JFActivist

Disability Mentoring Day 2011 Launches in Chicago

On Friday, October 14^th AAPD partnered with Chicago’s Mayor’s office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) for the 2011 Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) National Launch.

Last week’s launch at Malcolm X College was a huge success, showcasing Chicago’s outstanding model and success in furthering the employment of youth with disabilities. The theme for the 2011 DMD National Launch was “Transition to Independent Futures”, focusing on the importance of education, employment, and independent living for people with disabilities. The morning started with outstanding keynote speeches from Commissioner Karen Tamley--MOPD, Allison Donnelly--Transition Manager for Chicago Public Schools, Mark Perriello--President and CEO of AAPD, Joyce Bender-- President and CEO of Bender Consulting and AAPD's Board Chair and Dr. Harvey Davis--Director of Installations and Logistics for NSA. The morning ended with wonderful skits prepared by the students, teaching the participants the right and wrong way to interview for a job. For the rest of the day, more than 300 young people participated in career building activities and workshops that will prepare them for the next stage in their lives.

The DMD National Launch kicks-off hundreds of DMD programs across the country. The programs are coordinated by a proximity 200 AAPD volunteers, implementing programs tailored to employers and students. DMD promotes career development for students and jobseekers with disabilities through hands-on career exploration, on-site job shadowing, and mentoring which leads to internship and employment opportunities. It is currently the nation’s largest job-shadowing program designed for people with disabilities.

 

Disability Mentoring Day is supported nationally by:

Platinum Partners Walmart, American Airlines, CSC

Gold Partners AT&T, IBM, SAP, SCI

Silver Partners Darden Restaurants

Bronze Partners ARAMARK, the US Office of Personnel Management, the US Office on Disability Employment Policy, Siemens, Walmart/Sam’s Club

 

Patrons Amerigroup, Bayer, FedEx Ground, the Job Accommodation Network, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, the National Security Agency, TimeWarner and USA Characters Unite.

 

Transportation and Job Opportunity

by AAPD's VP of External Affairs, Lara Schwartz

Unemployment is high and job creation is a top priority for America.  But job creation is not the only piece of the puzzle.  For many Americans including those with disabilities and people with low incomes, job opportunity cannot exist without job access. Even if a person is offered her dream job, there is no true opportunity if she lacks accessible transportation to get to the interview. 

As Congress and the Administration consider how to combat unemployment, it’s important that they include accessible, affordable transportation in their agenda.   People with disabilities disproportionately lack access to cars, but most of our nation’s transportation investments continue to focus on car-based travel.  Options such as rail, commuter buses, and transit-oriented development—which means building employment, housing, and community services around accessible transit—not only increase opportunities for people with disabilities, they benefit the entire community by reducing traffic and pollution, enabling senior citizens to be closer to services and activities, and providing options for lower-income workers who can ill afford the $9,000 per year that it costs to own and maintain a car. 

Click here to learn more about how access to transportation affects job opportunity.

 

 

AAPD Announces October Disability Mentoring Day Events

American Association of People with Disabilities’ Disability Mentoring Day Events to take place in October

“Disability Mentoring Day is a testament to what responsible employers, energized volunteers, and AAPD can do together to promote employment opportunity,” said AAPD President and CEO Mark Perriello

Contacts:
Lara Schwartz, 202-521-4309, lschwartz@aapd.com 
Frankie Mastrangelo, 202-521-4308, fmastrangelo@aapd.com 

 

Washington, D.C. – (September 19, 2011) – The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) announces its 2011 Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) events.   Disability Mentoring Day events at work sites, workshops and job fairs provide valuable first-hand experience to students and job-seekers with disabilities.  This experience has helped thousands of past participants develop lasting relationships and secure internships or jobs.

 

DMD began as an event at the White House for a few dozen students in 1999.  In 2010, AAPD worked with over 200 volunteers and 19 DMD National Sponsors to support 13,000 students and job-seekers with disabilities participating in DMD events at sites across the country. 

 

This year, AAPD and the Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) will host the DMD National Launch at Malcolm X College in Chicago. The National Launch will mark the start of hundreds of DMD programs nationwide.

 

“Disability Mentoring Day is a testament to what responsible employers, energized volunteers, and AAPD can do together to promote employment opportunity,” said AAPD President and CEO Mark Perriello.  “With unemployment among people with disabilities nearly twice as high as for our peers without disabilities, this is critical work.  This program provides students and job seekers with disabilities a hands-on experience with the workforce that lays a foundation for future success,” he added.

