Nation Association of Physically Handicapped - Submitted by: Brenda Smith

Anonymous writes "Report of Corresponding Secretary & Employment Chairperson, Brenda Smith

I wrote all the thank you letters from the resolutions passed at the NAPH National Convention and mailed them as well as a few additional thank you letters as requested by our National President. I also proofread and submitted reports and articles to our web page as requested by our Web Page Chairperson.

Below is information on National Disability Employment Awareness Month (October) and National Disability Mentoring Day (October 15). What does your chapter have planned to celebrate this important day?

National Disability Employment Awareness Month is a time to reflect on what we can do to improve employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities, and to recognize the contributions they make to the nation's workplaces.

This October is the seventeenth National Disability Employment Awareness Month, as proclaimed by Congress in 1988. Its former incarnation, National Employ the Handicapped Week, was enacted by Congress as Public Law 176 in 1945.

For people with disabilities, like most others who want and need to be employed, finding work is a year-round, and too often years-long, challenge, not something that can be solved in a week or a month. But if October’s special designation increases public awareness of how dire the employment statistics are for Americans with disabilities, and awareness leads to greater employment, so much the better.

There are 54 million Americans with disabilities, well over half of whom are of working age (18 to 64). According to the 2000 N.O.D./Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities, only 32 percent of those who are of working age are employed full or even part time. That compares to 81 percent of the rest of the population. This employment gap reflects an astonishing disparity.

Of those people with disabilities who are not working, more than two out of three say they would like to work. Of course they would. We live in a society where a career is a major defining element of one’s identity. Work impacts one’s ability to take part in other critical aspects of life, from home ownership to transportation, access to health care, ability to socialize, pursuit of advanced education, and active participation in one’s community.

Tied in to their underemployment, people with disabilities trail other Americans in all of the above-mentioned life areas. And some of these - especially affordable housing, accessible transportation, and access to health care — are more, not less, needed by those who have disabilities.

Jobs are the ticket to greater freedom, independence, and the chance to fully participate in and contribute to society.

The greatest single advance in the effort to ensure employment opportunities for people with disabilities was the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, which has since served to protect people with disabilities from hiring discrimination and unfair termination. This civil rights law is a key protection, but despite it, employment figures have not risen as significantly as hoped in the past decade. So long as millions of Americans are struggling to find jobs, every day should be Disability UN-Employment Awareness Day.

This Congressionally recognized month is a time to capture the public’s imagination and strive to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Success in this mission will have wide-rippling effects for America’s huge disability community, and beyond. More people with disabilities working means more consumers to put money back into the economy, more contributing taxpayers, and better use of the nation’s resources. It brings opportunities for employers as well: to tap into new sources of creativity, loyal employees, and expanded workforce and consumer diversity.

National Disability Mentoring Day
October 15, 2004

National Disability Mentoring Day promotes the employment of students and job-seekers with disabilities through job shadowing and personal mentoring. With leadership, coordination, and resource materials from the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), local communities organize activities that bring students and employers together for informational sessions about career opportunities and one-on-one mentoring with volunteers at public and private places of employment.

National Disability Mentoring Day enables students and job-seekers to spend part of a day visiting a business or government agency that matches their interests and have one-on-one time with volunteer mentors. It's an opportunity to underscore the connection between school and work, evaluate personal goals, target career skills for improvement, explore possible career paths, and develop lasting mentor relationships.

For more information on National Disability Mentoring Day, visit http://www.dmd-aapd.org.
Related link 1: Presidential Proclamation of NDEAM

Related link 2: Disability Mentoring Day Home Page

Point of Contact 1: U.S. DOL Office of Disability Employment Policy, http://www.dol.gov/odep/; Voice (202) 376-6200, TTY (202) 376-6205, Fax (202) 376-6219
"