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Census data: US is diversifying, white population shrinking

No racial or ethnic group dominates for those under age 18, and white people declined in numbers for the first time on record in the overall U. S. population as the Hispanic and Asian populations boomed this past decade, according to the 2020 census data. The figures released Thursday by the U. S. Census Bureau offered the most detailed portrait yet of how the country has changed since 2010 and will also be instrumental in redrawing the nation’s political maps. The numbers are sure to set off an intense partisan battle over representation at a time of deep national division and fights over voting rights. The numbers could help determine control of the House in the 2022 elections and provide an electoral edge for years to come. The data also will shape how $1. 5 trillion in annual federal spending is distributed. The data offered a mirror not only into the demographic changes of the past decade, but also a glimpse of the future. To that end, they showed there is now no majority racial or ethnic group for people younger than 18, as the share of non Hispanic whites in the age group dropped from 53. 5% to 47. 3% over the decade. The share of children in the U. S. declined because of falling birth rates, while the share of adults grew, driven by aging baby boomers. Adults over 18 made up more than three quarters of the population in 2020, or 258. 3 million people, an increase of more than 10% from 2010. However, the population of children under age 18 dropped from 74. 2 million in 2010 to 73. 1 million in 2020. “If not for Hispanics, Asians, people of two or more races, those are the only groups underage that are growing,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program. “A lot of these young minorities are important for our future growth, not only for the child population but for our future labor force. ” The Asian and Hispanic populations burgeoned from 2010 to 2020, respectively increasing by around a third and almost a quarter over the decade. The Asian population reached 24 million people in 2020, and the Hispanic population hit 62. 1 million people. The Hispanic boom accounted for almost half of the overall U. S. population growth, which was the slowest since the Great Depression. By comparison, the non Hispanic growth rate over the decade was 4. 3%. The Hispanic share of the U. S. population grew to 18. 7% of the U. S. population, up from 16. 3% in 2010. “The 2020 Census confirmed what we have known for years the future of the country is Latino,” said Arturo Vargas, CEO of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund. The share of the white population fell from 63. 7% in 2010 to 57. 8% in 2020, the lowest on record, driven by falling birthrates among white women compared with Hispanic and Asian women. The number of non Hispanic white people shrank from 196 million in 2010 to 191 million. White people continue to be the most prevalent racial or ethnic group, though that changed in California, where Hispanics became the largest racial or ethnic group, growing from 37. 6% to 39. 4% over the decade, while the share of white people dropped from 40. 1% to 34. 7%. California, the nation’s most populous state, joined Hawaii, New Mexico and the District of Columbia as a place where non Hispanic white people are no longer the dominant group. “The U. S. population is much more multiracial and much more racially and ethnically diverse than what we have measured in the past,” said Nicholas Jones, a Census Bureau official. Some demographers cautioned that the white population was not shrinking as much as shifting to multiracial identities. The number of people who identified as belonging to two or more races more than tripled from 9 million people in 2010 to 33. 8 million in 2020. They now account for 10% of the U. S. population.

https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-census-2020-7264a653037e38df7ba67d3a324fc90d

Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Gets Innovative

wont be long before U. S. minorities are not in the minority anymore. Due to projected growth among Asian, Hispanic and multiracial groups, traditionally underrepresented populations will hit majority status by 2044, according to the Census Bureau. Smart companies reflect that reality in the collective makeup of their employees. Their leaders understand that yesterdays workforce cant lead them into tomorrow. We see diversity and inclusion as a business imperative, says Wanda Hope, chief diversity officer at Johnson & Johnson in New York City. That sentiment is shared by leaders at AT&T, where 42 percent of employees are people of color. It makes good business sense to have an employee base that looks like our customer base, says Cynthia Marshall, senior vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer at the Dallas based company. To truly serve the populations we want to serve, we need diverse groups of employees, suppliers and vendors. AT&T attracts a diverse pipeline of applicants by partnering with universities to help prepare minority students for work; it also supports underrepresented employees through mentorships and employee resource groups. ?The business case for attracting a wider range of employees will only get stronger as the country grows more diverse. If youre not good at attracting and retaining women and people of color, youre competing for an increasingly smaller portion of talent, says Joe Gerstandt, a diversity consultant based in Omaha, Neb. And thats a fundamentally flawed strategy. But diversity is not just about mirroring the countrys demographics. Its also about innovation and performance. Companies that exhibit gender and ethnic diversity are, respectively, 15 percent and 35 percent more likely to outperform those that dont, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. And research indicates that organizations with more racial and gender diversity bring in more sales revenue, more customers and higher profits. Diversity also matters at the top: McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile of executive board diversity had returns on equity that were 53 percent higher than those in the bottom quartile. Moreover, organizations with more female executives are more profitable, according to a 2016 analysis of more than 20,000 firms in 91 countries. Attracting, retaining and developing diverse professionals stirs innovation and drives growth, says Mike Dillon, chief diversity and inclusion officer for PwC in San Francisco. That statement is backed by decades of sociological and economic research, and there are myriad reasons it holds true. In part its because people with different backgrounds and perspectives bring different information to the table. Members of diverse teams cant take for granted that their teammates think the same way they do. That leads them to question their own assumptions and anticipate alternate viewpoints. The result? More creative ideas and solutions. Which is exactly what a company like Johnson & Johnson needs. Because we are an innovation company, we need a global workforce that not only represents our customers and patients but also constantly brings in new insights, says Peter Fasolo, chief human resources officer. At Johnson & Johnson, the hiring and promotion of diverse employees is factored into the determination of managers annual bonuses.

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0217/Pages/Disrupting-Diversity-In-The-Workplace.aspx

Future immigration will change the face of America by 2065

A snapshot of the United States in 2065 would show a nation that has 117 million more people than today, with no racial or ethnic majority group taking the place of today’s white majority, according to new Pew Research Center projections. About one in three Americans would be an immigrant or have immigrant parents, compared with one in four today. Share of Immigrants and Their Children on the Rise These projections show that new immigrants and their descendants will drive most U. S. population growth in the coming 50 years, as they have for the past half century. Among the projected 441 million Americans in 2065, 78 million will be immigrants and 81 million will be people born in the U. S. to immigrant parents. The projected changes in population makeup could have implications in a variety of realms, changing the face of the electorate, raising the education levels among the foreign born population and altering the nation’s birth patterns. By 2065, No Racial or Ethnic Group Will Be a Majority Non Hispanic whites will remain the largest racial or ethnic group in the overall population but will become less than a majority, the projections show. Currently 62% of the population, they will make up 46% of it in 2065. Hispanics will be 24% of the population , Asians will be 14% and blacks will be 13% . The U. S. electorate already is more diverse than ever, and the projected demographic changes would produce a rising share of non white potential voters. One important factor is the rising age of the second generation – people born in the U. S. to at least one immigrant parent. Currently, a large share is not yet eligible to vote. This group’s median age is 19, meaning half are younger and half are older. But by 2065, their median age will be 36, according to the new projections. The projected rise of Asians as the nation’s largest immigrant group has its own implications, among them potentially increased education levels. Among immigrants who arrived within the past five years, Asians already outnumber Hispanics, in part because of a sharp recent drop in immigration from Mexico. This slowed Hispanic immigration also will have a longer term impact: In 2065, Asians will outnumber Hispanics among all immigrants – 38% to 31%. The increased share of Asian immigrants among all immigrants means that education levels of the foreign born population could rise sharply, because Asian immigrants tend to be better educated. Among recent immigrants from Asia, for example, 57% have completed college, compared with 13% for recent Mexican immigrants and 28% for immigrants from other Central or South American nations.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/05/future-immigration-will-change-the-face-of-america-by-2065/

Early Benchmarks Show ‘Post-Millennials’ on Track to Be Most Diverse, Best-Educated Generation Yet

As a new generation of Americans begins to take shape and move toward adulthood, there is mounting interest in their attitudes, behaviors and lifestyle. But how will this generation change the demographic fabric of the United States? A new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data finds that the “post Millennial” generation is already the most racially and ethnically diverse generation, as a bare majority of 6 to 21 year olds are non Hispanic whites. And while most are still pursuing their K 12 education, the oldest post Millennials are enrolling in college at a significantly higher rate than Millennials were at a comparable age. The parents of post Millennials are more well educated than the parents of Millennials and those of previous generations, and this pattern most likely contributes to the relative affluence of the households in which post Millennials live. More than four in ten post Millennials are living with at least one parent who has a bachelor’s degree or more education. Roughly a third of Millennials in 2002 had a parent with this level of education. The high school dropout rate for the oldest post Millennials is significantly lower than that of similarly aged Millennials in 2002. And among those who were no longer in high school in 2017, 59% were enrolled in college – higher than the enrollment rate for 18 to 20 year old Millennials in 2002 and Gen Xers in 1986 . The changing patterns in educational attainment are driven in part by the shifting origins of young Hispanics. Post Millennial Hispanics are less likely than Millennial Hispanics to be immigrants – 12% of post Millennial Hispanics were born outside the U. S. , compared with 24% of Millennial Hispanics in 2002. Previous research has shown that second generation Hispanic youth tend to go further in school than foreign born Hispanic youth. That is borne out in this analysis, as 61% of second generation Hispanics ages 18 to 20 who were no longer in high school were enrolled in college in 2017, compared with 40% of their foreign born counterparts. Overall, the share of post Millennial Hispanics enrolled in college is significantly higher than the rate for Millennials in 2002 . 1 More broadly, the post Millennial generation is being shaped by changing immigration patterns. Immigration flows into the U. S. peaked in 2005, when the leading edge of the post Millennial generation was age 8 or younger. The onset of the Great Recession and the large decline in employment led to fewer immigrants coming to the United States, including immigrant children. As a result, the post Millennial generation has fewer foreign born youth among its ranks than the Millennial generation did in 2002 and a significantly higher number who were born in the U. S. to immigrant parents, though this may change depending on future immigration flows.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/11/15/early-benchmarks-show-post-millennials-on-track-to-be-most-diverse-best-educated-generation-yet/

Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation

Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living adult generation, according to population estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau. As of July 1, 2019 , Millennials, whom we define as ages 23 to 38 in 2019, numbered 72. 1 million, and Boomers numbered 71. 6 million. Generation X numbered 65. 2 million and is projected to pass the Boomers in population by 2028. The Millennial generation continues to grow as young immigrants expand its ranks. Boomers – whose generation was defined by the boom in U. S. births following World War II – are aging and their numbers shrinking in size as the number of deaths among them exceeds the number of older immigrants arriving in the country. Population figures for 2019 and earlier years are based on Census Bureau population estimates . Population sizes for 2020 to 2050 are based on Census Bureau population projections released in 2017 . Live births by year are published by the National Vital Statistics System of the National Center for Health Statistics. This post was originally published on Jan. 16, 2015, under the title “This year, Millennials will overtake Baby Boomers. ” It was updated April 25, 2016, to reflect the changing population, under the headline “Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation” This reflected the Center’s definition of Millennials at the time . A third revision published March 1, 2018, reflected the Center’s newly revised definition, under which Millennial births end in 1996. Under that new definition, the Millennial population was smaller than that of Boomers, resulting in the headline “Millennials projected to overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation. ”

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/

Meet the US workforce of the future: Older, more diverse, and more educated Deloitte Review, issue 21

ARE you a US based organization searching for tomorrow’s workers? Look around your workplace. The oldest Millennials are just 37, and will likely keep working for several decades. 1 The demographic changes that determine many of the key characteristics of the workforce happen slowly. But they happen. Over time, those demographic shifts can compound to make a big difference. It’s a difference we can already see. The main long term changes in the workforce are, in fact, not new; employers have been adjusting to them for decades. Yet they can have real implications for how organizations approach everything, from workforce planning to diversity initiatives. They are: The US workforce is aging, and it will continue to age. That’s partly because of low birth rates but it’s also because people more often continue to work even as they get older. If 70 is the new 50, we shouldn’t be surprised to find more 70 year olds working. That’s already been happening, and it is expected to happen even more in the future. The US workforce is becoming more diverse. Changing immigration patterns and the entrance of more women into the labor force started this process in the 1960s, and it will likely continue. If current trends continue, tomorrow’s workforce will be even more diverse than today’s by gender, by ethnicity, by culture, by religion, by sexual preference and identification, and perhaps by other characteristics we don’t even know about right now. Americans continue to become more educated. Like all demographic processes, the slow rate of the change may make it less than obvious to employers who are coping with fast change in production technologies. But more and more young people are going to college, and many workers are increasingly trying to improve their educational background mid career. One could say that tomorrow’s workers will be much like today’s but more so. And the challenges and benefits of an aging, diverse, and educated workforce, many of which are already evident, will likely only grow in the future. Changing population, changing workforce With Millennials who represent the largest labor market share of any single generation holding center stage, and Generation Z now entering from the wings, one might think that the US workforce of the future will be increasingly tilted toward younger workers. 2 However, on the whole, projections suggest that America’s future workforce will be older than the current workforce, just as it is expected to be increasingly female and more racially and ethnically diverse. This age shift in the workforce mainly results from increased population and labor force participation among older age cohorts, combined with declining population and labor force participation of the youngest cohort. As shown in table 1, the three oldest cohorts are projected to increase their labor force participation rates through 2024, just as they have over the prior 20 year period. The labor force participation rate of the large middle section of the labor force, 25 to 54, is expected to rebound slightly, after 20 years of decline. The labor force participation of the youngest cohort, 16 to 24, is expected to continue trending down, as more young people stay in school longer, as we discuss later. When the projected labor force participation rates of each cohort are multiplied by the cohort’s population size, the overall picture, shown in the last row of table 1, indicates a continued decline in the participation rate.

