Monday, April 19, 1998
Conference, job fair focus on disabled
Fear holds back potential employers
BY DEBORAH KENDRICK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
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To register
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For registration information or to reserve space as a recruiting employer, contact the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, 1331 F St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004, or call (202) 376-6200 voice, or (202) 376-6205 TTY.
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If you have a disability, you are in America's largest minority.
If you have a disability and have a job, you are in another one.
Despite anti-discrimination laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, only one-third of working-age Americans with disabilities are employed.
What's going on here? Sure, there are a certain number who, like their non-disabled counterparts, prefer doing nothing to doing something - if someone else doles out enough cash to live on. Those, however, are yet another minority.
For the most part, the explanation for such enormous unemployment is more complex. Work disincentives created by the Social Security Disability program make it next to impossible to ease slowly into the job market.
While recipients are allowed to receive benefits and earn at the same time, the allowable earnings are much less than the disability payments themselves. Thus, the leap from disability benefit income to earned income is almost impossible to make without financial penalty.
Employers' fear is another factor. Many employers are not aware that job accommodations rendering work sites accessible to people with disabilities often cost as little as $500, and that tax credits come with the hiring and accommodating of disabled workers.
Employers are afraid to make social or political mistakes in interviewing potential candidates. People with disabilities are unsure of how best to address the nature of personal disability. Fear breeds silence.
In May, the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, together with Johnson & Johnson, will sponsor a colossal attempt to beef up the numbers of workers with disabilities.
Following its national conference (''Tapping Worker Potential Through Technology,'' May 6-7 in New Orleans), the President's Committee will hold its second Employment Fair on May 8 in Washington, to bring together recruiters and potential workers with disabilities.
Last year, the employment fair drew more than 70 companies and 800 job seekers with disabilities. Planners expect this year's conference to be even larger.
The more than 20 workshops will focus on adaptive technology, cultural diversity, job accommodations, interviewing techniques and other job-seeking skills.
Exhibits will emphasize technology, too, with an array of products demonstrating the success that can occur with the right worker and appropriate accommodations.
Job seekers with degrees in accounting, finance, information technology, engineering, law, science, office support and more are encouraged to bring a supply of resumes and be prepared to interview with many recruiters.
Although job seekers must get themselves to the conference, there is no charge to attend the Employment Fair May 8. (The New Orleans conference has a registration fee of $125.)
On May 5 in Washington, the Subcommittee on Labor of the president's Committee, in conjunction with the AFL-CIO, will hold a symposium on how labor unions can accommodate workers with disabilities and be effective advocates for injured workers who wish to continue working.
Throughout the conference, national experts on disability law, workplace accommodations, and Workers' Compensation will be available.
Deborah Kendrick, a Cincinnati free-lance writer, is a nationally recognized advocate for people with disabilities. Write: Deborah Kendrick, Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202; e-mail: 71340.473@compuserve.com.
KENDRICK ARCHIVE
