Policy

Submitted testimony will help inform Congressional efforts to rebuild the economy and get workers with disabilities back to work.

Washington, D.C., April 7 – Recently, the United States Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee invited subject matter experts, self-advocates, community members and their constituents to virtually provide ideas and insights about rebuilding the economy in a post-COVID world.

In response, the national disability inclusion organization RespectAbiltiy weighed in with their perspective on how to advance new opportunities for workers with disabilities and close crucial gaps in outcomes for people from marginalized communities. [continue reading…]

Submitted testimony will help inform Department of Education efforts to collect better disability data.

Washington, D.C., March 22 – As the nation continues to grapple with the lessons learned from one year of lockdown, virtual education and the other results of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education solicited new ideas to support the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2021 School Survey. In response to this opportunity, the RespectAbility team rapidly solicited insights from board members, partner organizations and self-advocates to push for the collection of better disability data as part of the NAEP.

“Distance learning has been a disaster for teachers, parents and students alike. Over time, some of the impacts are recoverable,” said Jaime H. Pacheco-Orozco, who serves as the Assistant Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability and on RespectAbility’s Board of Directors. “It won’t be easy, but there is a path forward. That path must include capturing clear data that will help future generations of students with disabilities.” [continue reading…]

How will this $1.9 trillion law help the 61 million Americans living with a disability?

Washington, D.C., March 12 – This week, Congress passed, and President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This massive bill includes a range of policies and programs intended to get more Americans vaccinated, help working families, and lay the groundwork for a post-pandemic economic recovery. Critically, it also contains key proposals that will directly benefit millions of people with disabilities, including helping students with disabilities get back to the classroom and directly sending stimulus checks to many people left out of previous relief efforts. [continue reading…]

This new bill will invest $15 billion to help restore the nation’s public workforce system in response to the economic collapse following the COVID 19 pandemic

Washington, D.C., Feb. 23 – In the response to the economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) has introduced a new bill to kickstart the economy and get millions of people back to work. This new legislation is called the “Relaunching America’s Workforce Act” and it contains significant provisions that would specifically help workers with disabilities.

Impact on Individuals with Disabilities

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a much larger impact on the unemployment rates of individuals with disabilities compared to people without disabilities. Specifically, since March 2020, more than 1 in 5 workers with disabilities have lost their jobs at the hands of the coronavirus, compared to 1 in 7 individuals without disabilities. To put it another way, more than 1 million workers with disabilities have lost their job since the start of the pandemic. The Relaunching America’s Workforce Act could play an important role in helping workers with disabilities get back into the labor force. Thankfully, this legislation explicitly mentions individuals with disabilities more than 10 times, and it provides numerous recommendations to help the disability community reenter the workforce. [continue reading…]

Read the Resource Guide

Los Angeles, CA, Feb 3 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization committed to fighting stigma and advancing inclusion of people with disabilities, will host a webinar on Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT to release a new resource, “People with Disabilities at Work: A Resource Guide to Achieving Economic Independence and Inclusion Through Employment and Entrepreneurship.” To register for the webinar, visit: https://www.respectability.org/2020/12/economic-self-sufficiency-webinar.

The comprehensive guide, intended for youth and adults with disabilities, their families and advocates, covers topics ranging from transitioning from school to work to the importance of mentoring and networking in securing successful employment outcomes. [continue reading…]

With Nasdaq considering new rules to promote diversity in corporate board rooms, advocacy organizations call for disability inclusion.

Washington, D.C., January 29 – In a week where the stock market was all over the headlines, a group of disability advocates responded to a solicitation from Nasdaq about proposed rule changes that would impact board room diversity. In their testimony about this proposal, the group, which included the National Organization on Disability, the National Disability Institute, ANCOR, Disability:IN DC Metro and RespectAbility, called for the proposed rule change to include recognition that the 1-in-5 people with disabilities want to have a better future themselves and to create a better future for others as well.

Back in December 2020, Nasdaq filed a proposed rule change at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intended to drive greater diversity and inclusion in Corporate America. The specific proposal would “require Nasdaq-listed companies…to have at least one director who self-identifies as a female… to have at least one director who self-identifies as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, two or more races or ethnicities, or as LGBTQ+.” If Nasdaq-listed companies did not comply, they would have to explain to the SEC why such self-identified diversity was lacking in the makeup of the current board members. [continue reading…]

Atlanta, GA – The Georgia Disability Vote Partnership (GDVP) is proud to release its nonpartisan voter guide. Most of the partners of GDVP are nonprofit organizations and this voter guide is for educational purposes only, as GDVP does not rate or endorse candidates. The purpose of the guide is to help voters know the positions of the candidates and to provide some resources to help Georgians vote. GDVP has asked each of the Democratic and Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate the identical questions about issues affecting people with disabilities. Not all of the candidates have responded in full, but all responses that the partnership has received are reported here in full without editing.

According to the 2019 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium, the total number of Georgians with disabilities is 1,246,077. 2018 employment data shows that there are 658,811 working-age people with disabilities in Georgia. In the economic expansion prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 238,875 (or 36.3 percent) of those Georgians have a job. [continue reading…]

As the nation waits for the Georgia Senate runoff next week, disability organization calls on pollsters and media to track disability participation and access.

Washington, D.C., Dec. 28 – With the political universe centered on the Senate runoff in Georgia, the unique needs and barriers of Georgians with disabilities could very well factor into to the outcome of the race. Thus, the national nonpartisan disability inclusion organization RespectAbility is asking pollsters, polling firms and political consultants to track voters with disabilities in their demographic data, as well as voter access exit polling.

According to the 2019 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium, the total number of Georgians with disabilities is 1,246,077, making up 12.1 percent of the total state population. 2018 employment data show that there are 658,811 working-age people with disabilities in Georgia. In the economic expansion prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 238,875 (or 36.3 percent) of those Georgians had a job.

Thus far, there has been little outreach to voters with disabilities from all four Senate candidates in the runoff race. As noted by RespectAbility in November, none of the four candidates even mention the word disability on their campaign websites. None of the Senate candidates’ websites are fully accessible to the 254,972 Georgians who are blind or low vision. And very few of the candidates’ videos have captions, making them inaccessible to the 328,000 deaf and hard of hearing Georgians. [continue reading…]

Washington, D.C., Dec. 22 – Control of the United States Senate depends on two runoff elections in the state of Georgia. While a lot of money is being spent by the candidates and other organizations to get out the vote, a new report about two focus groups indicates that Georgia’s disability community is not getting enough attention in these races. In fact, at the time these focus groups were conducted, none of the participants were able to recall having seen or heard anything from the Senate candidates regarding people with disabilities.

Read the full Focus Group memo

On behalf of RespectAbility and the Georgia Disability Vote Partnership (GDVP), Greenberg Research and Democracy Corps conducted 2 sets of online video focus groups among registered voters with disabilities in Georgia; one group of white women on December 16th and one group of Black women on December 17th. According to Greenberg Research and Democracy Corps, “for voters with disabilities, health care costs and accessibility are the dominant issues right now.”

A lot of money is being spent on nonpartisan voter communications and turnout in Georgia, but little of it is accessible or targeted to voters with disabilities who can make the difference. None of the candidates’ websites are accessible to the 254,972 Georgians who are blind or low vision. Additionally, very few of the candidates’ videos have captions, making them inaccessible to the 328,000 deaf and hard of hearing Georgians. [continue reading…]