July 2020 Newsletter
Indiana’s “Work to Include” Coalition
Advancing Employment for Individuals with Disabilities
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADA!
The following are reflections of the importance and impact of the ADA on the daily lives of people with disabilities.
Bonnie Bomer Reflects Upon her ADA Advocacy
In 1989 I got involved with the American Council for the Blind chapter in Detroit. They asked me to do some lobbying for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). I went to Washington, DC with a group of folks. We learned how to lobby, then went to Capitol Hill. We spoke with congressional aides about what the ADA would mean for us. I spoke about my difficulty finding a job, which was a real challenge. People thought because I had a guide dog and I couldn’t drive, then I couldn’t work.
I remember meeting Justin Dart and talking with him, leaders of the American Council for the Blind, and elected officials to share my experiences with not being able to get into buildings with my guide dog, not being able to access information due to my vision loss, and more. It was exciting and empowering that the various groups of people with disabilities got together and coalesced efforts to advocate for the passage of the ADA. Although people had different types of needs, we all had similar needs in terms of access.
I was not there when people with disabilities abandoned their wheelchairs for the historic “Capitol Hill Crawl” up the Capitol building steps to demonstrate that they could not access the building, but I sure heard about it. My daughter, who was 10 at the time, wrote to President Bush to say that the ADA would not only impact adults, but also her future as a person with low vision. She received a letter back, which she framed and still has today.
The ADA has had a tremendous impact on my life. For over thirty years, the ADA has enabled me to obtain employment and access public places, community services, public transportation and telecommunications. I am now able to work in the career of my choice, travel safely with my guide dog, enter public facilities and access information in usable formats. Not only have I received the benefits of these important civil rights laws; as a disability rights advocate, I have assisted other people with disabilities to learn about and to exercise their rights.
The ADA Generation by Zully Alvarado, Causes for Change International
Having lived with a disability thirty years before the ADA and thirty years with the passage of the ADA , I have witnessed and have taken part in many battles.
The ADA Generation has gained as a result of change in attitudes towards disability. People with disabilities in the past were seen as people who were sick, who would never get well save by a miracle. The prevailing attitude in society was that people with disabilities needed fixing— and that the cost of fixing would be enormous. To help cover these costs, we were used—on posters, radio, and television—with the aim of inspiring pity, of tugging on heart strings. As for those of us with disabilities, our disability was a source of guilt, blame, and shame.
Since then there has taken place, respecting people with disabilities and their concerns, a sea-change in the attitudes of the general public. The change in attitude was a consequence of the tireless efforts of the generation of warriors for the ADA, and created an enormous opening, for further reforms relating to the acceptance and integration of persons of acceptance into wider society. Those reforms, representing major victories achieved by the ADA warriors from which they could act from a position of greater strength, bequeathed to the current ADA generation a palpable sense of pride, self-confidence, and optimism
Of special importance has been the work of the various Independent Living Centers across the nation, which have served to work with people with disabilities to self-advocate relating to personal needs, transportation, employment, and community living. More people with disabilities occupy positions of leadership, more peer-to-peer support exists now, as does cross-disability advocacy.
FROM THE ADA GENERATION
by Jeffrey Scherer, pictured above.
I was 3 when the ADA was passed. I have lived most of my life with the benefits of the ADA. I received a good education. I was able to be in regular education classes. My parents advocated on a regular basis for me and now I am advocating for myself and others. I believe that if we do not keep pushing for full inclusion and acceptance the progress will be for not.
An Employer Perspective: An Excerpt from SHRM Magazine Article, The ADA at 30.
Employers have had to make many changes since the passage of the ADA. Accommodations in hiring and supporting employees with disabilities has made it so much more likely that people will be employed. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, employment for individuals had been improving. And one bit of good news is job loss among individuals with disabilities has been lower than for other groups. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the association representing Human Resource Professionals in the US, recently celebrated the passage of the ADA and share the need for even more work. The following is a short excerpt from the summer 2020 magazine.
“The ADA is a foundational workplace law, affecting work, workers and the workplace,” says Emily M. Dickens, SHRM’s corporate secretary, chief of staff and head of government affairs. “It informs compliance but, more importantly, workplace culture. SHRM seeks to keep the tenets of this law evergreen—continuing to work with HR professionals to implement best practices for inclusion and nondiscrimination as they seek talent wherever it is found.”