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/deloitte-review/issue-21/meet-the-us-workforce-of-the-future.html

Women in Tech Statistics Show the Industry Has a Long Way to Go

Let’s face it, tech still has an issue with gender diversity. The tech sector sadly lags behind the rest of the job market when it comes to hiring women. As the percentage of employed women across all job sectors in the US has grown to 47%, the five largest tech companies on the planet only have a workforce of about 34. 4% women. While controversial technologies or flashy CEOs get most of the negative airtime, it’s the lack of women in the tech industry that seems to be the largest problem looming overhead. Why are many women not able to get into a managerial or technical role? One answer could be “the broken rung. ” Women currently remain highly underrepresented in software engineering and computer science related jobs . In fact, women software engineer hires have only increased 2% over the last 21 years. Instead of talking about “glass ceilings,” we should acknowledge that women have a much larger barrier at being hired for technical entry level positions. This “broken rung” in the career ladder already puts women at a disadvantage, which leads tech companies into a cycle of hiring employees with the same gender and race . It unfortunately gets even more discouraging for women of color in the workplace. Though Asian women, black women and Latinas report the desire to be promoted more than white men or women, they’re still often promoted less. The “broken rung” is even more broken for women of color, who only make up 18% of entry level positions, as opposed to 30% of white women and 35% of white men. We have a tough road ahead towards creating gender and racial equality in the tech workplace.  “[Gender inequality] should shame us all in the 21st century because it is not only unacceptable, it is stupid” UN Chief Antonio Guterres.  Covid 19 has challenged just about every notion of life, so how about women in technology? First, it’s reported that 57% of women have felt burned out from the mandatory work from home caused by the pandemic. This burnout, from struggling to balance being both a working professional and a functioning parent, is leading to a mass exodus of women from the workforce. In 2020 alone, 1. 2 million parents exited the workforce with a staggering three quarters of those people being women. A large portion of those who have stayed in the workforce are reporting that being behind screens has caused a regression of gender parity that was pacing in the right direction pre pandemic. The pandemic has challenged everyone, but it seems to have hit working mothers in tech especially hard.

https://builtin.com/women-tech/women-in-tech-workplace-statistics

Gender discrimination comes in many forms for today’s working women

About four in ten working women in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender. They report a broad array of personal experiences, ranging from earning less than male counterparts for doing the same job to being passed over for important assignments, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data. The survey – conducted in the summer before a recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations against prominent men in politics, the media and other industries – found that, among employed adults, women are about twice as likely as men to say they have experienced at least one of eight specific forms of gender discrimination at work. One of the biggest gender gaps is in the area of income: One in four working women say they have earned less than a man who was doing the same job; one in twenty working men say they have earned less than a female peer. Women are roughly four times as likely as men to say they have been treated as if they were not competent because of their gender , and they are about three times as likely as men to say they have experienced repeated small slights at work because of their gender . There are significant gaps on other items as well. While 15% of working women say they have received less support from senior leaders than a man who was doing the same job, only 7% of working men report having a similar experience. One in ten working women say they have been passed over for the most important assignments because of their gender, compared with 5% of men. The survey, which was conducted July 11 Aug. 10, 2017, with a nationally representative sample of 4,914 adults , also asked about sexual harassment in a separate question. It found that while similar shares of women and men say sexual harassment is at least a small problem in their workplace , women are about three times as likely as men to have experienced it personally while at work . In more recent surveys conducted by other organizations, the share of women reporting personal experiences with sexual harassment has fluctuated, depending in part on how the question was asked. In an ABC News/Washington Post survey conducted Oct. 12 15, for example, 54% of women said they have received unwanted sexual advances from a man that they felt were inappropriate whether or not those advances were work related; 30% said this had happened to them at work. In an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted Nov. 13 15, 35% of women said they have personally experienced sexual harassment or abuse from someone in the workplace. The Center’s survey asked about sexual harassment specific to the workplace. The survey was conducted as part of a broader forthcoming study on women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/12/14/gender-discrimination-comes-in-many-forms-for-todays-working-women/

What Is Gender Bias in the Workplace?

Bias is prevalent in every aspect of our lives. Our brains are hardwired to categorize things we encounter in order to make sense of the complicated world around us. However, biases can cause us to form prejudices against others, which allows for egregious inequalities to form between different demographics. While bias comes in many forms, this article focuses on gender bias and its role within the workplace. Well cover what it is, where and when it happens, along with 13 ways you can reduce gender bias and ultimately build a more diverse and inclusive workplace. It should be noted that while there is a spectrum of gender identities, due to constraints within existing literature we’ll focus on the gender binaries ? male and female. Feel free to click the links below to skip ahead. An in depth analysis of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology industry.  Table of ContentsGender bias is the tendency to prefer one gender over another.  

https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion/gender-bias-in-the-workplace

How stereotypes impair women’s careers in science

Does discrimination contribute to the low percentage of women in mathematics and science careers? We designed an experiment to isolate discrimination’s potential effect. Without provision of information about candidates other than their appearance, men are twice more likely to be hired for a mathematical task than women. If ability is self reported, women still are discriminated against, because employers do not fully account for men’s tendency to boast about performance. Providing full information about candidates’ past performance reduces discrimination but does not eliminate it. We show that implicit stereotypes predict not only the initial bias in beliefs but also the suboptimal updating of gender related expectations when performance related information comes from the subjects themselves. Abstract Women outnumber men in undergraduate enrollments, but they are much less likely than men to major in mathematics or science or to choose a profession in these fields. This outcome often is attributed to the effects of negative sex based stereotypes. We studied the effect of such stereotypes in an experimental market, where subjects were hired to perform an arithmetic task that, on average, both genders perform equally well. We find that without any information other than a candidate’s appearance , both male and female subjects are twice more likely to hire a man than a woman. The discrimination survives if performance on the arithmetic task is self reported, because men tend to boast about their performance, whereas women generally underreport it. The discrimination is reduced, but not eliminated, by providing full information about previous performance on the task. By using the Implicit Association Test, we show that implicit stereotypes are responsible for the initial average bias in sex related beliefs and for a bias in updating expectations when performance information is self reported. That is, employers biased against women are less likely to take into account the fact that men, on average, boast more than women about their future performance, leading to suboptimal hiring choices that remain biased in favor of men.

https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/03/05/1314788111

The female CEOs on this year’s Fortune 500 just broke three all-time records

In 2021, the number of women running businesses on the Fortune 500 hit an all time record: 41. But thats not all. For the first time two Black women are running Fortune 500 businesses . And another executive is making history at the helm of the highest ranking business ever run by a female CEO . These three milestones together amount to an exceptional year for the leadership of the Fortune 500, which ranks Americas largest companies. The 67 year old list has long been seen as a microcosm of U. S. business at large. For that reason, the number of female chief executives on the ranking is a closely watched statistic among those who track gender diversity in boardrooms and C suites across the country. While these achievements are notable, theyre only part of the story. Having a total of 41 women chief executives amounts to female leadership for just 8. 1% of the Fortune 500. Says Lorraine Hariton, CEO of the gender equality organization Catalyst, We need to tell the optimistic but not exuberant story around whats happening for women. A watershed moment The number of women running Fortune 500 companies is influenced by several factors, including executive leadership changes and companies either growing large enough to make the list, or shrinking to fall off it. So while the ever vacillating number is not a scientific assessment of the state of women in American business, it does provide a useful snapshot. That snapshot had a watershed moment this year, when former Aetna president Karen Lynch took over as the CEO of CVS Health in February . With CVS ranked No. 4 on this years list, the $268 billion retail pharmacy turned health care giant is now the largest company ever to be run by a female chief executive. That distinction was previously held by General Motors in 2014, when the automaker, led by CEO Mary Barra at the time and now ranked No. 22, was listed at No. 6.

https://fortune.com/2021/06/02/female-ceos-fortune-500-2021-women-ceo-list-roz-brewer-walgreens-karen-lynch-cvs-thasunda-brown-duckett-tiaa/

Percentage of the U.S. population with a college degree, by gender 1940-2020

In an impressive increase from years past, 38. 3 percent of women in the United States had completed four years or more of college in 2020. This figure is up from 3. 8 percent of women in 1940. A significant increase can also be seen in males, with 36. 7 percent of the U. S. male population having completed four years or more of college in 2020, up from 5. 5 percent in 1940. 4 and 2 year colleges In the United States, college students are able to choose between attending a 2 year postsecondary program and a 4 year postsecondary program. Generally, attending a 2 year program results in an Associate’s Degree, and 4 year programs result in a Bachelor’s Degree. Many 2 year programs are designed so that attendees can transfer to a college or university offering a 4 year program upon completing their Associate’s. Completion of a 4 year program is the generally accepted standard for entry level positions when looking for a job. Earnings after college Factors such as gender, degree achieved, and the level of postsecondary education can have an impact on employment and earnings later in life. Some Bachelor’s degrees continue to attract more male students than female, particularly in STEM fields, while liberal arts degrees such as education, languages and literatures, and communication tend to see higher female attendance. All of these factors have an impact on earnings after college, and despite nearly the same rate of attendance within the American population between males and females, men with a Bachelor’s Degree continue to have higher weekly earnings on average than their female counterparts.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/

Employee Resource Groups Are Essential. But Is Yours Effective?

