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Join Us: Disability Employment Policy Forum with Assistant Secretary Martinez

Save the Date!

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities

ODEP Update: New Directions for the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the Department of Labor

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Location: Cornell University Government Affairs Office

Hall of States, Room 383-385

444 North Capitol Street, Northwest

Washington, DC 20001

Webinar: This forum will also be available via online webinar and phone.
Please register online for both in-person and webinar attendance at:

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/register/policyforum.cfm

Speakers:

Kathy Martinez, Assistant Secretary, The Office of Disability Employment Policy

Kelly Buckland, Executive Director, The National Council on Independent Living

Paul Tobin, President and CEO, United Spinal Association

Lori Golden, AccessAbilities Leader and Inclusiveness Consultant, Ernst and Young

Topic Overview:

Assistant Secretary Kathleen Martinez will share her vision for the future of disability employment policy and provide an update on some of the Department of Labor's priorities and initiatives in this area under the leadership of Secretary Solis. Following Assistant Secretary Martinez, we will have a panel of reactors including Kelly Buckland, the Executive Director of the National Council on Independent Living; Paul Tobin, the President and CEO of the United Spinal Association; and Lori Golden, AccessAbilities Leader and Inclusiveness Consultant of Ernst & Young. The reactor panel will be followed by plenty of time for Q & A with the audience in the room and online.

Contact:

Erika Eckstrom, Administrative Support Cornell University, Employment and Disability Institute

email: ee224@cornell.edu telephone: (607) 254-8311

We request that you RSVP to ensure adequate seating, security clearance and to request any necessary accommodations.

The content of this forum does not necessarily reflect the policies of the US Dept. of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government (EDGAR, 75.620 (b)).

 

Disability Mentoring Day Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Press Release from AAPD (10/5/09):

 

AAPD’s Disability Mentoring Day Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary
Program promotes career development for students & job seekers with disabilities

WASHINGTON, DC – October 5, 2009 – AAPD’s Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), a large-scale effort to promote career development for nearly 20,000 students and job seekers with disabilities nationwide, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year with the program’s kickoff in Duluth, MN, as well as various activities throughout the U.S.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the largest cross-disability membership organization in the U.S., coordinates the program, which is held annually on the third Wednesday in October in conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

“Employment is the key to economic empowerment for people with disabilities, and for 10 years, Disability Mentoring Day has been connecting employers to job seekers with disabilities while exposing them to a range of career options,” said Andrew Imparato, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. “Disability Mentoring Day is a business-driven program, where DMD employer partners demonstrate their commitment to recruiting and hiring talented people with disabilities.  DMD provides the catalyst for forming mentoring relationships between those employers and students and job seekers with disabilities.”

DMD, which began as a White House initiative with less than three dozen students in 1999, promotes career development through hands-on career exploration and ongoing mentoring relationships. Local DMD programs are created through a network of 350 volunteer DMD Coordinators in all 50 states and 23 foreign countries, who organize mentoring, job fairs or on-site job shadowing between students and job seekers and employers.

Along with 2009 DMD Sponsor and Sponsor of the DMD 2009 National Launch, Wal-mart Stores, Inc., AAPD will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of DMD at the site of our largest rural program in the country, Duluth, MN on Oct. 12 and 13. AAPD is highlighting the Duluth DMD as an example of engaging more than 1,000 youth with disabilities in a one-day career exploration program with an expected 100 national and local employers. In addition to the career fair, AAPD will also host a town hall forum on green jobs with the Minnesota State Council on Disability; special guest Kathy Martinez , Assistant Secretary of the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor; and representatives of the other 2009 DMD national sponsors, including:

DMD Lead Public Sponsor, Social Security Administration; Darden Restaurants, Inc.; Verizon; Job Accommodation Network (JAN); the U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM); the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); Amerigroup; Novartis; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Northrop Grumman; Chartis; and GettingHired.com.

For more information about DMD or to find the local DMD Program in your area, visit www.aapd.com/dmd or e-mail dmd@aapd.com.

Help AAPD Celebrate 10 Years of Disability Mentoring Day with $10!

From AAPD 9/9/09:

Help AAPD Celebrate 10 Years of Disability Mentoring Day with $10!

 

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), a large-scale national effort coordinated by AAPD to promote career development for students and job seekers with disabilities through hands-on career exploration, on-site job shadowing, and ongoing mentoring leading to internship and employment opportunities.

