More than 3.5 million Americans are on the autism spectrum. Helping them find the right employment should be a priority for recruiters.
The Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities, formed in September 2014 to map out solutions under the Rehabilitation Act of 2014, released the findings from its two-year study recently. Increasing competitive job opportunities for candidates with disabilities, extending the availability and use of technology that aids employees with disabilities, and improved oversight of hiring and HR practices are among the topics addressed in this study. The full report can be read here . It includes more than 120 pages of information, including recommendations for employers, educators and job seekers with disabilities.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs published on Dec. 9, 2011, a notice of proposed rule-making for Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These revisions are expected to take effect early in 2013. The proposed regulations are designed to help increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities with a national target of 7 percent of federal contractor employees. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show stark employment disparities: 79 percent of those with disabilities are outside the labor force, while 30 percent of those without disabilities are out of the labor force. In New ...
Tech companies create products with the consumer in mind, tasking a new smartphone, tablet, operating system or app, with a specific market demand. A number of companies, as well as individual entrepreneurs, focus on people living with disabilities. They create adaptive devices to help improve their customers' lives. Known as assistive technology, these gadgets include anything that helps a person complete everyday tasks, and they cover all ranges of complexity. We've rounded up 10 especially cool pieces of assistive tech that illustrate how advanced the space has become. There are pragmatic inventions, such as cars designed specifically for wheelchair users; ...
New efforts to raise job market awareness for those with disabilities struggling to find employment is coming at a critical time. The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) recently launched a new public service announcement on more than 1,400 television stations entitled “Because.” The ads are "intended to replace myths and misperceptions about disability employment with new views of what people with disabilities can do,” ODEP reports. Web users can watch the PSA at http://whatcanyoudocampaign.org . Job prospects for candidates with disabilities steadily improved in 2012, but 2013 has started badly. Unemployment among job seekers with disabilities spiked by 2% ...
Like most parents with a child with a disability, we share the same wish: to live just one day longer than our child. What happens after we are gone? Can we ever earn and save enough to provide our child a fulfilling life of health and safety? Our son, Austin, now 26, has autism. He began speaking at age 10 and has continued to surprise me in revealing his gifts. Early on when we were dreaming of lifetime goals for Austin, a driver’s license would have been the equivalent of a Ph.D. from MIT. A job that paid a living ...
One of the best experiences of my life was watching Jamie Smith, a young man with autism, leave his routine in Chicago, travel to the Special Olympics World Games in the chaotic Chinese city of Shanghai -- and succeed. Jamie's success -- managing in a foreign country and bringing home a silver medal -- was the result of one thing: hard work. And I've yet to meet a harder worker than him, or a person who more appreciates the opportunities a job presents. Our workplaces have grown diverse, but jobs remain far too scarce when it comes to people with ...
The Arc—"an advocacy organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities," as described by Susan Klingel, its executive director—serves more than 300 Alabama people by providing employment and through a residential program with more than 30 year-'round residents. And it's just one of 29 agencies served through this year's United Way Holiday Wishes program nationwide. For many of the Arc clients, the case was similar to the man awaiting an opportunity. "They had to stay at home, never be out in the community and have friends and have a meaningful job," Klingel says. "A meaningful job is so important." READ ...
In her column, Janet Fiore from RecruitDisability.org will answer reader questions about the issues they face finding employment. If you have a question, please submit it to: expertadvice@careercast.com Question: I am an Employment Counselor with the NYS Department of Labor. One of my clients has a visible learning disability and I am finding it very difficult to find employers for him. He has almost a lifetime of experience as a Sales Representative--he has never been directly involved in cash handling or with the register, but he has contributed in selling merchandise, calling in customers when their purchases are ready, and ...
About six months ago, Patrick Ross knew things had reached a breaking point at work. An angry email he had sent to a superior — combined with occasional temper flare-ups and brusque interactions with colleagues — was endangering his job of two years as deputy director of communication at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. So before a scheduled meeting with his boss about these problems, Ross decided he needed to reveal something he had not told anyone outside his immediate family — he was bipolar. He wrote down what he wanted to say and gave it to his supervisor ...