Michael Harris, senior manager in delivery management at Avanade, has worked at the global professional services and IT consultancy for 11 years. Harris, who is Black, joined three of Avanade’s employee networks internal groups for employees who identify as members or allies of a certain demographic. Harris allied with Adelante, for Latinx employees; Prism, for LGBTQ+ employees; and the women’s network.  He didn’t join the network for Black employees because one did not exist. “I never really had an opportunity to connect with people who look like me,” Harris said.  In February of 2014, he met with Avanade’s lead for inclusion and diversity and shared his vision for a network for Black employees. In May of 2019, Harris and 50 other Avanade employees unveiled INSPIRE. Today, INSPIRE has 400 Black members and allies who connect and host events, including a June 2020 celebration of Juneteenth, which marks the day the last enslaved people in the United States learned of the Emancipation Proclamation. Membership in employee networks, also known as employee resource groups or affinity groups, connects employees with like minded people throughout their organization and builds solid career skills, too. Starting INSPIRE, for instance, helped Harris sharpen skills such as taking meeting minutes, presenting to large audiences and organizing events.  Professional development is one reason Seattle based Avanade began setting up employee networks in 2013. The Latinx network hosts a quarterly Latinx Leader panel, where senior leaders share their paths and offer advice to attendees, said Hallam Sargeant, chief inclusion and diversity officer. Mentoring is a big part of the networks, “because we know that finding a mentor who shares your background and lived experiences is rare and extremely impactful,” Sargeant said. The networks also give employees from underrepresented groups a chance to gain visibility and leadership development opportunities. Instead of employee resource groups, Chicago based fintech company M1 Finance established task forces.  “ERGs sometimes don’t make tangible differences,” said Maria Selvaggio, vice president of people at M1. “We wanted people to see the effects of what they are doing. ” The company employs 200 people, 164 of whom are members of at least one task force. In a recent office poll, 80 percent of employees called their task force involvement the most important or a very important aspect of their work at M1, Selvaggio said.  

https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion/employee-resource-groups

How These Tech Companies Get More Women Into Leadership

Ask Robin Ducot the secret to her success in becoming a CTO, and her reply? She didn’t know better.  “My dad was an engineer, and my mom ran a research team at MIT involving distributed systems. I also went to a high school that offered programming long before it was commonplace,” Ducot told Built In. “Not only did I start programming when I was a kid, I had a strong female technical role model so I just never knew I wasn’t supposed to do this kind of job. ”Ducot, a high ranking tech executive at San Mateo, California based AI company Momentive, formerly known as SurveyMonkey, is part of an executive group where half of her company’s senior vice presidents and C level executives are women in leadership roles  a rarity among the male dominated tech industry.  “When people used to ask Ruth Bader Ginsburg how many women would be enough on the Supreme Court, she famously said, ‘When there are nine. ’ We had decades of exclusively white male tech leadership teams, and no one blinked an eye until recently,” said Ducot. “I’d love to see more companies that are 100 percent women. Until then, I guess we’ll have to settle for 50 50. ” Last year, women represented only 25. 2 percent of the nation’s computer and mathematical workforce even though they accounted for 46. 8 percent of the overall U. S. workforce, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And when it comes to Fortune 500 CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs, women comprised only 22 percent of the top tech positions last year, according to Boardroom Insiders’ 2021 report.  But despite such a low percentage of women in tech leadership roles, some companies like Momentive, Intuit and Workday have managed to onboard leadership teams of 30 percent or more who are women. Like all strategies, they’re born out of a desire to achieve or fix something. So when it comes to increasing the number of women in leadership roles, these companies point to the benefits of attracting and retaining more women at their companies, such as, providing a diversity of thought when developing products and services for customers and creating an inclusive environment.

https://builtin.com/women-tech/women-in-leadership

Women in the Workplace 2021

A year and a half into the COVID 19 pandemic, women have made important gains in representation, and especially in senior leadership. But the pandemic continues to take a toll. Women are now significantly more burned out and increasingly more so than men. Despite this added stress and exhaustion, women are rising to the moment as stronger leaders and taking on the extra work that comes with this: compared to men at the same level, women are doing more to support their teams and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. They are also more likely than men to practice allyship. Yet this critical work is going unrecognized and unrewarded by most companies, and that has concerning implications. Companies risk losing the very leaders they need right now, and it’s hard to imagine organizations navigating the pandemic and building inclusive workplaces if this work isn’t truly prioritized. There is also a disconnect between companies’ growing commitment to racial equity and the lack of improvement we see in the day to day experiences of women of color. Women of color face similar types and relative frequencies of microaggressions as they did two years ago and they remain far more likely than white women to be on the receiving end of disrespectful and “othering” behavior. And while more white employees see themselves as allies to women of color, they are no more likely than last year to speak out against discrimination, mentor or sponsor women of color, or take other actions to advocate for them. The impact of the last year and half on women is still far from clear. But the risks to women and the companies that depend on their leadership are very real. Read the full report Express interest in the 2022 study Women in the Workplace is the largest study on the state of women in corporate America. Based on data from 423 companies employing 12 million people, this year’s report features:It’s clear from this year’s report that there’s a gap between intent and action when it comes to allyship. LeanIn. Org’s new Allyship at Work program is designed to close this gap and empower employees to take meaningful action as allies. Ninety four percent of program participants feel more equipped to practice allyship and would recommend the program to a colleague. Find out why organizations like Adidas, Walmart, and WeWork are using the program and how you can bring it to your company at leanin. org/allyshipatwork. McKinsey & Company offers an award winning executive training program to equip diverse leaders in the U. S. and Europe with the network, capabilities, and mindsets needed to achieve their professional goals. Since launching its Black Leadership Academy in September 2020, McKinsey has enrolled 17,000 participants from more than 500 organizations. In 2021, McKinsey also launched the Black Economic Mobility Institute to examine the economic context and opportunities of Black and African Americans. This fall McKinsey & Company will launch the Hispanic and Latino Leadership Academy and an Asian Leadership Academy. Visit mckinsey. com/featured insights/diversity and inclusion to explore McKinsey’s full collection of research and insights on DEI.

https://womenintheworkplace.com

Research: Women Ask for Raises as Often as Men, but Are Less Likely to Get Them

Previous research has found that women are less likely to initiate salary negotiations than men are. But a new study of Australian women found no gender differences in negotiation behavior. Women were just as likely as men were to ask for higher salaries, and men and women were equally likely to report avoiding negotiations if they feared it would hurt their relationship with their boss. It’s possible that women’s behavior is changing; it’s also possible that this study is more accurate, since the dataset is based on real world behavior, not surveys or lab experiments. The bad news? While women ask just as often as men, women are less likely to get what they ask for. It’s a concrete fact that women earn less than men do. The true gender pay gap is not known with certainty, but, when comparing equally qualified people doing the same job, most estimates by labor economists put it at 10% – 20%. The crucial question remains its cause. One common explanation is that women are less likely to negotiate their salaries. We’ve seen this in both bestselling business memoirs like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In and in previous studies like the research based Women Don’t Ask. Gaining access to a more recent, and more detailed, dataset allowed us to investigate this question anew. What we found contradicts previous research. The bottom line of our study is that women do “ask” just as often as men. They just don’t “get. ”Even we were surprised by the results. We had expected to find less asking by the females. Instead, we found that, holding background factors constant, women ask for a raise just as often as men, but men are more likely to be successful. Women who asked obtained a raise 15% of the time, while men obtained a pay increase 20% of the time. While that may sound like a modest difference, over a lifetime it really adds up. We also examined the idea that women act less assertively in negotiations for fear of upsetting the relationship with their boss or colleagues . We found no support for this in our data. Instead, we found that although employees do sometimes say that they do not ask for a raise because of concern for their relationships in the workplace, this is equally true of men and women. Both 14% of males and 14% of females say they have done this. In our project, we examined 4,600 randomly selected employees across 800 workplaces. The sample is from Australia and the survey was completed in 2014. To our knowledge, it is the only nation with really good information on “asking” behavior. Although a small country, it arguably has the interesting advantage for our work that it is representative of a mixture of cultures . Most of the statistical sources used by management researchers and labor economists do not record “asking” behavior, and do not record people’s motivations for refraining from asking. But our dataset did have this information. First, the individuals in our data were questioned in detail about their motives, behavior, and histories. Unlike in standard data sources, therefore, it is in principle feasible  admittedly in an imperfect way  to inquire into why women and men choose to act in the ways observed. Second, our data are from matched worker employer surveys in which random samples of male and female employees can be studied. This is a valuable feature, as it makes it possible to control for a large number of background factors about workplaces that are not observable to the statistical investigator, and would be impossible to allow for properly in many conventional statistical sources.

https://hbr.org/2018/06/research-women-ask-for-raises-as-often-as-men-but-are-less-likely-to-get-them

Race and underemployment in the US labor market

Guidance for the Brookings community and the public on our response to the coronavirus »Learn more from Brookings scholars about the global response to coronavirus » Each month a new reading of the unemployment rate helps us assess the health of the labor market. However, as many have pointed out, the unemployment rate is in some ways a narrow measure of the labor market that misses important aspects of labor market distress. A broader indicator of labor market weakness called the underemployment rate and in Bureau of Labor Statistics jargon referred to as the U 6 unemployment rate takes into account some of this additional distress. Examining both unemployment and underemployment is useful for analyzing different aspects of the labor market, and, as shown below, it can reveal dramatic racial disparities.  In addition to the number of unemployed , the underemployment rate captures the number of people who work part time but would rather have a full time job  and those who want and can take a job but have not looked for work in the past four weeks .  These groups make sense to include in a measure of underemployment because while they are not unemployed in the formal sense, they would work more if the option presented itself.  While the unemployed are often those most ready to take new jobs, workers who are marginally attached and part time for economic reasons also stand ready to take full time employment when employers are hiring. At its peak in the wake of the Great Recession, the underemployment rate was 17. 1 percent in October 2009, indicating that more than one in six people were experiencing some sort of labor market hardship . This was far above the 10. 0 percent unemployment rate at the time and demonstrates the wide swath of individuals who were in labor market distress in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Since then the underemployment rate has steadily declined, and is now below its prerecession low, but it did not fall below its prerecession low for nearly a year after the unemployment rate did.  In addition, at 7. 2 percent in June 2019, the underemployment rate is nearly double the June 2019 unemployment rate of 3. 7 percent.  This makes clear that while a relatively small percentage of people are both out of work and currently searching for a job, there is still a considerable amount of underutilized labor and many people for whom the labor market is not providing adequate opportunities.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/08/01/race-and-underemployment-in-the-u-s-labor-market/

There Are Only 4 Black Fortune 500 CEOs

In spite of all the progress made in Black representation in America, these advances have yet to translate to the C suite in corporate America. With the resignation of Tapestry CEO Jide Zeitlin in July 2020, the number of Black CEOs among the Fortune 500 dropped to a woeful four. One person will soon be added to that list as Rosalind Brewer, Starbucks’ chief operating officer, will take over as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. She will be leaving Starbucks at the end of February and will then be the only Black woman CEO at a Fortune 500 company. Unfortunately, this list will shrink again when Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier retires in June 2021. Find Out: 25 Biggest Companies You’ve Never Heard OfOver the complete history of the Fortune 500, which dates back to 1999, there have only been a total of 18 Black CEOs leading America’s Fortune 500 companies. The peak year for representation was 2012, when a still anemic total of six Black CEOs led corporate America’s most prominent companies. As Black History Month unfolds, it’s a good time to take a closer look at the four Black CEOs paving the way for future leaders of color. Last updated: Feb. 16, 2021Before he began his executive career, Marvin Ellison earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Memphis, followed by an MBA at Emory University. Ellison then served 15 years in a variety of operational and leadership roles at Target before moving on to Home Depot, where he spent an additional 12 years in high level operations roles. Ellison’s first stint as a CEO came when he took the reins at J. C. Penney, where he also served as chairman. After reducing debt and generating positive sales and earnings growth, he moved on to the position he now holds at Lowe’s. See: What’s Next for Disney and Other Big Companies in 2021

https://www.yahoo.com/now/only-4-black-fortune-500-200024302.html

Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers

We study the results of a massive nationwide correspondence experiment sending more than 83,000 fictitious applications with randomized characteristics to geographically dispersed jobs posted by 108 of the largest U. S. employers. Distinctively Black names reduce the probability of employer contact by 2. 1 percentage points relative to distinctively white names. The magnitude of this racial gap in contact rates differs substantially across firms, exhibiting a between company standard deviation of 1. 9 percentage points. Despite an insignificant average gap in contact rates between male and female applicants, we find a between company standard deviation in gender contact gaps of 2. 7 percentage points, revealing that some firms favor male applicants while others favor women. Company specific racial contact gaps are temporally and spatially persistent, and negatively correlated with firm profitability, federal contractor status, and a measure of recruiting centralization. Discrimination exhibits little geographical dispersion, but two digit industry explains roughly half of the cross firm variation in both racial and gender contact gaps. Contact gaps are highly concentrated in particular companies, with firms in the top quintile of racial discrimination responsible for nearly half of lost contacts to Black applicants in the experiment. Controlling false discovery rates to the 5% level, 23 individual companies are found to discriminate against Black applicants. Our findings establish that discrimination against distinctively Black names is concentrated among a select set of large employers, many of which can be identified with high confidence using large scale inference methods.