We need your help if we want to continue coordinating national DMD and improve the employment outcomes for people with disabilities  

Here’s an easy way to help. Donate $10 to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of DMD to the AAPD Cause on Facebook or on our website at www.aapd.com and urge your friends and family to do the same. Help us reach our goal of raising $1,000 by October 21, 2009, recognized date for national DMD!

MORE ON DMD:

• DMD connects nearly 20,000 job-seekers with disabilities with thousands of employers in more than 300 locations in every U.S. State and Territory and in more than 24 countries worldwide each year.
• Over 2,000 participating Public and Private Employers hosted mentees at their places of employment, with many continuing the mentoring relationships for long-term periods;
• A grassroots network of more than 350 volunteer Disability Mentoring Coordinators work nationally and internationally to connect their local disability and business communities.

Fore more, visit www.aapd.com.

Just In: AAPD Joins Facebook Causes

From the JFA Moderator:

AAPD recently joined Facebook Causes as a way to get the word out about the disability rights movement and to make it easier for YOU, our dedicated activists, to contribute your support.

Take Action TODAY: Join or Donate to AAPD's Cause on Facebook and share these links with your friends.

>>> To Join the Movement

>>> To Support our Work

MN: NCD Seeking Input on Youth Transition Issues

From NCD (7/6/09):

National Council on Disability to Hear Presentations from Regional Leaders on Transition for Youth with Disabilities

The National Council on Disability (NCD), as part of its 2 ½ day quarterly meeting, will hear presentations and discuss transition for youth with disabilities at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center, 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, MN, from 10:30 a.m. until noon on Tuesday, July 21, 2009. All times are Central Daylight Savings. This meeting is open to the public.

Transition speakers will address Project C³, which has provided resource mapping internships that have assisted over 150 youth with disabilities across Minnesota gain valuable work experience; E-Connect, a modified mentoring program that utilizes electronic communication and occasional face-to-face meetings to connect high school students with employees of local companies that may have a strong technology component in their day to day operations; and Pathways to Employment, which is aimed at increasing competitive employment of people with disabilities. 

Youth transition speakers include:

Alyssa Klein, Transition Specialist, Pathways to Employment and RS/VR Services,

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEEP)

Shauna McDonald, Director, Community Resource Development, PACER Center

Karen Quammen Project Consultant, Pathways to Employment, Minnesota, DEEP

Joe Timmons, Research Fellow, Institute on Community Integration, National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, National Center on Secondary Education and Transition

Specific times are also designated during this quarterly meeting to receive public comment, supported by a toll-free call-in line, and input is encouraged and greatly appreciated. Individuals or organizations can also provide written comments by e-mail at ncd@ncd.gov, by fax at 202-272-2022, or by mail at NCD, 1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850, Washington, DC 20004.

Public comment sessions will be held Monday, July 20, 11:30 a.m. until noon and on Tuesday, July 21, 4:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. The toll-free call-in number is (888) 790-6568, and the pass code is “NCD Meeting.”

The Tuesday afternoon program will conclude with a reception at the hotel that will be open to all meeting attendees. This is an opportunity for guests and stakeholders to meet and interact with NCD Council Members.

The purpose of NCD, an independent federal agency, is to promote programs, practices, policies and procedures that ensure full inclusion of people with disabilities into all aspects of society. NCD accomplishes this mission by providing advice and making recommendations to the President, Congress, governmental agencies, and other stakeholders.

Coming out of the Disability Closet

Thank you Ms. Reeder for this balanced discussion about the tough questions that have been on all our minds. The excerpts below present some of the different perspectives represented in Ms. Reeder's article, but the whole post is worth reading.

Excerpts from GettingHired.com (4/8/09):

Should You Tell, or Not? How? And When? And, What If You Don't? Then What?

By Penny Reeder

The title says it all.  These are the questions that wake people with disabilities up in the middle of the night.  I can remember the what-ifs going round and round inside my head while I wondered if I would ever find a job, and just about every person with a disability I've ever known has wrestled with the likely consequences of these decisions and wondered what to do...

...My friend, Kathi, is legally blind, but she has a lot of useable vision.  In fact, in an earlier era, she would have identified herself as partially sighted, if she mentioned her disability at all. She can read a regular computer screen, and the print in most books.  She can sometimes even read what she or others have written by hand. Still, she is visually impaired, and she cannot see well enough to drive.

