Fw: National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 'Add Us In' and Business Recognition

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FYI

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

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National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 'Add Us In' and

Business Recognition

Disabilities At Work Newsletter - October 2011

_______________________________________________________

The Disabilities At Work newsletter is provided six times

per year to Human Resource professionals and others as

a source of information regarding the issues surrounding

employment of qualified people with disabilities.

The newsletter is provided in conjunction with the

Disabilities At Work Radio program which is heard each

Wednesday at noon eastern time on VoiceAmerica’s

Business Network.

This newsletter is made possible by a generous grant

from the Kessler Foundation: www.kesslerfoundation.org

DAW Radio is made available to individuals with hearing loss by:

Karasch & Associates www.karasch.com (800-621-5689)

and by ASL Interpreter Referral Service: www.aslirs.com (800-275-7551)

Post jobs or look for qualified individuals with disabilities

at http://www.AccessibleEmployment.org

To see the full newsletter, go to

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html

This issue features:

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INVESTING IN WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES

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October is National Disability Employement Awareness Month. The U.S.

Department of Labor, which oversees this national campaign, made

the theme for this year “Profit by Investing in Workers with

Disabilities,” and says the theme helps promote the valuable

contributions people with disabilities make to America’s

workplace and economy.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article1

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BUSINESS MAKES THE CASE

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Business makes the most compelling case for hiring people with

disabilities, according to Cecelia of the U.S. Small

Business Administration (SBA) in a recent blog. Calling the

disabled an “overlooked talent pool,” she recommends hiring

managers check out Business Case for Hiring People with

Disabilities at www.askearn.org. She also suggests success

stories at www.disability.gov and case studies at

www.worksupport.com - all of which lay out the positive results

companies experience hiring people with disabilities.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article2

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GENERATING GOODWILL

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Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165

community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with 14

affiliates in 13 other countries.

For decades, Goodwill agencies throughout North America have

trained and hired people with disabilities to work in its stores,

donation centers and career centers. Here are two examples shared

in a recent Goodwill news release:

Ralph Poland suffered two strokes during open heart surgery.

Doctors were not sure if he would ever walk again. Ralph was

referred to Goodwill NeuroRehabilitation Services. He started

home therapy and later received physical, occupational and speech

therapies.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article3

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ADDING TO “ADD US IN”

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Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis recently announced over $2

million would be awarded as part of a second round of funding for

the “Add Us In” initiative which began last year.

The goal of " Add Us In " is to identify and develop strategies

that will increase the capacity of small businesses and

communities to employ youth and young adults with disabilities.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article4

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INFORMATION ON HIRING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

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Disability.gov offers employers information on topics such as

recruiting and hiring, interviewing and employment laws and

regulations.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article5

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DESERVING BUSINESSES TO BE RECOGNIZED

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Disabilities At Work has launched an initiative to recognize

businesses that support people with disabilities.

Through this program, community service providers, affiliates of

the USBLN, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools

and school districts, or similar entities that work with, or on

behalf of, people with disabilities can endorse a business that

supports the disabled community either through hiring practices

or philanthropy.

The endorsed business can then display the unique Disabilities At

Work logo for all of its customers to see.

To endorse a business, simply go to the Disabilities At Work

website, register as an agency and begin endorsing your deserving

business partners. Businesses should connect with their agency

partners and ask them to do the same. The first round of “honor

roll” of businesses will be announced nationally at the end of

October.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article6

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PROTESTING CUTS

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Cutting Medicaid as part of President Obama’s debt reduction plan

would be “catastrophic” according to disability-rights advocates

protesting at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on September 21.

The story, reported by Debbie Siegelbaum of The Hill, quoted

Sadowski of land as saying that “states are cutting

Medicaid, and federal cuts on top of state cuts would be

catastrophic.”

President Obama’s debt-reduction plan proposed to cut $3 trillion

in spending over the next decade, with about $580 billion of that

coming from cuts to entitlement programs.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article7

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A DEAL NO CEO CAN REFUSE

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Deborah Kendrick, writing in the Columbus Post Dispatch said the

unemployment rate for people with disabilities was “a whopping

70% and holding,” and she blamed a “wrongheaded bias that

disability impedes productivity.”

Kendrick was writing a profile about a unique employment agency

run by Joyce Bender, a local search firm executive who joined the

ranks of America's disabled population when she was diagnosed

with epilepsy in 1985.

Bender Consulting Services opened in 1995 and it concentrates

exclusively on job seekers with disabilities, placing them in the

industries of software development, finance, human resources,

communications and more. Kendrick calls her success rate “nothing

short of dazzling.”

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article8

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TV IGNORES DISABILITIES

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Of the 647 characters appearing regularly this year on the major

television networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC), just five

have disabilities. That’s down by one from last year.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article9

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A WINTER OF HOPE

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As October dawns, the most popular movie in America is “Dolphins

Tale” based on a true story about Winter, a 3-month old

bottleneck dolphin who was successfully treated for a

life-threatening infection at the Clearwater Florida Marine

Aquarium in 2005.

The infection, however, claimed the mammal’s tail. To ensure the

dolphin could continue to swim and negotiate its way through the

water, the staff at Clearwater created a silicone prosthetic tale

for the dolphin.

Now it turns out that Winter, who plays herself in the movie, is

becoming an inspiration for people – especially children - with

disabilities.

Read more at:

http://www.disabilitiesatwork.org/daw-newsletter.html#Article10

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