Policy

Edmond’s Super Scoop ice cream store

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Oct. 12 – Edmond’s Super Scoop ice cream store will continue their tradition of hiring people with disabilities in a new merger with Hank’s Coffee Shop. “So often we forget they are left out,” says the Executive Director of the newly merged store, Not Your Average Joe, about people with disabilities.

Not Your Average Joe is one such example of how Oklahoma is improving its employment rate for people with disabilities.

127,608 working-age Oklahomans with disabilities are employed, putting the state’s disability employment rate at 37.6 percent. That total includes people who are blind or deaf or have other visible conditions such as spinal cord injuries, as well as people with invisible disabilities including learning disabilities, mental health or Autism.

As such, Gov. Kevin Stitt has declared October as Disability Employment Awareness Month to help raise this percentage.

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Washington, D.C., Oct. 11 – At North Carolina State University, 321 Coffee is a nonprofit coffee shop fully staffed by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities getting payed above minimum wage. CEO Lindsay Wrege is working to open a store front to create more opportunities for people with disabilities.

321 Coffee is an exception, however, as the vast majority of North Carolinians with disabilities are out of work. This month is the perfect time to examine why.

232,875 working-age North Carolinians with disabilities are employed, putting the state’s disability employment rate at 33.8 percent. That total includes people who are blind or deaf or have other visible conditions such as spinal cord injuries, as well as people with invisible disabilities including learning disabilities, mental health or Autism.

As such, Gov. Roy Cooper has declared October as Disability Employment Awareness Month to help raise this percentage. [continue reading…]

• 85% of voters find it very or somewhat important that presidential candidates have campaign events and websites that are open and accessible to people with disabilities, just like everyone else.

• 73% of voters are more likely to support candidates for elected office who will make ensuring that children with disabilities get the education and training they need to succeed a priority.

• 70% of voters are more likely to support candidates for elected office who will make expanding job and career opportunities for people with disabilities a priority, so they can succeed just like anyone else.

Rockville, Maryland, Oct. 10, 2019 – A new poll reveals that 85 percent of registered voters say it is very or somewhat important to them that presidential candidates have campaign events and websites that are open and accessible to people with disabilities, just like everyone else. Voters with disabilities themselves are more enthusiastic about participating in the 2020 elections (52 percent), four points higher than the national average. Despite both of these data points, none of the presidential candidates on either side have made their websites and social media fully accessible to voters with disabilities. [continue reading…]

Four Candidates – Biden, Booker, Warren, Yang – Have Made Substantial Improvements in Website Accessibility

Washington, D.C., Sept. 12 – Nearly three months after a report by the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired found that all of the presidential candidates’ websites block democratic access to voters who are blind or have low vision, an update finds that still none of these websites – Democrat or Republican – are fully accessible. However, the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind found that many of the candidates’ websites do show improvements in accessibility.

The organization issued a challenge for the candidates in June: “ensure their websites are fully ADA compliant and immediately put an accessibility statement on their page.” Four of the candidates now have an accessibility statement on their websites, including both a live email address and phone number that users can contact for additional assistance: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang. Since the report first launched on June 26, 2019, each of these four presidential campaigns also have contacted Miami Lighthouse for Blind for counsel in updating their websites. [continue reading…]

President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act into law.

This year marks the 29th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). After years of hard work, activism and protest by thousands of people with disabilities, an American president lifted his pen to tear down “the shameful wall of exclusion.” In signing the ADA, former President George H.W. Bush called on all Americans to join in the great work to “remove the physical barriers we have created and the social barriers that we have accepted.”

Today, nearly three decades later, the work to remove those barriers continues. “The ADA was meant to ensure that people with disabilities could earn an income and achieve independence, just like anyone else,” said former member of Congress and current Chairman of the national disability organization RespectAbility, Steve Bartlett, while reflecting on the anniversary. “Significant challenges remain to fulfill the promise of inclusion and independence.” [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, CA, May 7 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for people with disabilities, submitted the following public comments last week to the City of Los Angeles Workforce Development Board. The Board is in the process of finalizing their new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Year 20/2019-2020 Annual Plan. This plan will guide how the City of Los Angeles invests critical federal resources, builds new collaborations and works to empower people with barriers to employment in the year ahead.