She told me that, if she makes it through the initial screening process, she refers, rather obliquely, to her disability when she's talking with an employer's scheduler, to set up the in-person interview...By then, the interview is already scheduled, and Kathi is such a fabulous writer, that she usually manages to get the offer of free-lance work she's after, despite her disability .

Here's the important thing you need to know when you're deciding whether, or how, to disclose your disability:  If, because of your disability, you're likely to need an accommodation, either during the interview process, or once you've accepted the job offer and you're about to go to work, then you have to disclose the disability, in order to get the accommodation you need.  The disclosure is not supposed to impact your ability to get the job, but, honestly, everyone knows that it very well may!  It's a fact of life, and most of us find ways to get the interview, and then the job, by encouraging our interviewer, or our supervisor, or our office colleagues to concentrate on our abilities, rather than the disabilities that necessitate our requests for reasonable accommodations.

Surprising a potential employer is not, I and most others have found, a good idea...

...When Laura Yeager, a university-level teacher who has bipolar disorder, inadvertently let information about her disability slip out when she was teaching at a college in Pennsylvania a few years ago, the consequences were horrific. "I got harassed," she says in an article she wrote for the winter 2007 issue of "New York City Voices," http://tinyurl.com/cbrkmz "Particularly by students. My life was, frankly, a living hell."

After that experience, she kept the knowledge about her disability strictly to herself.  One day, she screwed up her courage and told her boss.  Yeager says, " My boss and I had a great relationship and I felt that I could confide in him. I told him, and it must not have mattered in a negative way because shortly afterward, I was promoted."

Later on, on the first day of a new teaching gig at another university, she actually disclosed her disability to a classroom of students, and possibly because she had become more comfortable with the reality of her bipolar disorder, or possibly because of the more accepting attitudes toward people with disabilities that emerged toward the end of the Twentieth Century and beyond, she found that sharing the knowledge with students made the whole class more comfortable, and several of her students whose disabilities had, heretofore been deep, dark secrets, felt empowered enough to disclose their own disabilities to her....

...So, should you tell an employer about your disability?  The general consensus is that (1) the decision is yours to make.  There's no right or wrong answer, but if you're likely to need accommodations either during the interviewing and screening processes, or on the job, then you'll have to disclose your disability in order to receive those accommodations.  (2) If your disability is likely to matter to an employer in a significant way, as in the case of my friend who will almost certainly need her employer-provided  health insurance to cover the cost of a replacement prosthesis, then it's probably only fair to inform a potential employer of that likelihood.  (Fairness is not synonymous with a legal requirement, however, and I believe deciding whether or not to divulge this information is an ethical, rather than a legal, consideration.)  (3) If your disability is unlikely to affect your ability to perform the essential duties of a job, and if you don't need any job-site accommodations, then there's no reason to disclose your disability in advance of an interview, during the interview process, or once you've gotten the job...

...When should you disclose a disability?  Most people with whom I spoke believe that there's no need to disclose a disability on an application or a resume.  In fact, it's illegal to ask applicants questions about disabilities, age, marital status, religion, or ethnicity.  (It is not illegal to ask about citizenship, gender, or prior criminal records.  Many of the people I asked mentioned that they do include information on a resume that would imply to a potential employer that they have a disability.  For example, my resume lists the assistive technologies with which I have a familiarity, as well as the disability-related organizations of which I am a member. These listings have been advantageous to me, and others, when I have sought employment in jobs where knowledge about disabilities is important.

Charlie Crawford, who has worked as Commissioner for the Blind in Massachusetts, and also as Executive Director of the American Council of the Blind,  emphasized how important it is to list our accomplishments, awards, and relevant experiences when we construct our resumes or complete job applications, because one's experiences and accomplishments can say much more about a person than his or her disability ever does.  Charlie said, I have always disclosed my blindness to potential employer interviewers in advance.  By constructing my resume to demonstrate all the accomplishments I have been fortunate enough to be able to carry out, I have been able to  make the point  that the blindness is not my main definer."

Nearly everyone I asked advised applicants to disclose information about disabilities that are not hidden in advance of the first job interview. 