 

AAPD is proud to partner with:

Platinum Partners Walmart, American Airlines, CSC

Gold Partners AT&T, IBM, SAP, SCI

Silver Partners Darden Restaurants

Bronze Partners ARAMARK, the US Office of Personnel Management, the US Office on Disability Employment Policy, Siemens, Walmart Sam’s Club

Patrons Amerigroup, Bayer, FedEx Ground, the Job Accommodation Network, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, the National Security Agency, TimeWarner and USA Characters Unite.

 

For more information, contact AAPD at 800-840-8844 (V/TTY), by email at dmd@aapd.com or visit the AAPD website at www.aapd.com.

 

The American Association of People with Disabilities promotes equal opportunity, economic power, independent living, and political participation for people with disabilities.  www.aapd.com

 

Disability Mentoring Day 2011—Connections

From AAPD (10.14.2011):

 

 

By Lara Schwartz,

We live in a connected world.  Facebook can tell us what our high school friends had for dinner.  Mobile phones and texting make many people available around the clock.  When I told my daughter how I used to go to a pay phone to call my cassette-based answering machine – and that I was really impressed at the technology that allowed me to play it remotely when it came out— she looked at me like I’m from another planet.  It is another planet in many ways.

One thing hasn’t changed:  when it comes to building a career, there is no substitute for face-to-face connections.  There is no substitute for a human relationship with someone who knows what we’re capable of doing.  Think back on your careers—for most of us, there is a critical human connection that made a difference for us.  A teacher, supervisor, or colleague who connected us with a wonderful opportunity.  Someone who reviewed our resume and encouraged us to apply for our dream job. An internship where we showed off our talents and proved that we we ready for the next thing.  A human, face-to-face connection that worked.

Today AAPD, our partners, and volunteer networks celebrate the launch of Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) 2011.  For thousands of students and job seekers across the country, DMD is provides a first-hand experience with the work force.  Through a variety of events such as job shadowing, job fairs, and workshops, DMD participants have an opportunity to make a connection that matters.  Over the years, DMD has led to lasting relationships that lead to career advice and internships or jobs. 

DMD provides a fantastic opportunity to connect. To learn more, visit http://www.aapd.com/site/c.pvI1IkNWJqE/b.5606851/k.CDB/Welcome_to_the_Disability_Mentoring_Program.htm

There are many other ways to promote employment opportunity for people with disabilities:  whether you choose to participate in a school mentoring program, hire a person with a disability in your own workplace, or advise a neighbor about career building, you are making a contribution.  Our nation’s laws also affect employment opportunity.  AAPD advocates for equal access to education and health care, investments in accessible transportation, and long-term support programs that promote rather than suppress employment opportunity.  Please sign up for action alerts so that you can be a part of this work:
http://www.aapd.com/site/c.pvI1IkNWJqE/b.5607285/k.42E6/Take_Action_Make_Your_Voice_Heard.htm

Then connect with friends, colleagues, and family members and ask them to join in, too.

How Faith Groups and Religious Congregations Can Promote Full Employment of People with Disabilities

The mission of AAPD’s Interfaith Initiative is to bring the powerful and prophetic voice of the faith community to the 21^st Century disability agenda. That work is done through the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC) which has 25 members from the Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu traditions.

During October’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month, IDAC is asking religious organizations (congregations, seminaries, denominations or faith groups) to commit to increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities and to sign on to the Statement of Solidarity by the Religious Community around Employment of People with Disabilities.

The Statement of Solidarity and the Sign On Form can be found at the link below. Names of religious organizations which are already signed on are listed by state.

          www.aapd.com/IDAC/StatementofSolidarity

 This is a simple but significant action which any congregation or faith group can take. Americans of many faiths believe that work brings dignity, self respect and responsibility and that the lack of work is demoralizing, socially isolating and wasteful of a person’s abilities. Religious organizations listed on the Statement of Solidarity pledge to promote the full employment of people with disabilities.

Please read the Statement and return the Form during National Disability Employment Awareness Month – October 2011.

With great thanks.

Ginny Thornburgh, Director, AAPD Interfaith Initiative and IDAC Convener

 

HELP Committee Holds Hearing on the Future of Employment for People with Disabilities

by AAPD Development Intern, Alexandria Braboy

On September 15, AAPD staff attended a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on the future of employment for people with disabilities. The hearing comes on the heels of the 2011 Bureau of Labor report that although the national unemployment rate is about 9 %, the rate is nearly twice that for people with disabilities. Committee Chairman Senator Tom Harkin proposed that the discussion specifically explore the spectrum of employment options that will address the needs and potential of people with disabilities. Panelists also discussed the reasons why people with disabilities face multiple barriers to employment. They called attention to discrimination, prejudiced public perception and expectations, apprehensive employers, and sub-minimum wages as obstacles to gainful employment for people with disabilities. “We have an inherited world and the world we want to create and change,” National Council on Disability Chair Jonathan Young pointed out.