RespectAbility’s public comments, which were jointly written by the organization’s D.C. and L.A. based staff, focused on several critical issues. First, the comments outline key data points about the size and scope of the disability community in Los Angeles. Second, the comments outlined in extensive detail about critical best practices and proven models of empowering job seekers with disabilities to successfully enter the workforce. Third, the comments cover a range of other issues including adopting disability best practices into existing programs to support the reentry population, expanding entrepreneurship opportunities, and supporting the local community through parent engagement as well as community resource fairs. Lastly, the public comments go into detail about how to leverage the incredible power of media and Hollywood to empower people with disabilities by fighting stigmas.

The working draft of the City of Los Angeles Workforce Development Board’s 2020 plan can be found on their website here. Read RespectAbility’s comments in full below. [continue reading…]

• Even as the rest of the disability community experienced job gains in 2017, African Americans with disabilities are being left behind in the workforce.
• Out of the 50 states, African Americans with disabilities only saw job gains in 22 states while they lost jobs in 28 states.
• Texans with disabilities experience the biggest jobs gains for African Americans with disabilities of any state, with more than 8,000 entering the workforce.

Washington, D.C., Feb. 28 – New statistics released this month show that African Americans with disabilities are being left behind even as more and more people with disabilities enter the workforce. The Disability Statistics Compendium, released by Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, shows that the employment rate for African Americans with disabilities stands at 28.6 percent. The Compendium also shows that geography has an impact on employment outcomes for African Americans with disabilities.

The newly published 2018 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium compiles data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Compendium is intended to equip policymakers, self-advocates and other groups with clear statistics on the state of disability in America today.

Out of more than three million working-age African Americans with disabilities, barely 934,589 have jobs. This data also shows the serious gaps that remain between disabled and non-disabled African Americans. According to the Compendium, while 28.6 percent of U.S. African-American civilians with disabilities ages 18-64 living in the community had a job, compared to 73.7 percent of blacks without disabilities.  [continue reading…]

Job Growth Slows for People with Disabilities

• Only 111,804 people with disabilities entered the workforce in 2017, down from the previous year’s increase of over 343,000 new jobs for people with disabilities.
• Florida experienced the biggest growth in job numbers with over 23,000 people with disabilities entering the workforce. Of the 50 states, 29 states saw job gains for Americans with disabilities.
• Vermont, under Gov. Phil Scott, becomes one of the top 10 states with the best employment rates, and Rhode Island, under Gov. Gina Raimondo, jumps from 47^th in the nation to 19^th.

Washington, D.C., Feb. 14 – New statistics released this week show that Americans with disabilities saw a slowdown in job gains compared to those of the previous year. The Disability Statistics Compendium, released by Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, shows that the employment rate for people with disabilities has risen to 37 percent. The Compendium also shows that geography has an impact on employment outcomes for Americans with disabilities. People with disabilities in North Dakota are twice as likely to have jobs as West Virginians with disabilities.

The newly published 2018 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium compiles data collected by the Census Bureau. The Compendium is intended to equip policy-makers, self-advocates and others with clear statistics on disability in America today. Out of over 20 million working-age people with disabilities, 7.5 million have jobs. This data also shows the serious gaps that remain between disabled and non-disabled Americans. 37 percent of U.S. civilians with disabilities ages 18-64 living in the community had a job, compared to 77.2 percent for people without disabilities. [continue reading…]

By Lauren Appelbaum and Hon. Steve Bartlett

Washington, D.C., Feb. 7 – As newly elected officials begin their service, it is important that America’s largest minority group are included in policy discussions in a meaningful way. Thus, RespectAbility put together an easy guide with eight tips for leaders and their staff to ensure they reach this important constituent group.

1) Start right away on building connections to people of disabilities and disability groups in the same way that you do with other groups of constituents. 

America has 56 million people with disabilities, more than 20-million of whom are working age. Polls show that the majority of constituents either have a disability or a loved one with a disability. The extended disability community — when you include family members, those with close friends with disabilities and those who work on behalf or volunteer for a disability cause — is 63 percent of Americans. We want to be included in all policies that impact our lives and we are ready to be your partners in success. [continue reading…]