Many people suggested formulating in advance answers to unspoken concerns about how you will accomplish the essential job duties despite your disability.  I was happy that I brought my talking lap top computer to that internship interview.  Once when I applied for an itinerant teaching job, I was able to describe, on the spot,  how I would use para and public transit to get to and from my students' homes because I had thought about it in advance.  A person who uses a wheelchair might describe how easy it is to insert inexpensive risers underneath a standard desk so that he or she will be able to work on the desk top efficiently and effectively.  I usually spend at least a few minutes explaining to an interviewer what to expect from my guide dog, and I make sure my dog is well groomed and well behaved.  It is reasonable to expect that an employer who may know very little about your particular disability will wonder how that disability will affect your ability to do a job.  Anticipating his or her concerns will put both of you at ease and may go a long way toward assuring that you will get the job you are interviewing for. 

Joe harcz, a long-time friend from many e-mail lists and phone calls and correspondences, summed up the experiences and advice of many:  "If one needs accommodations then one should and, is obligated to identify. If people do not need accommodations and can effectively hide their  disabilities, than I suggest they do so. Frankly, I cannot hide mine, but would
do so if I could. The bottom line is the job market is so tight that we people with disabilities need to call upon every resource we have to present ourselves as capable and competent and willing and able to succeed."

>>> For the Whole Article

Comment Below: Balancing Disability Pride with Practicality (especially in this job market) is not always and easy thing. Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions and actions recommended in this article? How have you answered these questions for yourself in the past?  What advice would you give to young people with disabilities who are just entering the job market and dealing with these questions for the first time? Are your answers different in the workplace than they are in social, romantic, athletic or other situations?

Deadline Approaching: Apply for Exchange to Costa Rica

Disability Rights and Leadership Exchange
Mobility International USA (MIUSA)
2009 US/Costa Rica
http://www.miusa.org/exchange
===========================================================
Go Abroad with Mobility International USA June 26 to July 10, 2009


Applications Available Online!

Deadline March 20, 2009

for the Costa Rica Program this Summer! 

• Live with a host family

• Learn Spanish through immersion

• Learn about disability rights and leadership

Generous Scholarships Available!

Applications available online at http://www.miusa.org/exchange/costarica09/costrica2009

First time travelers with disabilities who are between 18-24 years old, from cultural minority and low-income backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

ASL staff interpreters and materials in alternative formats will be provided.
Funding for personal assistants may also be available.

For more information:
apply@miusa.org
541-343-1284 (tel/tty)
http://www.miusa.org

The 2009 US/Costa Rica: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on
Disability Rights Leadership Exchange Program is funded by
the New York Community Trust DeWitt Wallace/Youth Travel
Enrichment Fund and administered by Mobility International
USA to provide an educational travel opportunity to youth
with disabilities from diverse communities.

Yes We Can Make the Stimulus More Stimulating for People with Disabilities

From Truthout.org (Monday 12 January 2009):

President-elect Barack Obama orders lunch at the famous restaurant Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, DC. (Photo: Reuters)

Yes, We Can Make the Stimulus More Stimulating
By: Dean Baker

President Obama could not find any economists who were able to see the housing bubble for his economic team. Fortunately, he indicated that he would be willing to listen to those of us who did in designing his stimulus package.

    In response to his request for ideas on how to make his economic recovery package more effective, I have put together the following list of seven proposals. This is a mix or match list, intended to be added to the list of items already suggested, although given the severity of the downturn, all of them could probably be included without causing concern about excessive deficits.

1) Extend Health Insurance

    Offer a $2,000 tax credit for any firm that gives health insurance to employees not currently covered.

2) Publicly Funded Clinical Trials

    Start a system of publicly funded clinical trials. The point would be to take the conduct of trials out of the control of the drug industry so that doctors and researchers would have immediate and full access to all research findings.

...

4) Subsidies for Public Transportation

   The government can encourage public transit and get money into the pockets of the people who use it (disproportionately low- and moderate-income people), by giving a $1 subsidy for each trip that gets directly passed on in lower fares...

>>>For the Entire Article

Comment Below with ideas specific to disability.

Or better yet, send ideas to the new administration via http://change.gov/.