https://www.nber.org/papers/w29053

Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation

Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living adult generation, according to population estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau. As of July 1, 2019 , Millennials, whom we define as ages 23 to 38 in 2019, numbered 72. 1 million, and Boomers numbered 71. 6 million. Generation X numbered 65. 2 million and is projected to pass the Boomers in population by 2028. The Millennial generation continues to grow as young immigrants expand its ranks. Boomers – whose generation was defined by the boom in U. S. births following World War II – are aging and their numbers shrinking in size as the number of deaths among them exceeds the number of older immigrants arriving in the country Because generations are analytical constructs, it takes time for popular and expert consensus to develop as to the precise boundaries that demarcate one generation from another. In early 2018, Pew Research Center assessed demographic, labor market, attitudinal and behavioral measures to establish an endpoint – albeit inexact – for the Millennial generation. Under this updated definition, the youngest “Millennial” was born in 1996. Here’s a look at some generational projections. Millennials With immigration adding more numbers to this group than any other, the Millennial population is projected to peak in 2033, at 74. 9 million. Thereafter, the oldest Millennial will be at least 52 years of age and mortality is projected to outweigh net immigration. By 2050 there will be a projected 72. 2 million Millennials. Generation X For a few more years, Gen Xers are projected to remain the “middle child” of generations – caught between two larger generations, the Millennials and the Boomers. Gen Xers were born during a period when Americans were having fewer children than in later decades. When Gen Xers were born, births averaged around 3. 4 million per year, compared with the 3. 9 million annual rate from 1981 to 1996 when the Millennials were born. Gen Xers are projected to outnumber Boomers in 2028, when there will be 63. 9 million Gen Xers and 62. 9 million Boomers. The Census Bureau estimates that the Gen X population peaked at 65. 6 million in 2015. Baby Boomers Baby Boomers have always had an outsize presence compared with other generations. They peaked at 78. 8 million in 1999 and remained the largest living adult generation until 2019. By midcentury, the Boomer population is projected to dwindle to 16. 2 million.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/28/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers-as-americas-largest-generation/

Employment Situation of Veterans Summary

The unemployment rate for veterans who served on active duty in the U. S. Armed Forces at any time since September 2001 a group referred to as Gulf War era II veterans declined to 4. 6 percent in 2021, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate for all veterans decreased to 4. 4 percent in 2021. In August 2021, 44 percent of Gulf War era II veterans had a service connected disability, compared with 27 percent of all veterans. This information was obtained from the Current Population Survey , a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households that provides data on employment, unemployment, and persons not in the labor force in the United States. Data about veterans are collected monthly in the CPS; these monthly data are the source of the 2021 annual averages presented in this news release. In August 2021, a supplement to the CPS collected additional information about veterans on topics such as service connected disability and veterans current or past Reserve or National Guard membership. The supplement was co sponsored by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U. S. Department of Labors Veterans Employment and Training Service. For more information, see the Technical Note in this news release. Highlights from the 2021 data: The unemployment rate for all veterans was lower than the rate for nonveterans in 2021. Unemployment rates for both male and female veterans decreased in 2021. The rate for male veterans was 4. 4 percent, little different from the rate of 4. 2 percent for female veterans. Unemployment rates declined over the year for veterans of all service periods: Gulf War era II veterans ; Gulf War era I veterans ; World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam era veterans ; and veterans of other service periods . However, these rates remain above their levels in 2019, prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Unemployment rates for White and Black veterans were lower than for their nonveteran counterparts in 2021, while the rates for Asian and Hispanic veterans were not statistically different than their nonveteran counterparts. Among the 386,000 unemployed veterans in 2021, 56 percent were ages 25 to 54, 39 percent were age 55 and over, and 5 percent were ages 18 to 24. Among Gulf War era II veterans, the unemployment rate of veterans with a service connected disability declined to 3. 2 percent and the rate for veterans with no disability decreased to 3. 6 percent in August 2021. Gulf War era II veterans who reported a service connected disability rating of less than 30 percent were much more likely to be in the labor force than those with a rating of 60 percent or higher in August 2021 . In August 2021, 27 percent of employed veterans with a service connected disability worked in the public sector, compared with 21 percent of veterans with no disability and 13 percent of nonveterans. In 2021, the unemployment rate of veterans varied across the country, ranging from 1. 6 percent in Kentucky to 7. 6 percent in Washington. The Veteran Population In 2021, 18. 5 million men and women were veterans, accounting for about 7 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population age 18 and over. Of all veterans, about 1 in 10 were women. In the survey, veterans are defined as men and women who have previously served on active duty in the U. S. Armed Forces and who were civilians at the time these data were collected. Veterans are much more likely to be men than are nonveterans, and they also tend to be older. In part, this reflects the characteristics of veterans who served during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam era, all of whom are now over 60 years old. Veterans who served during these wartime periods accounted for about 36 percent of the total veteran population in 2021. Forty two percent of veterans served during Gulf War era I or Gulf War era II . Twenty two percent served outside the designated wartime periods. Gulf War era II Veterans In 2021, there were 4. 7 million veterans who had served during Gulf War era II . Seventeen percent of these veterans were women, compared with about 4 percent of veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam era. Two thirds of all Gulf War era II veterans were between the ages of 25 and 44. In 2021, the unemployment rate for Gulf War era II veterans was 4. 6 percent, down considerably from the rate in 2020 but up from 2019 , prior to the COVID 19 pandemic. Among Gulf War era II veterans, the unemployment rates for men and women both declined in 2021 . These rates were not statistically different from each other. The unemployment rate for male Gulf War era II veterans, at 4. 6 percent, was lower than the rate for male nonveterans, at 5. 5 percent, in 2021. By age, unemployment rates for male Gulf War era II veterans and nonveterans were not statistically different, with one exception: 45 to 54 year old male Gulf War era II veterans had an unemployment rate of 2. 6 percent, lower than the rate of 4. 2 percent for their nonveteran counterparts. The unemployment rate for female Gulf War era II veterans was 4. 9 percent in 2021, not statistically different from the rate for female nonveterans . By age, unemployment rates for female Gulf War era II veterans and nonveterans were not statistically different. Employed Gulf War era II veterans were twice as likely to work in the public sector in 2021 as employed nonveterans 27 percent versus 13 percent. Among the employed, 15 percent of Gulf War era II veterans worked for the federal government, compared with 2 percent of nonveterans.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.nr0.htm

PERSONS WITH A DISABILITY: LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS

The employment population ratio that is, the percent of the population that is employed for persons with a disability increased by 1. 2 percentage points from the prior year to 19. 1 percent in 2021. This was nearly the same ratio as in 2019 , before the impact of the pandemic. The ratio for those without a disability, at 63. 7 percent in 2021, increased by 1. 9 percentage points over the year but was 2. 6 percentage points lower than in 2019. The lower ratio among persons with a disability reflects, in part, the older age profile of persons with a disability; older workers are less likely to be employed, regardless of disability status. However, across all age groups, persons with a disability were much less likely to be employed than those with no disability. In 2021, the employment population ratio for persons with a disability ages 16 to 64 increased to 31. 4 percent, while the ratio for persons without a disability in the same age group increased to 72. 5 percent. The ratios for persons age 65 and over with a disability and without a disability showed little or no change from the prior year. Persons with a disability were less likely to have completed a bachelor’s degree and higher than those with no disability. Among both groups, those who had attained higher levels of education were more likely to be employed than those who had attained less education. Across all levels of education in 2021, persons with a disability were much less likely to be employed than were their counterparts with no disability. Workers with a disability were more likely to be employed part time than those with no disability. Among workers with a disability, 29 percent usually worked part time in 2021, compared with 16 percent of those without a disability. The proportion of workers with a disability who worked part time for economic reasons was higher than their counterparts without a disability . These individuals were working part time because their hours had been reduced or because they were not able to find a full time job. In 2021, persons with a disability were more likely to work in service occupations than those with no disability . Workers with a disability were also more likely than those with no disability to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations and sales and office occupations . Persons with a disability were less likely to work in management, professional, and related occupations than those without a disability . A larger share of workers with a disability were self employed in 2021 than were those with no disability . In contrast, a smaller share of workers with a disability were private wage and salary workers than were those without a disability . The proportion of persons employed in government was about the same for both persons with a disability and persons without a disability .

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/disabl.pdf

Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2019

In 2019, the overall unemployment rate for the United States was 3. 7 percent, however, the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. Among the race groups, jobless rates were higher than the national rate for Blacks or African Americans , American Indians and Alaska Natives , and people categorized as being of Two or More Races . Jobless rates were lower than the national rate for Asians , Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders , and Whites . The rate for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, at 4. 3 percent, was higher than the rate of 3. 5 percent for non Hispanics. Labor market differences among the race and ethnicity groups are associated with many factors, not all of which are measurable. These factors include variations in educational attainment across the groups; the occupations and industries in which the groups work; the geographic areas of the country in which the groups are concentrated, including whether they tend to reside in urban or rural settings; and the degree of discrimination encountered in the workplace. This report describes the labor force characteristics and earnings patterns among the largest race and ethnicity groups living in the United States Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics and provides detailed data through a set of supporting tables. The report also contains a limited amount of data on American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, people who are of Two or More Races, detailed Asian groups, and detailed Hispanic groups. Because of their relatively small sample sizes, estimates for these additional groups are not included in all tables. The data were obtained from the Current Population Survey , a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that is a rich source of information on the labor force. For definitions of terms and concepts used in this report, see the technical notes. Additional information about the CPS can be found at www. bls. gov/cps/documentation. htm. The sections that follow highlight some of the major findings on the labor force characteristics of race and ethnicity groups in 2019.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2019/home.htm

EMPLOYMENT CHARACTERISTICS OF FAMILIES — 2021

The number of families with at least one member unemployed fell by 2. 5 million to 5. 6 million in 2021. The proportion of families with an unemployed person, at 6. 7 percent, fell by 3. 1 percentage points from the prior year but remained above its 2019 value of 4. 9 percent. In 2021, the proportion of families with an unemployed person declined for White , Black , Asian , and Hispanic families. Black and Hispanic families remained more likely to have an unemployed member than White or Asian families. In 2021, among families with an unemployed member, 67. 4 percent also had at least one family member employed, little changed from the prior year. The proportion of families with an unemployed member that had at least one family member working full time fell by 1. 4 percentage points to 58. 5 percent in 2021. In 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, 62. 4 percent of families with an unemployed member had at least one family member working full time. Among families with an unemployed member, Black families remained less likely to also have at least one family member who was working in 2021 than White , Asian , and Hispanic families. In 2021, 5. 5 percent of married couple families had an unemployed member, which was less than the shares for families maintained by women and for families maintained by men . Among families with an unemployed member, those maintained by women remained less likely to also have an employed family member than families maintained by men and married couple families . 2 Families and Employment In 2021, 78. 5 percent of families had at least one employed family member, up from 78. 2 percent in 2020 but below the 2019 share of 81. 2 percent. From 2020 to 2021, the likelihood of having an employed family member increased for Black , Asian , and Hispanic families, but changed little for White families . Black families were the least likely to have an employed family member in 2021. Families maintained by women remained less likely to have an employed member in 2021 than families maintained by men or married couple families . Among married couple families, both spouses were employed in 46. 8 percent of families, up from 45. 5 percent in the prior year. In 2021, only one spouse was employed in 25. 3 percent of marriedcouple families, down from 26. 7 percent in 2020.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf

Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-born Workers Summary

The unemployment rate for foreign born persons in the United States was 9. 2 percent in 2020, up sharply from 3. 1 percent in 2019, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate of native born persons also increased sharply; it was 7. 8 percent in 2020, up from 3. 8 percent in 2019. The marked increases in these measures reflect the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Data on nativity are collected as part of the Current Population Survey , a monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000 households. The foreign born are persons who reside in the United States but who were not U. S. citizens at birth. Specifically, they were born outside the United States , and neither parent was a U. S. citizen. The foreign born include legally admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents such as students and temporary workers, and undocumented immigrants. However, the survey does not separately identify persons in these categories. For further information about the survey, see the Technical Note in this news release. Highlights from the 2020 data: In 2020, the share of the U. S. civilian labor force that is foreign born was 17. 0 percent, down from 17. 4 percent in 2019. From 2019 to 2020, the overall labor force declined by 2. 8 million; the foreign born accounted for 1. 1 million of this decline, or 38. 4 percent. From 2019 to 2020, employment fell by 2. 7 million among the foreign born, a decline of 9. 8 percent. Employment also fell among the native born ; however, in relative terms, the decline was about half as large, at 5. 4 percent. Hispanics continued to account for nearly half of the foreign born labor force in 2020, and Asians accounted for one quarter. Foreign born men continued to participate in the labor force at a considerably higher rate in 2020 than their native born counterparts . In contrast, 53. 2 percent of foreign born women were labor force participants, lower than the participation rate of 56. 8 percent for native born women. In 2020, foreign born workers were more likely than native born workers to be employed in service occupations; natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations; and production, transportation, and material moving occupations. Foreign born workers were less likely than native born workers to be employed in management, professional, and related occupations and in sales and office occupations. The median usual weekly earnings of foreign born full time wage and salary workers were $885 in 2020, compared with $1,000 for their native born counterparts. Demographic Characteristics The demographic composition of the foreign born labor force differs from that of the native born labor force. In 2020, men accounted for 57. 3 percent of the foreign born labor force, compared with 52. 1 percent of the native born labor force. By age, the proportion of the foreign born labor force made up of 25 to 54 year olds was higher than for the native born labor force . Labor force participation is typically highest among persons in that age bracket. In 2020, nearly half of the foreign born labor force was Hispanic, and one quarter was Asian. Hispanics and Asians made up much lower percentages of the native born labor force, at 12. 0 percent and 2. 4 percent, respectively. About 16. 2 percent of the foreign born labor force was White and 10. 1 percent was Black, compared with 70. 7 percent and 12. 1 percent, respectively, of the native born labor force.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/forbrn.nr0.htm/labor-force-characteristics-of-foreign-born-workers-summary

Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID 19 pandemic has had a significant effect on labor market metrics for every state, economic sector, and major demographic group in the United States. This report provides information on unemployment rates, labor force participation rates, and nonfarm payrolls in the United States during the ongoing pandemic. It presents CRS analysis of overall unemployment rate trends during the pandemic. The report first examines these trends nationally, and then at the state and industrial levels. Next, it examines how unemployment rates varied across demographic groups. The report then repeats this analysis, where appropriate, for the labor force participation rate, which sheds light on the size of the workforce willing and available for work. The final portion of the report analyzes the impact the pandemic has had on overall employment and by sector. Among other findings, this report showsthe following: ? In April 2020, the unemployment rate reached 14. 8% the highest rate observed since data collection began in 1948. In July 2021, unemployment remained higher than it had been in February 2020 . ? The labor force participation rate declined to 60. 2% in April 2020 a level not seen since the early 1970s then began a partial recovery in May 2020. The labor force participation rate was 61. 7% in July 2021, 1. 7 percentage points below the level in January 2020, before the pandemic and the economic recession. ? Nonfarm payrolls shed 22. 1 million jobs between January 2020 and April 2020, with employment declining to 86% of its pre recession level. In July 2021, aggregate employment remained 5. 4 million jobs below its pre recession level. ? The COVID 19 pandemic has impacted economic sectors disparately. The leisure and hospitality sector lost the largest number of jobs since January 2020, and persons last employed in this sector have consistently exhibited some of the highest unemployment rates throughout the pandemic. Additionally, the education and services sector and the government sector have exhibited the second and third largest losses in jobs since January 2020, despite relatively low unemployment rates among persons last employed in these sectors. ? The COVID 19 pandemic has impacted demographic groups disparately. Although all demographic groups were affected, persons identifying as Black or Hispanic and younger workers generally experienced relatively high peaks in unemployment and relatively steep declines in labor force participation over the course of the pandemic. Additionally, persons with lower educational attainment have generally experienced relatively higher unemployment rates and lower labor force participation throughout the pandemic.

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R46554.pdf

17.0 percent of U.S. labor force in 2020 was foreign born, down from 17.4 percent in 2019

The share of the U. S. civilian labor force that is foreign born was 17. 0 percent in 2020, down from 17. 4 percent in 2019. The economic downturn resulting from the COVID 19 pandemic disproportionately affected the foreign born labor force. In 2020, the overall labor force declined by 2. 8 million; the foreign born accounted for 1. 1 million of this decline, or 38. 4 percent. Among Asians in the labor force, 68. 5 percent were foreign born. The next largest share were Hispanics or Latinos; 44. 8 percent of the labor force for that group were foreign born. The labor force participation rate of the foreign born declined by 1. 5 percentage points in 2020 to 64. 5 percent. This is the percent of the population that is either employed or unemployed. The labor force participation rate for foreign born men declined by 1. 4 percentage points to 76. 6 percent, while that for foreign born women fell by 1. 6 percentage points to 53. 2 percent. The labor force participation rate of the native born also declined over the year, falling by 1. 3 percentage points to 61. 2 percent. The rate for native born men declined by 1. 5 percentage points to 65. 9 percent, and that for native born women was down by 1. 1 percentage points to 56. 8 percent. Foreign born men continued to participate in the labor force at a considerably higher rate in 2020 than their native born counterparts . In contrast, 53. 2 percent of foreign born women were labor force participants, lower than the participation rate of 56. 8 percent for native born women. Labor force participation rates for the foreign born varied across the major race and ethnicity groups in 2020, ranging from 59. 9 percent for foreign born Whites to 69. 3 percent for foreign born Blacks. Participation rates for the native born showed less variation across major race and ethnicity groups, ranging from 58. 9 percent for native born Blacks to 65. 0 percent for native born Hispanics.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/17-0-percent-of-u-s-labor-force-in-2020-was-foreign-born-down-from-17-4-percent-in-2019.htm

Highlights of women's earnings in 2019

In 2019, women who were full time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings that were 82 percent of those of male full time wage and salary workers. In 1979, the first year for which comparable earnings data are available, women’s earnings were 62 percent of men’s. Most of the growth in women’s earnings relative to men’s occurred in the 1980s and in the 1990s . Since 2004, the women’s to men’s earnings ratio has remained in the 80 to 83 percent range. This report presents earnings data from the Current Population Survey , a national monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households conducted by the U. S. Census Bureau for the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . The weekly and hourly earnings estimates in this report reflect information collected from one fourth of the households in the monthly survey and averaged for the calendar year. The data in this report are distinct from the annual earnings estimates for full time, year round workers collected separately in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the CPS and published by the U. S. Census Bureau. The earnings comparisons in this report are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, and specialization. The earnings estimates referenced throughout this report are medians. The median is the mid point in the earnings distribution, with half of workers having earnings above the median level and half having earnings below. See the accompanying technical notes section for more information, including a description of the of the data source and an explanation of the concepts and definitions used in this report.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-earnings/2019/home.htm

Diversity and Inclusion Top the List of Talent Practices Linked to Stronger Financial Outcomes

Based on a survey of 454 global organizations that generated more than $750 million in revenue in 2013, the research findings show that large organizations with mature talent strategies had 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee over a three-year period. Mature smaller organizations had 13 times higher mean cash flow from operations when contrasted with less mature peer organizations. Despite the financial benefits, the research found the majority of organizations surveyed are missing out on benefits associated with mature talent activities. "Our study found that fully 70 percent of respondent organizations are at the lowest levels – Levels 1 and 2 – of talent management maturity," said Stacia Sherman Garr, vice president, talent and HR research, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP. "By contrast, Level 3 organizations, which account for 19 percent of respondent organizations, have a relatively clear, data-based talent strategy. Those organizations at Level 4 – considered the most advanced or mature organizations and account for just 10 percent of all organizations – have targeted, integrated and inclusive talent activities that heavily reinforce the importance of leader growth and a widespread learning culture. But what really differentiates them is their approach to diversity and inclusion." In addition to indicating to employees that their diversity is welcomed, these mature organizations align their diversity and inclusion strategy to organizational objectives. They also integrate diversity and inclusion with learning, performance management and succession management. "These high-level and broad-based strategies help to reinforce the importance of bringing in people of diverse backgrounds and behaving in inclusive ways," said Garr. "Organizations that built these high-impact D&I strategies and practices strive to create a 'conversation' or relationship with employees, which communicates to them that they are fully understood and valued by the organization. This relationship also encourages employees to contribute their whole range of experiences and perspectives." To help organizations turn the principles of high-impact talent management into action, the research identified the following high-impact practices: Develop a systemic – rather than a transactional – relationship with talent. Mature organizations view talent as an asset – versus a cost – and develop an increased understanding of employees from both a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. These organizations also provide a mechanism for doing something with their insights. One way this happens is through the tighter integration between talent analytics and workforce planning and talent strategy. Create a strong culture of leadership and learning. Approximately 90 percent of Level 3 and Level 4 organizations have a leadership strategy aligned to organizational objectives and cultivate a culture of learning in the organization to a great or moderate extent. These organizations are also more likely to invest in accelerated development programs for frontline managers, middle managers and critical talent segments that drive a disproportionate share of key business outcomes and influence an organization's value chain significantly. Integrate leadership development activities with other talent processes. Existing leadership development initiatives for front-line and middle managers should be reassessed and better targeted to meet the unique needs of these learners and the broader organization. Leadership development efforts should also be integrated with all other talent processes. To do this effectively, the organization needs to shift from a concept of leadership development programs to a system of leadership growth – the idea that the growth of leaders occurs throughout the organization in many ways, not just through programs or special initiatives.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bersin-by-deloitte-diversity-and-inclusion-top-the-list-of-talent-practices-linked-to-stronger-financial-outcomes-300177724.html

How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation

A recent BCG study suggests that increasing the diversity of leadership teams leads to more and better innovation and improved financial performance. In both developing and developed economies, companies with above average diversity on their leadership teams report a greater payoff from innovation and higher EBIT margins. Even more persuasive, companies can start generating gains with relatively small changes in the makeup of their senior teams. For company leaders, this is a clear path to creating a more innovative organization. People with different backgrounds and experiences often see the same problem in different ways and come up with different solutions, increasing the odds that one of those solutions will be a hit. In a fast changing business environment, such responsiveness leaves companies better positioned to adapt. This argument has always made intuitive sense, and now we have some convincing correlations to add to the case. DIVERSITY GAINING MOMENTUM WORLDWIDE We surveyed employees at more than 1,700 companies in eight countries across a variety of industries and company sizes. We looked at perceptions of diversity at the management level across six dimensions gender, age, nation of origin , career path, industry background, and education . To gauge a company’s level of innovation, we looked at the percentage of total revenue from new products and services launched over the past three years. Broadly, 75% of respondents said that diversity is gaining momentum in their organizations. Employees at companies in emerging markets reported greater progress over the past several years than companies in developed markets. The biggest takeaway we found is a strong and statistically significant correlation between the diversity of management teams and overall innovation. Companies that reported above average diversity on their management teams also reported innovation revenue that was 19 percentage points higher than that of companies with below average leadership diversity 45% of total revenue versus just 26%.

https://www.bcg.com/en-us/publications/2018/how-diverse-leadership-teams-boost-innovation

Why diversity matters

We know intuitively that diversity matters. It’s also increasingly clear that it makes sense in purely business terms. Our latest research finds that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians. Companies in the bottom quartile in these dimensions are statistically less likely to achieve above average returns. And diversity is probably a competitive differentiator that shifts market share toward more diverse companies over time. While correlation does not equal causation , the correlation does indicate that when companies commit themselves to diverse leadership, they are more successful. More diverse companies, we believe, are better able to win top talent and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making, and all that leads to a virtuous cycle of increasing returns. This in turn suggests that other kinds of diversity for example, in age, sexual orientation, and experience are also likely to bring some level of competitive advantage for companies that can attract and retain such diverse talent. We’re not suggesting that achieving greater diversity is easy. Women accounting for an average of just 16 percent of the members of executive teams in the United States, 12 percent in the United Kingdom, and 6 percent in Brazil remain underrepresented at the top of corporations globally. The United Kingdom does comparatively better in racial diversity, albeit at a low level: some 78 percent of UK companies have senior leadership teams that fail to reflect the demographic composition of the country’s labor force and population, compared with 91 percent for Brazil and 97 percent for the United States. These numbers underline the work that remains to be done, even as the case for greater diversity becomes more compelling. We live in a deeply connected and global world. It should come as no surprise that more diverse companies and institutions are achieving better performance. Most organizations, including McKinsey, must do more to take full advantage of the opportunity that diverse leadership teams represent. That’s particularly true for their talent pipelines: attracting, developing, mentoring, sponsoring, and retaining the next generations of global leaders at all levels of organizations. Given the higher returns that diversity is expected to bring, we believe it is

