprised of three to five leaders from the disability world and transportation industry in their communities. You are encouraged to begin assembling your team right away, referring to the application guidelines related to team membership, and give thoughtful consideration to the questions that are asked.
There is no registration fee for MPS, and ESPA will reimburse participants for hotel accommodations, ground and air transportation, and meals not included during scheduled activities.
Examples of how past participants have taken action on the
plans developed at MPS were featured the December 2006 and
August 2007 issues of the Project ACTION Update newsletter.
[ http://www.easterseals.com/site/R?i=ZXhV6_rzdxC0_2qiMeb1sw ]
[ http://www.easterseals.com/site/R?i=xhN2IKUD77fz3Q1tjGgGaQ ]
Details, including the online application form and instructions, are on the ESPA Web site.
[ http://www.easterseals.com/site/R?i=9g7ZYtkoJNdu_QS_xwsHbw ]
[ Get free Adobe Reader ]
[ Get free Word Viewer ]
[ Get Microsoft Office C.D., free trial, S / H applies ]
This is an informative and concise (9-page) guidebook from renowned speaker/author Richard Pimentel. It covers the basic legal and practical considerations that people with disabilities need to consider as they determine how an when to disclose their disability to an employer.
Did you know that almost 1 in 5 working age Americans (age 16-64) have at least one disability? According to the 2000 U.S. Census, that's 33.2 million people! The numbers are staggering, yet individuals with disabilities remain a relatively untapped source of workers. With worker and skill shortages all across the country, employers are realizing that workers with disabilities could help alleviate the strain.
This October, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) encourages your organization to become more involved in National Disability Employment Awareness Month—a national effort to increase the public's awareness of the contributions and skills of American workers with disabilities. Below are some tools and resources to assist your company in getting more involved:
Ann O'Hara, Technical Assistance Collaborative, explains Low Income Housing Tax Credits and provides examples of collaboratives working to make housing developments affordable for very low income people with disabilities.
[The following is excerpted from the website. Access the URL to link to the PDF version of the data report.]
People with disabilities are disproportionately poor. When a 2004 Harris survey asked people with and without disabilities to pick the income category best describing their total 2003 household income, their responses revealed that 26 percent of those with disabilities were likely to have household incomes of $15,000 or less, compared to 9 percent of other Americans.
This AARP Public Policy Institute Data Digest analyzes income sources for people age 50 to 64 with work disabilities, highlighting the distribution of these individuals and the distribution of their major income sources by gender and race/ethnic group.
Data used in the report are based on the U. S. Census Bureau's March 2005 Current Population Survey.
The National Center on Workforce and Disability/Adult has developed a website that users can use to locate projects across the US that have received grants to test new strategies to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
[The following is excerpted from the Executive Summary.]
This retrospective study and review provides a snapshot of the impact the ADA has had on the lives of Americans with disabilities over the past sixteen years. Specifically:
[The following is excerpted from the Executive Summary.]
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been a catalyst for significant progress in bringing about equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. It has spurred increased architectural accessibility, particularly in newly constructed buildings and facilities, an increase in accessible fixed-route public transportation in most locales, and readily available telecommunications services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Some effective responses to certain implementation issues can be considered best practices and can serve as models.
The other side of the picture depicts areas where it has been very difficult to bring about full or even partial implementation of the law by covered entities, and where a gap in expectations between people with disabilities and covered entities remains or has even widened. These intractable pockets of resistance to implementation exist under various titles of the ADA and can be either specific or broad in their scope. One example in the area of transportation is that stop announcements on public fixed-route bus systems remain inconsistent. A broader example under Title III is the ongoing widespread lack of implementation among such small businesses as restaurants, hotels, medical offices, and retail establishments.