Sheltered workshops were at the center of the discussion on changing and expanding employment options for people with disabilities. One panelist, a parent of a person with a disability, supported the workshop model, which gave her son a chance to work throughout the week. However, Senator Barbara Mikulski and other panelists emphasized that people with disabilities are capable of working in an integrated employment setting. Regardless of their position on the workshop model, all panelists agreed that people with disabilities have the right to competitive employment and diverse job options. Dr. Young summarized, “We don’t need to be guaranteed a chance to succeed, we do need to be guaranteed a chance to try.” AAPD has also maintained that people with disabilities should expect improved employment opportunities.

For more information on AAPD’s work on employment or on Disability Employment month in October, visit: http://bit.ly/o4xF7v

 

Let's Get to Work: Disability, Poverty and the American Jobs Act

by Frankie Mastrangelo, JFA Moderator

Although it’s no secret that we are in tough economic times, new data from the Census Bureau shows just how tough the times really are for people with disabilities. Last year, the nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent, the highest it’s been since 1993.  This is alarming in itself, but the numbers relating disability and poverty status are even more striking. In 2010, 27.9% of people with disabilities were living below the poverty line, compared to 12.5% of people without disabilities. People with disabilities are far more likely to live in poverty and householders with disabilities are, on average, earning less than half of those without disabilities. Last year, householders without disabilities’ earned a median income of $58,736/year while those with disabilities brought in an average of $25,550/year.

Not surprisingly, the data also reflects income drops for people both with and without disabilities. Yet despite a two-percent drop in median income --to $49,445-- workers without disabilities’ earned more than workers with disabilities.  Male workers without disabilities earned an average of $6,525 more than male workers with disabilities. Working women without disabilities earned $37,028/year compared with working women with disabilities, who earned $31,851 per year.

Today, White House officials will be hosting a live event to answer the public’s questions on President Obama’s job creation plan: the American Jobs Act.  The President says this plan will “put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans”. People with disabilities and our supporters need to know whether the AJA will put more Americans with Disabilities back to work.  If we are to change these Census numbers in years to come, our community needs jobs. Let’s make sure the administration hears our concerns and creates policy solutions that benefit all working Americans.

 

Agricultural Marketing Service Partners with AAPD Internship Program

via the USDA blog (7.19.11):

AMS Partners with American Association of People with Disabilities Internship Program

By Robert Keeney, AMS Fruit and Vegetable Programs Deputy Director

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) recently became a participant in the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Internship Program, which brings students to Washington, DC, to gain valuable working experience working. This is the first year that our agency has participated in this program.

AMS is utilizing our relationship with AAPD to create a more diverse workforce, one that includes more employees with disabilities.  We understand the importance of designing employment practices that consider the needs of all employees A diverse workforce introduces everyone to unique perspectives that ultimately help us find innovative approaches to solving problems and solidifying our business model.  This is one of the ways AMS can continue to provide services that benefit everyone in the greater public.

This summer, Maya Ariel, an undergraduate student studying business administration at Rochester Institute of Technology, joined AMS as an intern for the agency’s Fruit and Vegetable Programs.  In her position, Maya, who is Deaf, helps Christopher Purdy, the program’s business development specialist, identify ways for AMS to partner with other organizations and market the program’s services.  By providing Maya with the accommodations she needs to be successful, AMS has gained a truly valuable team member.  

AMS values its partnerships with diverse organizations, such as AAPD, that enable us to identify, attract and recruit top-tier talent.  We encourage students to take advantage of the internship program so that they can become familiar with the agency and learn about other career opportunities.

We support AAPD’s belief that people with disabilities are an important and intricate part of diversity in the workforce.

AAPD recently came to USDA Headquarters to chronicle a day in the life of an intern.  Video footage of Ariel and the rest of the AAPD interns’ summer experiences will be available by visiting the AAPD Internship Program Web site in the early fall.

>>>To Read the Blog Post

Senate HELP Committee Seeks to Improve Employment for PWD

via The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (6.8.11):
 

HELP Committee to Examine Strategies for Improving Employment for Americans with Disabilities

WASHINGTON — On Thursday at 10:00 a.m., Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will convene a hearing to examine how to expand and improve job opportunities for people with disabilities. As the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act nears, Harkin seeks to assess the impact of current programs, and discuss ways to achieve the goal he set earlier this year of raising the number of Americans with disabilities in the labor force to 6 million by 2015.