Some that I've already received:

From Barbara Kornblau

1. Build accessible housing.. This will put people in the building trades back to work, including small businesses and contractors. It gives people with disabilities and aging baby boomers an alternative to institutional care and promotes the transition intended by the Community Choice Act. Or as we put in our policy statement: Provide tax incentives for building accessible housing and other buildings and include making infrastructure and public building accessible in all economic stimulus packages. (from our policy statements)

2. Pay for ramps, grab bars, bath benches, and handheld showerheads in existing homes. Currently, neither private insurance, Medicare, nor (in most places) Medicaid, pay for grab bars, and other assistive devices that promote independence and prevent falls. Paying for these items will be a boost to small businesses and contractors, while at the same time, promote community living and prevent hip fractures and other injuries.

3. Make all public buildings accessible: Court houses, City halls, schools, hospitals, museums, sporting venues, arenas, stadiums, etc. More jobs for the building trades and consulting for individuals with disabilities.

4. Give employers a tax credit for a percentage of the salary to hire currently unemployed individuals with disabilities. The tax credit would be spread over 3 years of employment to encourage employment longevity.  Fund assistive technology, workplace accessibility, etc.  to promote hiring.

5. Fund job coaches for employers who create innovative programs that can hire multiple individuals with disabilities in competitive employment

6. Increase the FMAP…not an original idea but one that gives states lots of matching dollars so they can free up money to spend on other things, like fixing the infrastructure

7.  Fund research into best practices that promote quality of life and participation for individuals with disabilities. This provides money to universities, keeps the pipeline of disability researchers open, and establishes best practices to support community living for individuals with disabilities

8.  Launch a massive sensitivity, disability awareness, and disability rights campaign nationwide. Include police officers, court personnel, health providers at all levels, teachers, etc. This will provide employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities to work in the awareness campaigns and make an attempt at a more inclusive, fair, and just society. In theory, a fair society means better attitudes, more opportunities, and more employed individuals with disabilities.

9.  Pay employers for 8 weeks of on-the-job training for new employees with disabilities. Incentives…

10. Require physicians and hospitals to meet quality indicators specifically designed to assure inclusion and good health care for individuals with disabilities. Things like weighing all patients, providing mammograms to all women, including women with disabilities, etc. Things we know based on the evidence, (article in JAMA) are not being done. The government can carry this out by requiring specific interventions for individuals with disabilities under Medicare (similar to how hospitals in the south were integrated overnight under Medicare) or via incentive payments for quality. I would prefer the former.

11.  Any health information technology training included in the stimulus package (the current plan includes Health IT) should also include training in the medical needs of individuals with disabilities and/or how to treat people with disabilities, including people with intellectual disabilities. How to transfer patients, how to ask people what their needs are, etc. This is currently in Senator Harkin’s health and wellness bill. This would tie the electronic medical record with the health care needs of individuals with disabilities. HIT should also include specific indicators for everyone with screens that require an explanation if basic care, such as height, weight, and blood pressure is not rendered.

12. Install sidewalks in communities that don’t have them to promote wellness, healthy lifestyles, and access for individuals with disabilities. Make sure they have curb cuts and safety measures such as crosswalks and traffic lights.

13. Require all infrastructure changes made under the economic stimulus package to include a requirement to make that infrastructure accessible.

14. Require a percentage of new jobs created by the economic stimulus package to go to individuals with disabilities or an alternative affirmative action program of some kind, such as the requirements from Sections 501  and 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

15.  Create internships and mentoring programs for young adults with disabilities in the federal government in all agencies. The federal government has other capacity building programs. This is a good addition to those. [Take a page from AAPD's Disability Mentoring Day and Internship programs]

16. Fix the vocational rehabilitation system so it works.

17. Fully fund IDEA so the money schools are currently using to pay the federal government’s share can be used to buy textbooks and supplies so students have text books and teachers don’t have to spend their own money. This will be a boost in spending for the local economy.

18. Ensure the Economic Stimulus Package includes requirements to make school facilities accessible, such as health clinics, gymnasiums, playgrounds, and sports fields, and invite individuals with disabilities and community groups to use them for health, fitness, recreation, and wellness programs. (from our policy statements)

From Duane French

-- $125 million to the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration to make funding available to Independent Living Centers funded in Title VII of the Rehabilitation Act to make home modification and assistive technology funding available to people with disabilities and seniors that live below 750% FPL. This would increase jobs for small contractors who do home remodeling and for small business owners who sell assistive technology or medical equipment. The funding formula in place for ILC's could be used to distribute this money quickly.

-- $150 million to the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration to make funding available for people with disabilities to purchase American-made vehicles that require accessible modifications including wheelchair lifts or ramps. These funds would be available to any person with a disability that lives below 1000% FPL and requires the vehicle to enter or remain in employment or to attend school or training to help them get a job.

