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CLINTON, BUSINESSES EXPAND EFFORT TO EMPLOY YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES

October 31, 2000

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to increase training and employment assistance for students with disabilities as they leave high school, President Clinton issued an executive order last week to expand the role of the National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities to include a focus on youth. The same day, 15 U.S. companies sent Clinton a letter pledging to recruit and employ more people with disabilities.

Both moves, recognizing National Disability Employment Month, are designed to improve on the wide employment gap between people with and without disabilities. According to a poll by Harris and Associates, only 32 percent of adults with disabilities work at least part-time, compared to 81 percent of the non-disabled population. More than two-thirds of those not employed say they would prefer to be working, Harris says. Under Clinton's new directive, federal agencies will increase their research, training and demonstration of effective practices for integrating youth with disabilities into the work force. Clinton also instructed the agencies to create a public awareness campaign to promote equal opportunity employment for youth with disabilities, increase their participation in postsecondary education and training programs and improve awareness of health insurance options.

SURVEY: LIFE FOR SOME WITH DISABILITIES IS IMPROVING, SLOWLY July 28, 2000

On the insurance front, the federal Healthy and Ready to Work Interagency Council recently posted new guidance on its web site to help students with disabilities evaluate their options as they move into the work force. The information includes instruction on how to obtain or maintain private or public health insurance coverage even when private, employer-provided coverage is not available because the applicant is employed part-time. "The potential loss of public health insurance coverage through Medicaid and the high costs and limited benefits packages of private insurance are often cited as key obstacles to employment for adults with disabilities," the council says.

Clinton's order also responds to a request from a group of high school students with disabilities for a federally funded Youth Advisory Council to assist in national efforts to boost employment of people with disabilities. Presenting their suggestions at the National Transition Summit on Young People with Disabilities in June, the students argued a task force could advise federal agencies on ways to facilitate self-advocacy and self-empowerment for youth with disabilities, establish a mentoring program and provide access to information about supports and services. How far Clinton's Youth Advisory Council will go toward those goals remains to be seen. The council will be funded and led by the Department of Labor and will advise the National Task Force regularly, according to Clinton's order.

YOUTH LEADERS VOW TO CONTINUE TRANSITION EFFORT June 24, 2000

In the private sector, heavy hitters AT&T and Microsoft led the group of companies promising to help increase employment for people with disabilities. "As CEOs of leading American businesses, one of our biggest challenges is recruiting and retaining workers with the skills needed for our firms to compete and win in the global marketplace," the corporate chiefs said in their letter to Clinton. "We believe that one of the ways to meet this challenge is to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities, especially since new information and communications technologies will make it even easier for people with disabilities to participate in the workforce."

The surging U.S. economy has increased the pressure on companies to build and maintain skilled, reliable work forces to keep up with demand for goods and services both here and abroad. Tapping the largely ignored population of people with disabilities, the companies acknowledged, is a simple and savvy solution. The group cited a long-term study by Dupont Corp. showing that employees with disabilities have above average records in job performance, dependability, attendance and safety. "Today's information technologies provide an unprecedented opportunity for people with disabilities to expand the scope of their contributions -- and for our companies to meet the growing demand for workers," the companies said.

The group promised to specifically target people with disabilities in their hiring efforts, similar to the way they focus on hiring minorities and women, "including, wherever appropriate, specific hiring targets," also known as quotas. They also agreed to recruit youth with disabilities through summer internships, mentoring programs, career awareness projects and community education programs that provide employment and leadership training. The group plans to partner with disability organizations to reduce barriers to employment and find more job candidates.

The letter also itemized a few adjustments the 15 companies plan to make in their internal operations to show they are more disability-friendly and improve the experience of people with disabilities on the job. For example, they pledged to include disability issues in their companies' diversity training programs, incorporate images of disability in their promotional and marketing materials and work harder to accommodate people with disabilities, including provide assistive technologies where needed, and include them in company programs and social events.

"Becoming gainfully employed gives people the economic means to become more fully integrated into our society and enhances one's sense of dignity," the companies said. "By hiring people with disabilities in our companies we can help change the social attitudes that continue to stand in the way of full inclusion of people with disabilities."

In addition to AT&T and Microsoft, the letter represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Johnson and Johnson, Hartford Life, Nickelodeon, Smartforce, consulting and public relations firms Bender Consulting Services, Booz-Allen Hamilton and Burson-Marsteller USA, pharmaceuticals firms SmithKline Beecham and Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, and high-tech firms Compaq Computer, Pitney Bowes and Verizon Communications.

In related news, the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, a federal agency separate from the National Task Force, has posted on its web site a disability employment education kit, Ability You Can Bank On. The online resource includes disability-friendly strategies for companies to follow, guidance on accommodating employees with "hidden disabilities" such as learning disabilities, mental illness, epilepsy and others, information on alternative dispute resolution and suggestions for career development and mentoring programs.8