Thirty years later, “people with disabilities are still twice as likely to be unemployed” as those without disabilities, says Corinne Weible, co-director for the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology in Washington, D.C. “To close that gap, we all need to work together to make every workplace an inclusive workplace.”
#INCLUSIONWORKS
State Agency Updates
All state agencies serving people with disabilities are involved in Employment First Efforts. Work to Include will be featuring updates from agencies in coming newsletter. Thanks to Kelsi Linville, Bureau Chief, Adults with Mental Illness and Co-occurring Disorders and Theresa Koleszar, Director, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services for the first in the series.
The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction and the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services are working on increasing competitive employment for people with mental health disabilities. We know that employment leads to better health, and unemployment leads to poor health and social disconnection. Nationally, at least 85% of people with mental health disabilities in our public systems are unemployed. Research also shows that people with mental illness in these systems lose 10 to 25 years of life from modifiable health conditions.
Employment is a health intervention.
We are working collaboratively across agencies and departments to create policies and funding methods to support the services that persons with lived experience with a mental health diagnosis can access for an employment outcome. Indiana was successful in acquiring 300 hours of subject matter expertise during 2020 to help with this quest. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Office of Disability Employment Policy’s (ODEP’s) Visionary Opportunities to Increase Competitive Employment (VOICE), this project has two focus areas:
Prepare the policy and funding frameworks necessary to allow for the implementation of Individual Placement and Support (IPS), a successful evidence-based practice; and,
Leverage opportunities to collaborate with other initiatives aimed at improving employment outcomes, for example, the State As a Model Employer (SAME) and Employment First legislation.
Indiana is about six months into the project and has accessed the Subject Matter Experts to assist in researching how other states have established successful programs and the elements that must be in place to support individuals to have successful employment outcomes. The team is in the process of creating a series of videos to guide our thinking in how to shift from a medical model of treatment to a recovery model that includes employment as an integral part of wellness. Please look for more information later this year.
EVERYONE WINS WHEN EVERYONE’S IN
Our campaign to make sure ALL Indiana businesses are aware of resources available to hire individuals with disabilities has a theme, Everyone Wins When Everyone’s IN. Work to Include is working with our local coalitions to implement plans to conduct a public relations campaign and provide employers with the Work to Include Toolkit, a series of factsheets designed to inform and enlighten employers. The series covers 12 topics including: the Positive Impact of Hiring, Reasonable Accommodations, Talent Pipelines, and Establishing a Positive Disability Inclusion Culture. We plan to coincide the campaign with Disability Employment Awareness month in October. Check our website in September for tools we will share to get your campaign going.
HARRY'S STORY FROM VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA
Harry Probus, pictured above.
Harry Probus is the employee all employers want. He works at two restaurants and according to his bosses has the most amazing work ethic, showing up on time every day, always in uniform, and willing to do anything requested. The manager at Mark’s feed Store expands on how her expectations for him changed over time.
“Harry gained confidence and really picked up his workload. I noticed the kitchen staff leaning on Harry for help and soon the thought of disability was nonexistent. When Harry opens the back door, the whole store gets excited. Harry is not a worker with disabilities. He is a co-worker and an amazing friend. Harry made me a better person and a leader while helping my business daily. I will always be grateful for the lesson in humanity that I received.”
Indiana Governor’s Council needs Your Ideas!
The mission of the Indiana Governor’s Council is to advance the independence, productivity and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society. To do this, the Council identifies problems or needs that should be addressed. These problems or needs are agreed upon by our board members and identified in GCPD's 5-Year State Plan. The 5-Year State Plan Public Survey will be the first step in identifying problems and needs. The Council believes it is important to know what people like you find important. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share your important thoughts. The surveys are here:
CHECK US OUT…
Please help get the word out! Go to our Facebook and LinkedIN pages and share them widely. We hope you enjoy the access to employment-related content and are sure others will, too. Thanks!
HAVE AN EMPLOYMENT SUCCESS STORY YOU ARE WANTING TO SHARE?EMAIL SRINNE60@GMAIL.COM. SHORT, SWEET AND A PICTURE WOULD BE WONDERFUL!
Thank you!
For more information please contact our Co-Directors,
Pat Rogan, Professor, IUPUI School of Education at progan@iupui.edu
or
Susan Rinne, MPA at srinne60@gmail.com