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/why-diversity-matters

Diversity Linked To Increased Sales Revenue And Profits, More Customers

in one of only a few studies to empirically examine the implications of organizational diversity, sociologist Cedric Herring found that a workforce comprised of employees of both genders and varying racial backgrounds resulted in positive business outcomes. Although previous research on diversity in the workforce has suggested diversitys negative impact on group dynamics and communication, this study makes the case for diversity in clear financial terms, said Herring, the interim head of the sociology department at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a professor of sociology and public policy at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. Herring found that companies reporting the highest levels of racial diversity brought in nearly 15 times more sales revenue on average than those with the lowest levels of racial diversity. Gender diversity accounted for a difference of $599. 1 million in average sales revenue: organizations with the lowest rates of gender diversity had average sales revenues of $45. 2 million, compared with averages of $644. 3 million for businesses with the most gender diversity. For every percentage increase in the rate of racial or gender diversity up to the rate represented in the relevant population, there was an increase in sales revenues of approximately 9 and 3 percent, respectively. Herring found racial diversity to be a better determinant of sales revenue and customer numbers than company size, the companys age and the number of employees at any given work location. Companies with a more diverse workforce consistently reported higher customer numbers than those organizations with less diversity among staff. In terms of racial diversity, companies with the highest rates reported an average of 35,000 customers compared to 22,700 average customers among those companies with the lowest rates of racial diversity. The difference is even larger for gender diversity rates. That is, companies with the highest levels of gender diversity reported an average of 15,000 more customers than organizations with the lowest levels of gender diversity. Herring also found that the smallest incremental increase in levels of racial or gender diversity resulted in more than 400 and 200 additional customers, respectively. Although a corporate workforces gender composition did not have a significant impact on a companys relative market share, Herring found that racial diversity was among the most important predictors of a companys competitive positioning relative to other firms in its industry. According to the research, as racial and gender diversity levels increased in a companys workforce, its profits relative to those of its competitors also increased. Herring analyzed data from the National Organizations Survey , reviewing a subset of 506 United States based for profit businesses that provided information about workforce diversity, sales revenue, customer numbers, market share and profitability between 1996 and 1997. The NOS contains information from a sample of the 15 million organizations in Dun and Bradstreets Information Services data file. Herrings work in the April issue of the American Sociological Review is accompanied by two other studies relevant to race in the workplace; one is on equal employment opportunity and the other examines race discrimination lawsuits. On the topic of equal employment opportunity, sociologist C. Elizabeth Hirsh of Cornell University analyzed the direct impact of discrimination charges on workplace segregation, as well as indirect pressures presented by legal and organizational environments. She found that companies do not desegregate in the wake of sexual discrimination charges filed directly against them, but they do respond to Equal Employment Opportunity enforcement in their industries and in the broader legal environment. Hirshs findings also suggest that organizational factors are more pivotal to race desegregation than legal intervention. For example, larger companies and those with more females in management were found more likely to promote workplace integration. Hirsh concludes that by making an example of employers found in violation of the law, Equal Employment Opportunity enforcement creates a legal environment that encourages policy compliance among other employers.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090331091252.htm

How Diversity Can Drive Innovation

Most managers accept that employers benefit from a diverse workforce, but the notion can be hard to prove or quantify, especially when it comes to measuring how diversity affects a firm’s ability to innovate. But new research provides compelling evidence that diversity unlocks innovation and drives market growth a finding that should intensify efforts to ensure that executive ranks both embody and embrace the power of differences. In this research, which rests on a nationally representative survey of 1,800 professionals, 40 case studies, and numerous focus groups and interviews, we scrutinized two kinds of diversity: inherent and acquired. Inherent diversity involves traits you are born with, such as gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Acquired diversity involves traits you gain from experience: Working in another country can help you appreciate cultural differences, for example, while selling to female consumers can give you gender smarts. We refer to companies whose leaders exhibit at least three inherent and three acquired diversity traits as having two dimensional diversity. By correlating diversity in leadership with market outcomes as reported by respondents, we learned that companies with 2 D diversity out innovate and out perform others. Employees at these companies are 45% likelier to report that their firm’s market share grew over the previous year and 70% likelier to report that the firm captured a new market. 2 D diversity unlocks innovation by creating an environment where “outside the box” ideas are heard. When minorities form a critical mass and leaders value differences, all employees can find senior people to go to bat for compelling ideas and can persuade those in charge of budgets to deploy resources to develop those ideas. Employees of firms with 2 D diversity are 45% likelier to report a growth in market share over the previous year and 70% likelier to report that the firm captured a new market. Most respondents, however 78% work at companies that lack 2 D diversity in leadership. Without diverse leadership, women are 20% less likely than straight white men to win endorsement for their ideas; people of color are 24% less likely; and LGBTs are 21% less likely. This costs their companies crucial market opportunities, because inherently diverse contributors understand the unmet needs in under leveraged markets. We’ve found that when at least one member of a team has traits in common with the end user, the entire team better understands that user. A team with a member who shares a client’s ethnicity is 152% likelier than another team to understand that client. Inherent diversity, however, is only half of the equation. Leaders also need acquired diversity to establish a culture in which all employees feel free to contribute ideas. Six behaviors, we have found, unlock innovation across the board: ensuring that everyone is heard; making it safe to propose novel ideas; giving team members decision making authority; sharing credit for success; giving actionable feedback; and implementing feedback from the team. Leaders who give diverse voices equal airtime are nearly twice as likely as others to unleash value driving insights, and employees in a “speak up” culture are 3. 5 times as likely to contribute their full innovative potential.

https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-diversity-can-drive-innovation

Diversity drives better decisions

It’s no secret that greater organizational diversity improves productivity and wellbeing. Now, a white paper from online decision making platform Cloverpop has found a direct link between inclusive decision making and better business performance. The study analyzed around 600 business decisions made by 200 teams, across a range of companies. Researchers found that when diverse teams made a business decision, they outperformed individual decision makers up to 87 per cent of the time. Diverse teams were also shown to make decisions faster than individual workers, and benefited from a 60 per cent improvement on decision making. “Unfortunately, non inclusive decision making is all too common,” says author Erik Larson. “All male teams make about 38 per cent of the decisions in a typical large company, and the gap is even worse among less diverse firms like those in Silicon Valley’s technology industry. ” Effective decision making also increases with greater diversity in a team. All male teams were shown to make better business decisions than individuals 58 per cent of the time, while gender diverse teams outperformed individuals 73 per cent of the time. Teams that were geographically diverse, and included members with different genders and at least one age gap of more than 20 years, were the most successful – making better business decisions than individuals 87 per cent of the time. “This research aligns with behavioural economics theory, which has clear implications for results focused companies,” says David Daniels, assistant professor in the department of management at Stanford University. “Business strategy should revolve around a decision making process. ”

https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1742040/diversity-drives-better-decisions

How and Where Diversity Drives Financial Performance

Summary. Does diversity really drive performance? To assess this claim, the Boston Consulting Group surveyed more than 1,700 companies across eight countries to examine the relationship between managerial diversity, the presence of enabling conditions, and innovation outcomes. They examined the correlation of multiple aspects of diversity gender, age, national origin, career path, industry background, and education both individually and collectively. They found that companies with above average total diversity had both 19% higher innovation revenues and 9% higher EBIT margins, on average. The presence of enabling conditions for diversity such as fair employment practices, participative leadership, top management support, and open communications is worth up to 12. 9% in innovation revenue. These relationships between innovation and diversity were strong in all geographies, though the precise patterns of diversity and performance varied across cultures. There are, therefore, multiple paths to harness diversity. A broad based approach that values multiple aspects of diversity produces the best results. close Tweet Post Share Save Buy Copies Print Diversity is both an issue of fairness and, some say, a driver of innovation and performance. To assess the latter claim, we undertook a large, cross country study into the relationship between multiple aspects of managerial diversity, the presence of enabling conditions such as leadership support for diversity, and innovation outcomes.

https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance

How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth

Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. If women who account for half the world’s working age population do not achieve their full economic potential, the global economy will suffer. While all types of inequality have economic consequences, in McKinsey Global Institute report, The power of parity: How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth, we focus on the economic implications of lack of parity between men and women. Play Video Video A “best in region” scenario in which all countries match the rate of improvement of the fastest improving country in their region could add as much as $12 trillion, or 11 percent, in annual 2025 GDP. In a “full potential” scenario in which women play an identical role in labor markets to that of men, as much as $28 trillion, or 26 percent, could be added to global annual GDP by 2025. MGI’s full potential estimate is about double the average estimate of other recent studies, reflecting the fact that MGI has taken a more comprehensive view of gender inequality in work. Even after decades of progress toward making women equal partners with men in the economy and society, the gap between them remains large. We acknowledge that gender parity in economic outcomes is not necessarily a normative ideal, as it involves human beings making personal choices about the lives they lead; we also recognize that men can be disadvantaged relative to women in some instances. However, we believe that the world, including the private sector, would benefit by focusing on the large economic opportunity of improving parity between men and women. A McKinsey Global Institute report finds that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality. The public, private, and social sectors will need to act to close gender gaps in work and society.

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/how-advancing-womens-equality-can-add-12-trillion-to-global-growth

Glassdoor’s Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Survey

Glassdoor’s vision is a world where workplace transparency leads to more inclusive company cultures and where every employee is treated equitably. Everyone deserves to work in a place where they can truly be themselves and feel like they belong, and understanding the state of diversity and inclusion at a company is key. According to a new Glassdoor survey conducted by The Harris Poll, job seekers and employees report that disparities still exist within companies concerning experiences with and perceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Glassdoor’s D&I workplace survey underscores how important D&I is to job seekers and employees today, revealing the differences among underrepresented groups and the talent employers may miss out on if they don’t embrace transparency around D&I. Today, we launched new product features that deliver greater transparency into the current state of diversity, equity, and inclusion within companies. These new product features come as 3 in 4 job seekers and employees today report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. These features are part of Glassdoor’s public commitment from our CEO, Christian Sutherland Wong leveraging its product and resources to help achieve equity in and out of the workplace. To help end inequality, shine a light on inequities in the workplace, and anonymously share your demographics to help pinpoint pay and diversity disparities, here. The vast majority of employees and job seekers today are paying attention to the state of D&I at companies. Access to D&I insights, trends and data is a crucial step in the job search process. If job seekers and employees don’t have access to D&I information to make informed decisions about where to work, employers risk losing quality and diverse talent that otherwise may have contributed to their company’s success. “Many companies have been making commitments around D&I in recent months, but now job seekers and employees want to see action and a real change from employers,” said Glassdoor Chief People Officer, Carina Cortez. “It’s critical to understand how different groups look at D&I from their own work experiences, reinforcing the overdue need for all employers to improve when it comes to diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace. ” Sponsored The survey found that among U. S. employees and job seekers: Diversity & inclusion is an important factor for the majority of today’s job seekers, but more so for underrepresented groups. However, inequities still exist as more Black and Hispanic employees have quit jobs due to discrimination. More than 3 in 4 employees and job seekers report a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. About 4 in 5 Black , Hispanic , and LGBTQ job seekers and employees report a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. Nearly half of Black and Hispanic job seekers and employees have quit a job after witnessing or experiencing discrimination at work, significantly higher than white job seekers and employees. 71% of employees would be more likely to share experiences and opinions on diversity & inclusion at their company if they could do so anonymously. Job seekers and employees want employers to step up their transparency around D&I. If employers don’t, they will miss out on diverse talent. Significantly more Black and Hispanic employees say their employer should be doing more to increase the diversity of its workforce than white employees. About 1 in 3 employees and job seekers would not apply to a job at a company where there is a lack of diversity among its workforce. But, this is significantly higher for Black job seekers and employees when compared to white job seekers and employees, and among LGBTQ job seekers and employees when compared to non LGBTQ job seekers and employees.

https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/glassdoors-diversity-and-inclusion-workplace-survey/