Without minimizing the successes that have been achieved since the ADA ’s enactment in 1990, it is evident that progress cannot continue without addressing the underlying reasons some areas remain intractable and where the law has been implemented either sporadically or not at all. On one level, underlying factors such as a lack of appropriate and consistently available information and education about the ADA , cost concerns, and limited enforcement underlie virtually all the problem areas. On a deeper level, however, intractability in any given area or on any given issue seems to occur when these factors interact with one another and augment the already powerful stereotype that people with disabilities are fundamentally and deeply incapable and, of necessity, live lives that are separate from the rest of the population.
This is exemplified by indifferent voluntary compliance by smaller Title III entities with narrower profit margins when their concern about the potential cost of access combines with a perceived lack of information, uncertainty about achieving technical ADA compliance, and inadequate Federal Government enforcement. The prevalence of businesses operating in inaccessible buildings and not accommodating patrons makes it difficult for people with disabilities to go out and about, and participate and function in their communities. This, in turn, fuels widespread lack of awareness about disability in general and fosters a lack of knowledge about the extent to which disability is pervasive in the communities that businesses and other entities serve. Such lack of awareness perpetuates the view that people with disabilities do not represent a potential customer or client base and the attitude that “I don’t have customers who need accommodation.”
The same deeply embedded stereotype arguably is behind limitations placed on the law by decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ADA has produced mixed results in employment, in part because the Court has narrowed the definition of disability, thus denying civil rights protections to some people with disabilities who encounter workplace discrimination or who could increase their work performance with an accommodation. These cases, in combination with another Supreme Court decision that has placed limits on the circumstances under which attorneys can recover fees when they represent clients in discrimination cases under Title III of the ADA, has made it more difficult for people with disabilities to obtain representation, curtailing a major enforcement tool of the law.
While the recommendations that ultimately arose out of a national ADA stakeholder dialogue, research, and identified best practices might differ in detail and in target audience, they all seek to or actually do redress one or more of the underlying factors impeding implementation of the law. Taken together, the recommendations advocate for increasing the ready availability of ADA information, education, and technical assistance to all covered entities and people with disabilities; creating financial incentives and developing cost-sharing measures; or strengthening federal and private enforcement measures.
Disability community stakeholders recognized the need to break the cycle created by false assumptions and gaps in information, perceived implementation costs, and weak enforcement that perpetuates areas that have been intractable to implementation. The ADA ’s goal of promoting full community participation cannot be achieved without eliminating the perception that people with disabilities are a wholly separate group that exists functionally, practically, and conceptually apart from the rest of the population. The great attraction of the paradigm, referred to by some as universality and closely aligned with the movement for universal design, is that it envisions a physical, social, and economic environment that is designed for the entire range of human function, and this ideal transcends virtually every aspect of ADA implementation.
Many stakeholders recognized the active interface between the media and public perception, especially when stereotypes are involved. Moreover, public perception of the ADA has been greatly influenced by negative media portrayals that generally misrepresent the intent of the law and that recently have focused on the motives of individuals who bring multiple access lawsuits, rather than on the impact of successful ADA implementation. The disability community and other stakeholders recognized that this longstanding problem calls for a robust and creative strategy that will change the direction of reporting on the ADA and will use the media to correct rather than perpetuate stereotypes.
This report covers the period from October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006 and contains selected measures of agencies’ progress toward model equal employment opportunity programs, including workforce profiles of 59 federal agencies. The report finds that the federal workforce participation rate for individuals with targeted disabilities (such as deafness, blindness, paralysis, intellectual disabilities, and mental illness) continues to fall. Findings include the following:
A paper prepared by Jobs For The Future for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) profiles programs and partnerships that demonstrate ETA’s strategic vision for serving the neediest youth. The profiles highlight examples of cross-sector collaboration, pathways to credentials for out-of-school youth, increasing out-of-school youth’s numeracy and literacy skills, and using data for program improvement. The paper also incorporates field-based observations that emerged from developing the profiles, including that state and local policies play a key role in advancing quality alternative education and supporting cross-sector collaboration.