This hearing will be webcast live with real-time captioning at: http://help.senate.gov

Testimony and archived videos will be posted at: http://help.senate.gov/hearings/

 

HEARING:  Lessons from the Field: Learning From What Works for Employment for Persons with Disabilities

WITNESSES:           
Panel I:
The Honorable Kathy Martinez, Assistant Secretary of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC
Panel II:
Governor Tom Ridge, Chairman, National Organization on Disability, Washington, DC
Deborah Dagit, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Merck, One Merck Drive, Whitehouse Station, NJ
Amelia Wallrich, Law Student, Northwestern University, Frankfort, IL

DATE:           Thursday, July 14^th, 2011

TIME:            10:00 A.M.

LOCATION: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building

 

 

 

 

EEOC Looks at Disparate Treatment in 21st Century Hiring Decisions

via AAPD (6.24.11):

EEOC Looks at Disparate Treatment in 21st Century Hiring Decisions

By Julia Feinberg, AAPD Policy Intern

On Wednesday June 22, 2011, AAPD attended the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) meeting on “Disparate Treatment in 21^st Century Hiring Decisions,” held in Washington, D.C. The EEOC is chaired by Jacqueline Berrien with Stuart Ishimaru, Constance Barker, Chai Feldblum, and Victoria Lipnic as Commissioners.  The meeting looked at how discrimination during the hiring process affects minorities, including people with disabilities.  Nine witnesses were called to provide evidence and discuss the impacts of disparate hiring practices. 

During the opening statements, all Commissioners noted that working is not only important financially but also for an individual’s sense of self-worth and connection to their community.  They also noted the difficulty of reporting and getting information to people who have been discriminated against in the workforce.  It was discussed many times during the hearing that often people do not know they have been victims of hiring discrimination. 

Recent Cases: EEOC General Counsel David Lopez described a successful court case where two deaf men were refused employment by Wal-Mart.  The Courts ruled in the men’s favor and, as part of the settlement, a television ad was played for several weeks promoting the employment of people with disabilities.  This ad was shown in the hearing and had a visible affect on the Commissioners.  Lopez also described a clip from an ABC show “What Would You Do?” where two deaf women applied to be kitchen workers in a café and were refused jobs.  While some customers stood up to the discrimination they saw, others gave the manager legal advice saying he should have accepted their applications and not called them instead of outright saying he wouldn’t hire them because they were deaf.  These “advisors” were professional recruiters and managers.

Silent or Covert Discrimination:  The first two panels focused on “silent discrimination,” where the employer doesn’t outright say or show that he or she is discriminating.  This was a recurrent topic throughout the meeting.  It especially came up during discussion of contingency or temporary staffing agencies, that is, companies that match employers with employees looking for work.  Since hiring laws are different for the contingency agencies, many companies can get away with discriminatory hiring practices by using these types of companies.

Bill Lann Lee, an attorney at Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker, & Jackson on the first panel called this “covert discrimination.”  Grace Speights, attorney at Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius, and Katherine Kores, an EEOC District Director in Memphis were also on the first panel. The second panel was composed of Supervising Trial Attorneys Kate Boehringer and Diane Smason at the EEOC Baltimore and Chicago offices, respectively, with Ana Lopez and Jeannette Wilkins as Charging Party Members in two major EEOC cases.  This panel highlighted the real life challenges of workforce discrimination and gave an in-depth look at how companies use covert discrimination.

Research and Training Issues: Marc Bendick from Bendick & Eagan Economic Consultants and General Counsel Rae Vann from the Equal Employment Advisory Council, a non-profit employer association, discussed discrimination research and training on the third and last panel.  Bendick provided staggering statistics about the prevalence of discrimination in the workforce and also specific industries that were especially “hard core discriminators.”  For instance, he said that 20-25 % of people have encountered hiring discrimination across all fields of the workforce.  Advertising and construction industries were among the worst with about 67% discriminating against applicants.

 

Vann concluded the meeting by outlining the training programs that the EEAC has developed over the past few decades to reduce workplace discrimination.  The hope is to change the attitude within all offices so that anti-discrimination is company policy, not just federal law.

Resources: To file an EEOC complaint or “charge,” go to the link http://www.eeoc.gov/employees/charge.cfm

To learn more about ADA and disability employment protections go to http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm

 

Question:  Have you experienced silent or covert discrimination as a person with a disability seeking or maintaining employment? Please comment in the box below or tell us via email to Policy@aapd.com