Diversity and inclusion: The reality gap

DIVERSITY and inclusion has become a CEO level issue around the world. The digital organization of today, which operates as a network of teams, thrives on empowerment, open dialogue, and inclusive working styles. Leading organizations now see diversity and inclusion as a comprehensive strategy woven into every aspect of the talent life cycle to enhance employee engagement, improve brand, and drive performance. The era of diversity as a “check the box” initiative owned by HR is over. CEOs must take ownership and drive accountability among leaders at all levels to close the gap between what is said and actual impact. In this year’s survey, the proportion of executives who cited inclusion as a top priority has risen by 32 percent compared with our 2014 survey. Over two thirds of executives rate diversity and inclusion an important issue . Thirty eight percent of executives report that the primary sponsor of the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts is the CEO. In todays political, economic, and global business environment, diversity has become increasingly important. The number of executives who cited inclusion as a top priority has risen 32 percent from the Human Capital Trends 2014 survey, and in the last three years, the percentage of companies that rate themselves excellent at gender diversity went up by 72 percent. Based on this year’s survey, 48 percent of companies consider themselves adequate at focusing on global cultural diversity, and 69 percent of companies consider themselves adequate or excellent at supporting a variety of family models in the workforce. This year, the issue is broader than the standard business case and requires a more comprehensive view: Diversity and inclusion now impacts brand, corporate purpose, and performance. Not only is the public increasingly aware of the issue ,1 but employees are also expressing stronger views on diversity and inclusion. Millennials, for example, see inclusion as a mandatory part of corporate culture, defining how the company listens to them at work. 2 Shareholders, customers, and suppliers are all taking a closer look at this issue. As awareness around diversity and inclusion grows, diversity and inclusion have become more important for talent acquisition and a company’s employment brand. Many organizations operate in an environment of high transparency, which employees demand. For younger workers, inclusion is not just about assembling diverse teams but also about connecting team members so that everyone is heard and respected. 3 Companies should align their approach with the expectations of Millennials and others, or they will likely lose talent. If one considers the fact that organizations now operate as networks,4 it becomes even clearer that diversity and inclusion can reinforce organizational performance. New research by Deloitte and other academic institutions demonstrates that diverse and inclusive teams are more innovative, engaged, and creative in their work. 5 Our research comparing high performing teams against lower performing teams supports the view that people must feel included in order to speak up and fully contribute. 6 Despite this increased emphasis and scrutiny, however, we believe businesses face a reality gap: Results appear to be too slow. CEOs who have abdicated responsibility for this issue to the CHRO or chief diversity officer must now take ownership and hold business leaders accountable at all levels. People today are slowly becoming aware of both unconscious and explicit bias, and some organizations are starting to take action to expose the issue and make institutional changes to deal with it. 7 The most popular solution today is training. But while such interventions are helpful, it appears that making people aware is not enough. Organizations should consider making structural changes, implementing transparent, data driven solutions, and immersing executives in the world of bias to give them a visceral understanding of how bias impacts decision making, talent decisions, and business outcomes. We highlight this trend because this issue has become increasingly important. Employees and stakeholders are starting to voice concerns, but solutions built around training and education are not working well enough. A set of “new rules” is being written that will demand a new focus on experiential learning, process change, data driven tools, transparency, and accountability.

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends/2017/diversity-and-inclusion-at-the-workplace.html

6 HR & Recruiting Stats You Need to Know for 2018

Diversity and inclusion. Maternity and paternity leave. Company wellness programs. These are just a few areas where major changes in thought and practice in HR and recruiting took place in 2017. Going into 2018, it’s crucial for employers to be aware of the trends that are shaping employee hiring and retention. As HR becomes increasingly data driven, statistics can be used as a valuable window into the must know HR and recruiting trends for the coming years. These six statistics give insights into the direction the field is going see the rest in the 65 HR & Recruiting Stats for 2018 ebook. 1. 83% of employees/job seekers are likely to research company reviews and ratings when deciding on where to apply for a job. Job seekers are increasingly using resources online to get more information about the aspects of the company that matter to them most, from benefits packages to salary data. In light of this, companies must be increasingly cognizant of what information is posted about them on websites like Glassdoor, and what impression it gives to potential employees. [Related: Responding to Glassdoor Reviews: What, Why and How] 2. 69% of executives rate diversity and inclusion as an important issue in 2017, up 32% from 2014. Within the last few years, the issue of diversity in the workplace has become more visible than ever before. Companies are finally realizing that increasing diversity and inclusion in the workforce is a win win for both employers and employees and if your company doesnt prioritize these items, you could be left behind. 3. 70% of moms with kids younger than 18 are in the labor force, with about three fourths of all employed moms working full time. The landscape of working mothers has changed dramatically over the last four decades, with many mothers coming back to work soon after pregnancy and working full time with young kids at home. Policies that accommodate for motherhood are crucial in attracting candidates with children. 4. 54% of employees who take vacation/paid time off report being able to completely “check out” while they are on vacation. As technology increasingly permeates the fabric of our lives and workplace demands intensify, some employees find their vacation days transforming into another form of telecommuting. Setting clear boundaries for employees and managers on workplace demands is a must as these trends continue otherwise, you may end up with disengaged and burnt out employees that are eager to leave. 5. Healthcare costs rose at a 15% slower rate among wellness program participants. The results are in: wellness programs are an invaluable investment for the cultivation of a happier, healthier, more productive workforce. Workplace programs that encourage exercise, healthy eating and stress reduction not only lead to more satisfied employees they actually drive down long term healthcare costs.

https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/6-hr-recruiting-stats-you-need-to-know-for-2018-and-beyond/

Many Adults with Disabilities Report Frequent Mental Distress

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that adults with disabilities report experiencing more mental distress than those without disabilities. An estimated 17. 4 million adults with disabilities experience frequent mental distress, defined as 14 or more reported mentally unhealthy days in the past 30 days. Frequent mental distress is associated with adverse health behaviors, increased health services utilization, mental disorders, chronic diseases, and functional limitations. Prior work has shown that adults with disabilities are more likely to live below the federal poverty level and lack access to health care due to costs both of which are associated with a higher occurrence of mental health conditions. Increasing social cohesion, community participation, access to health promotion opportunities, and delivery of mental health screening, care, and support services could help reduce mental distress among adults with disabilities. Read the full article published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Read a full summary of the MMWR that is written for all audiences. CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities is working to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities for overall well being as people without disabilities

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/adults-with-disabilities-mental-distress.html

Prevalence of Disability and Disability Types by Urban-Rural County Classification – United States, 2016

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a new report comparing the percentage of adults with disabilities living in urban versus rural U. S counties. By analyzing self reported data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System across six levels of urbanization, CDC researchers were able to estimate Researchers found that the percentage of adults living with disability was highest in noncore counties and lowest in large central and fringe metropolitan counties. Compared with adults living in large central metropolitan counties, adults living in noncore counties were These findings serve as reminders that people with disabilities live in all geographic areas. It is important that public health programs include people with disabilities living in rural communities. NCHS Urban–Rural Classification Scheme for Counties1CDC researchers analyzed data on adults with disabilities for counties categorized according to the 2013 NCHS Urban–Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. 1 From most urban to most rural, these categories include Nearly 19% of noncore counties in this study are in the Southern and Midwest regions of the United States, compared to 3. 1% in the West coast region, 2. 9% in the Northeast, and 6. 7% nationally. BRFSS allows respondents to self report on up to six functional types of disability. Specifically, participants were classified as having one of the six disability types if they answered “yes” to the following questions: Respondents who answered ‘yes’ to at least one of the disability questions were classified as having “any disability. ”CDC supports 19 state disability and health programs and two National Centers on Health Promotion for People with Disabilities, all of which promote healthy lifestyles and work to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.  The primary goals of the state programs are toCDC’s Disability and Health website also provides information and resources to increase awareness about disability inclusion, helping to ensure that every individual, with or without disabilities, can live, work, learn, and play in their communities. We encourage you to visit the Disability and Health website to find helpful information about disability inclusion and learn more about CDC also maintains the newly updated Disability and Health Data System , an online interactive tool that provides instant access to state level, disability specific health data. Users can customize the disability and health data they view, making it easy to find data on adults with and without disabilities and by functional disability type.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/disability-prevalence-rural-urban.html

What it’s like returning to the office as a person with a disability: ‘My biggest fear was physical survival’

This is part of CNBC Make Its My First Day Back series, where people share their stories of what its like to return to the office after working from home during the Covid 19 pandemic. Are you planning to return to the office soon? Share your stories with us here. Name: Alexa Dectis Age: 29Office: Netflixs Los Angeles office Working home since: March 13, 2020Returned: April 19, 2022 Return requirements: Proof of Covid 19 vaccine and negative Covid 19 test Theres a lot to dread about returning to the office: waking up late, hitting traffic, meeting co workers for the first time the list continues.  But as Alexa Dectis recalls, her return to office fears boiled down to physical survival.  At 16 months old, Dectis was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular disease that weakens the muscles and can make activities such as speaking, walking, breathing and swallowing incredibly difficult or, for some, impossible.  I realized from a really early age that the only way I could make something of myself would be if I used the power of my brain to overcome the weakness of my body, she tells CNBC Make It. I also knew that I needed a career that solely relied on my intellect  thats what brought me to the legal profession, because you can be a really great lawyer without needing to move any muscles in your body.  Dectis is unable to walk and uses a motorized chair to travel. She can comfortably speak, eat and type, but relies on caregivers to assist her with other physical needs, such as showering and dressing.  Since the start of the pandemic, Dectis had split her time working on Skydances legal team from her apartment in Los Angeles, where she lives alone, and her parents house in Pennsylvania.  Earlier this year, however, a recruiter from Netflix reached out to her with an offer to join the streaming giants minors, immigration and diligence team as a legal associate.  She accepted the job with the expectation that she would go into Netflixs Los Angeles office three days a week, and work from home the other two days. You dont say no to Netflix, Dectis says. And this was the job, and the team, that Ive always dreamed of working in.  CNBC Make It: How did you prepare to return to the office, and how did Netflix help?Alexa Dectis: It required a lot of planning and scheduling I had to plan out who would get me ready for work in the morning and which commute worked best for me, because I cant drive. Its easier to take public transit I prefer the bus because it allows me more independence, but it adds time to my day because it almost doubles my commute. Even when Im in the office, I have to plan out when I drink water, because a care assistant needs to take me to the bathroom. So every day at lunch, I have to arrange for a caregiver to come to Netflixs office for 15 minutes, help me use the bathroom once, and then leave.  Having spinal muscular atrophy impacts my workday a lot. But its also taught me excellent time management, and its taught me to make the most of every opportunity because so many people with disabilities are unable to work, and the fact that I get to have this incredibly fulfilling career is something that I will always be so thankful for. Netflix has an accommodations team, and they made sure I had an adjustable desk as well as a laptop that syncs to my computer at the office, so I dont have to carry too much work equipment between my apartment and the office.  How did the first day go? I woke up at 6 a. m. and one of my care assistants helped me get ready for the day, then I took some calls with colleagues in other time zones from home.  I took the bus to work and arrived around noon, met my manager in person for the first time, met the team and got to work. Something I was super nervous about, when lunchtime rolled around, was if I would be able to reach things in the cafeteria.  

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/16/what-its-like-returning-to-the-office-as-a-person-with-a-disability.html

People With Disabilities Say New Bills Could Make it Impossible For Them to Vote: 'I'm Being Punished'

Voters with disabilities say a new spate of GOP backed laws aimed at tightening voting rules could put their own right to vote at risk, making it a legal requirement that voters hand it their absentee ballots themselves, rather than using drop boxes. While drop boxes were widely used in the 2020 election , many GOP led legislatures have made moves to outlaw their use. In Wisconsin, a ban on ballot drop boxes went into effect for local elections in April; the state Supreme Court there is now weighing whether to keep that ban in place. Those who want to ban ballot drop boxes argue doing so will strengthen the integrity of elections and prevent voter fraud . Critics say such measures will simply make it harder to vote, adding hurdles for those who cant easily get to a polling place to vote in person, or dont have the ability to take time off to do so. RELATED: Michelle Obama Lauds Major New Voting Rights Bill and Urges Senate to Pass ItCritics also point to another consequence of making it difficult to send mail in ballots or use drop boxes: those who cant physically bring their ballot to a clerk, or put an absentee ballot in the mail themselves, would not be able to vote at all. Martha Chambers, who uses a wheelchair after being paralyzed from a horseback riding injury 27 years ago, described the challenges of voting to NPR. I have the ability to put a pen stick in my mouth, so I can fill it in and I can sign the ballot and ask a witness to witness my ballot, Chambers told NPR. They would have to place the ballot in the envelope and actually put it in the mail or take it to the clerk. It would be difficult for me to put a ballot in my mouth and put it in a mailbox; I couldnt reach that mailbox. Wisconsins current statute on voting allows for absentee voting but it mandates that the envelope containing an absentee ballot shall be mailed by the elector, or delivered in person, to the municipal clerk issuing the ballot or ballots. Chambers told NPR that, under that statute, It would be illegal for her to fill out a ballot, and have someone else put it in the mailbox for her: the individual who would assist me would be committing a crime, crazy as that may seem. She continued: Its sad because theres a large group of people that just wont do it because they think its illegal or theyre not going to count it, and why bother?RELATED: Texas Democrats Flee State in Protest to Block Voting Changes as Governor Promises Jail TimeStacy Ellingen, who has athetoid cerebral palsy, told NPR the statute makes her feel as if she is being punished. I do feel like Im being punished just because Im physically not able to put a ballot in a mailbox, she told NPR. My caregivers help me fill out the ballot and put it in the mailbox. Its literally the only way for me to vote, she continued. If this stands, I wouldnt be able to vote for the people actually making the decisions that affect my life. The states Supreme Court is slated to make a decision on whether to overturn the ban on drop boxes in June, but a similar situation is playing out in other states. According to a report by the Stanford MIT Healthy Elections Project, more voters used drop boxes in the 2020 general election than in any other election in American history. The report notes that, in 2020 and prior, just eight states  Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state had laws regulating drop boxes. But in the years since, Republican lawmakers many spurred by former President Donald Trumps attacks on mail in voting have moved to discontinue their use, despite there being no evidence that they lead to voter fraud. According to research by Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, 19 states enacted new voting restrictions in 2021, including limits on early and mail in voting. Some states , have continued to add restrictions in 2022.

