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 14th, 2011
TIME: 10:00 A.M.
LOCATION: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Hello! I have a question to submit. With the need for jobs and the push to support small businesses, is there any support for People with Disabilities on state or SSDI disability income to apply for small business loans or funds to become successful entrepeneurs? I have taken business classes, have a business plan and wish to start a business but due to having a disability and I receive income from disability none of the lenders will except me. I so much want to get off of services, be successful, be a part of the needed revenue for my community, pay taxes and offer jobs to others. My disability does not define who I am or complicate me from being a businesswoman. I am a person first. I have a dream as do other people with disabilities to be a shop owner, farmer, a doctor and more. Politicians point the finger at us as the cause of the State and National debt and instead of looking at the "cost savings" of supporting us to be successful with equal opportunities they cut our services and programs thus threatening our health, home and independence which results in higher costs to the system. Can I please request a response or discussion about this most important need to support PWD entrepreneurs?
Posted by: Christie Rudder | July 14, 2011 at 01:06 AM