-- $50 million to the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration to make funding available to people who are blind or visually impaired to purchase the assistive technology needed to increase their independence. These funds would be made available through state rehabilitation agencies for the blind.

-- $50 million to the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration to make funding available to people who are deaf or hearing impaired to purchase the assistive technology needed to increase their independence. These funds would be made available through state commissions/offices for the deaf and hearing impaired.

-- $75 million to the US Department of Transportation to make funding available to local transit authorities to purchase wheelchair accessible van pool vehicles to promote ride-sharing that is accessible to people with disabilities.

-- $75 million to the US Department of Transportation to make funding available to local transit authorities to distribute to taxicab companies to purchase wheelchair accessible vehicles to transport people with disabilities. Each cab company receiving a vehicle would make vouchers available to transit authorities to make available to people with disabilities who need to use taxi services. The voucher amount would equal 50% of the value of the vehicle purchase for cab companies.

Great ideas. Add your own below.

Deadline Approaching for AAPD Summer Internships

To all College Students with Disabilities,

Well, it's here!  December is upon us and that means that you only have a short while to get your applications in for AAPD's Summer Internship Programs!  Applications for either the 2008 Congressional or Internet/Technology Internship positions must be received by AAPD before 5:00PM (EST), Friday, December 14, 2007.

These PAID internships in our nation's capital are incredible opportunities for college students with disabilities to further their educations and careers with invaluable experience and contacts in politics, law, technology, and employment in D.C.  Those selected for this prestigious honor will receive complementary round-trip airfare to Washington, D.C.; free, accessible housing in the heart of Georgetown; and a living stipend to cover other expenses while enjoying what will surely be a life-changing experience.  AAPD's Interns not only are placed in some of the most coveted internship spots in D.C., but they also get a summer full of exploration, networking, socializing, and other fun opportunities.

If selected as an AAPD Summer Intern, you will play a significant role in helping determine your placement in Washington, D.C.  Congressional Interns will be placed in a Senate or Congressional office, according to their interests in a particular area of law and policy or geographic preference.
I/T Interns will be placed in technology-level positions in either a federal or federally-related office; past placements including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Transportation Security Administration of the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Science Foundation.  Successful completion of these internships can provide mentors, longer-term internships, and even long-term employment in Washington, D.C., or in other related careers around the country.

Applicants must be college or university students with disabilities, enrolled in an associate's or bachelor's degree program, when they begin the internship program.  For the Congressional Internship, students must be either Sophomores or Juniors, with at least one semester to complete after the internship.  For the IT Internship, students must have completed at least one semester of college credits at the time of the application.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens who are 18 years or older.

Current college students, with any type of disability, are invited to apply for these Internships.  The full application instructions are attached, including providing a copy of your resume and your responses to a few short-answer essays; there is no form to fill out.  View the online application instructions or download them below.

Download the 2008 AAPD Congressional Internship application instructions

Download the 2008 AAPD IT Internship application instructions

Remember:  The deadline is December 14!  Qualified individuals will be contacted for telephone interviews after the first of the year.  I look forward to reviewing your application! 

Sincerely,

David Hale
Program Manager
AAPD
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC  20006
(202) 457-0046 x32
FAX (202) 457-0473
AAPDDavid@aol.com
www.aapd.com

Online Communication Aids Mentoring

From the Boston Globe:

"Strengthening Their Bonds"
Online communication enhances relationships for those with disabilities

By Dan Aucoin

WELLESLEY, MA - Gregory Walsh and Austin Lam sit facing each other in their wheelchairs, saying nothing.

Outwardly, that is. But on a level beyond speech, the 28-year-old Walsh and the 13-year-old Austin are communicating plenty.

The two have a special relationship: Walsh, who lives in Braintree, is Austin's mentor and role model. Through his own example, he teaches the Wellesley boy how to live day-to-day with the challenges posed by their shared disability: cerebral palsy.

Soon, though, the two will be able to communicate even more fully. Austin's parents plan to soon acquire a specially equipped computer device that will enable him to access the Internet. That means he and Walsh will join the growing ranks of disabled mentors and their younger proteges who communicate online under a program run by Partners for Youth with Disabilities, a nonprofit organization based in Boston...

...Read the rest of the article.