https://people.com/politics/new-voting-drop-box-laws-target-people-with-disabilities/

Many Adults with Disabilities Report Frequent Mental Distress

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that adults with disabilities report experiencing more mental distress than those without disabilities. An estimated 17. 4 million adults with disabilities experience frequent mental distress, defined as 14 or more reported mentally unhealthy days in the past 30 days. Frequent mental distress is associated with adverse health behaviors, increased health services utilization, mental disorders, chronic diseases, and functional limitations. Prior work has shown that adults with disabilities are more likely to live below the federal poverty level and lack access to health care due to costs both of which are associated with a higher occurrence of mental health conditions. Increasing social cohesion, community participation, access to health promotion opportunities, and delivery of mental health screening, care, and support services could help reduce mental distress among adults with disabilities.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/adults-with-disabilities-mental-distress.html

Primary Care Providers’ Level of Preparedness for Recommending Physical Activity to Adults with Disabilities

Primary care providers are more likely to discuss physical activity with their patients with disabilities if they feel prepared to do so. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Preventing Chronic Disease journal published a new study that looked at how prepared primary care providers feel to recommend physical activity to adults with disabilities. CDC scientists found that PCPs, specifically family doctors, internists, and nurse practitioners, are more likely to recommend physical activity to their patients with disabilities on a regular basis if they feel prepared to do so. However, just over 1 in 3 PCPs strongly agreed that they felt prepared to discuss physical activity with their adult patients with disabilities. Currently, half of PCPs recommend physical activity to their patients with disabilities at most visits. Everybody needs physical activity for good health, and prior studies found that adults with disabilities are more likely to be physically inactive than those without disabilities. PCPs are in a key position to influence physical activity participation among their adult patients with disabilities. The recently published article highlights PCPs’ characteristics that are related to feeling prepared to discuss physical activity with adult patients with disabilities. The article also highlights PCPs’ reported barriers to recommending physical activity to their patients with disabilities. Public health practitioners could use this information to develop resources and tools that may help PCPs feel more prepared to discuss and recommend physical activity with their adult patients with disabilities. Read the scientific summary of the article. CDC’s Disability and Health Branch at the Division of Human Development and Disability supports and provides funding for two National Centers on Health Promotion for People with Disabilities that focus on improving the quality of life for people living with disabilities, including their physical activity: The Branch also supports 19 state based programs toLearn more about the State Disability and Health Programs. Courtney Long EA, Stevens AC, Carroll DD, Griffin Blake S, Omura JD, Carlson SA. Primary Care Providers’ Level of Preparedness for Recommending Physical Activity to Adults With Disabilities.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/kf-activity-recommendations.html

Socioeconomic Factors at the Intersection of Race and Ethnicity Influencing Health Risks for People with Disabilities

Adults with disabilities from some racial and ethnic groups are more likely to smoke and be obese. Income and education may also be related to these behaviors. The Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities has published a new study looking at the relationship between income and education, and two health behaviors smoking and obesity among people with disabilities from different racial and ethnic groups. To conduct this study, CDC researchers used information reported by respondents to the 2007 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys. Researchers found that the proportion of adults living with disabilities varies by race and ethnicity, with the highest among American Indian/Alaska native adults and lowest among Asian adults . Similar to people without disabilities, people with disabilities with low levels of income or education are more likely to smoke or be obese. However, according to this study, how income and education relate with smoking and obesity differs by race and ethnicity. Everyone, including people with disabilities, needs health care and health programs to stay healthy and avoid unhealthy behaviors. Public health professionals can use the information in this article to highlight groups who may be more likely to report smoking and obesity, and to ensure that programs that promote good health are inclusive of people with disabilities. Read a scientific summary of the article. The infographic below shows the percentage of people with disabilities in each racial and ethnic group who report that they are obese or that they smoke. Health promotion and disease prevention programs focusing on smoking and obesity that are inclusive, not only of people from diverse racial and ethnic groups, but also inclusive of people with disabilities may help. This can be done by CDC’s Disability and Health Branch monitors the health of people with and without disabilities, and supports the inclusion of people with disabilities in public health programs that prevent disease and promote healthy behaviors. In addition, CDC works to eliminate barriers to health care and improve access to routine preventive services. CDC supports 19 state based disability and health programs and two National Public Health Practice and Resource Centers, which promote healthy lifestyles and work to improve quality of life for people with disabilities. The primary goals of the state programs are to CDC also maintains Disability and Health Data System , an online interactive tool that provides instant access to state level, disability specific health data. Users can customize the disability and health data they view, making it easy to identify health differences between adults with and without disabilities.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/kf-socioeconomic.html

Building Back Better: Toward a disability-inclusive, accessible, and sustainable post COVID-19 world

Some people with disabilities have severe illness from the virus that causes COVID 19 due to underlying medical conditions, if they live in a group setting, or because of systemic health and social inequities.  CDC recommends that all people age 5 and older receive a COVID 19 vaccine. Adults with disabilities are less likely to report hesitancy about getting vaccinated; yet, are more likely to report experiencing difficulties obtaining a COVID 19 vaccine than adults without a disability. It is critical to ensure that people with disabilities are able to access COVID 19 vaccines to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilitiesexternal icon. In the United States, 1 in 4 adults has a disability. 1 Many people will experience a disability at some point during their lives. Disabilities may include difficulty with walking or climbing stairs; hearing; seeing; or concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. Although the term “people with disabilities” sometimes refers to a single population, this is a diverse group of people with a wide range of needs and abilities. Two people with the same type of disability can be affected in very different ways. Some disabilities may be hidden or not easy to see. A recent CDC study found that adults with disabilities were more likely than adults without a disability to report difficulty getting vaccinated against COVID 19. 2 Among unvaccinated adults, those with a disability were more likely than were those without a disability to report challenges such as:Health disparities are differences in health and access to services. Addressing these barriers to COVID 19 vaccination for people with disabilities can help reduce health disparities, increase COVID 19 vaccination demand, and increase the number of people with disabilities who get the COVID 19 vaccine. COVID 19 Materials for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Care ProvidersPeople with intellectual and developmental disabilities face unique challenges and are more likely to get very sick from COVID 19. Throughout the COVID 19 pandemic, parents, family members, and caregivers have been working hard to help the people they care for stay healthy and safe during this difficult time. This social story follows Izzy as she gets her COVID 19 shot. This poster reminds people to wash their hands to stay safe from COVID 19. Esta historia social interactiva utiliza opciones de llenar el espacio en blanco y selección múltiple para ayudario a prepararse para la vacuna contra el COVID 19. Esta historia social le hace seguimiento a Izzy cuando va a vacunarse contra el COVID 19. This interactive social story uses fill in the blanks and multiple choice options to help you prepare for getting a COVID 19 shot. This video shows how to stay safe from COVID 19 by washing hands. During the COVID 19 pandemic, isolation, disconnection, disrupted routines, and diminished health services have greatly impacted the lives and mental well being of people with disabilities. Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. How one responds to stressful situations, such as the COVID 19 pandemic, can depend on their background, support systems , financial situation, health and emotional background, the community they live in, and many other factors. People with disabilities or developmental delays may respond strongly to the stress of a crisis, particularly if they are also at higher risk for serious illness from COVID 19 . Public health efforts that make COVID 19 vaccination information, scheduling, and sites more easily accessible for persons with disabilities might help to address health inequities and increase vaccination demand and coverage. 2 These efforts include:

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/COVID-19-and-disabilities.html

The Mental Health of People with Disabilities

Adults with disabilities report experiencing frequent mental distress almost 5 times as often as adults without disabilities. Call your doctor if your mental health gets in the way of your daily activities for at least 14 days in a month. December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In the United States, 1 in 4 adults 61 million have a disability. Many people will experience a disability at some point during their lives. Disabilities limit how a child or adult functions. These limitations may include difficulty walking or climbing stairs; hearing; seeing; or concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. Although “people with disabilities” sometimes refers to a single population, this is a diverse group of people with a wide range of needs. Two people with the same type of disability can be affected in very different ways. Some disabilities may be hidden or not easy to see. A recent study found that adults with disabilities report experiencing more mental distress than those without disabilities. 2 In 2018, an estimated 17. 4 million adults with disabilities experienced frequent mental distress, defined as 14 or more reported mentally unhealthy days in the past 30 days. Frequent mental distress is associated with poor health behaviors, increased use of health services, mental disorders, chronic disease, and limitations in daily life. 2During the COVID 19 pandemic, isolation, disconnect, disrupted routines, and diminished health services have greatly impacted the lives and mental well being of people with disabilities. 3Call your healthcare provider if stress gets in the way of your daily activities for several days in a row. Free and confidential resources can also help you or a loved one connect with a skilled, trained counselor in your area Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. How you respond to stressful situations, such as the COVID 19 pandemic, can depend on your background, your support systems , your financial situation, your health and emotional background, the community you live in, and many other factors. People with disabilities or developmental delays may respond strongly to the stress of a crisis, particularly if they are also at higher risk for serious illness from COVID 19 . We are often asked this question, and many of us say we’re “fine. ” But this has been a difficult time lately, and emotions can be complex. You may be feeling sad, worried, or stressed. It helps to stay positive and remind yourself of your strengths. Visit How Right Nowexternal icon for inspiration and resources to find what helps. CDC provides funding for two National Centers on Disability that focus on improving the quality of life for people living with disabilities. Special Olympics’ Inclusive Healthexternal icon programming focuses on improving the physical and social emotional well being of people with intellectual disabilities by increasing inclusion in health care, wellness, and health systems for Special Olympics athletes and others with intellectual disabilities. “I learned relaxation techniques and now always try these when I find myself overwhelmed. I would recommend these strategies to others, too. A strong mind is an important part to a happy body,” shares Kayte Barton, a Special Olympics athlete from Minnesota. Barton was a part of the Special Olympics committee to help develop emotional health programming for Special Olympics athletes across the world in its flagship Special Olympics Healthy Athletes®external icon program. Special Olympics’ Strong Mindfulness program offers free, 1 hour mindfulness sessions for people with intellectual disabilities and their families.  Participants learn deep breathing techniques, body awareness and progressive muscle relaxation, mindful movement, and guided meditation. They also receive a Strong Minds Activity Guide designed to help them develop their coping skills in everyday life.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/mental-health-for-all.html

Physical Activity for People with Disability

Everybody needs physical activity for good health. However, less than half of U. S adults with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs report engaging in aerobic physical activity. 1 For those who are active, walking is the most common physical activity. 1 Yet, adults with disabilities report more environmental barriers for walking than those without disabilities. 2 Here are some ways that people with disabilities can stay active and healthy. Physical activity plays an important role in maintaining health, well being, and quality of life. According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd editionpdf iconexternal icon, physical activity can help control weight, improve mental health, and lower the risk for early death, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Physical activity can also improve mental health by reducing depression and anxiety. For people with disabilities, physical activity can help support daily living activities and independence. Any amount of physical activity that gets your heart beating faster can improve your health. Some activity is better than none. For even greater health benefits, the Guidelines recommend that all adults, with or without disabilities, get at least 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity per week. Activities can be broken down into smaller amounts, such as about 25 minutes a day every day. Muscle strengthening activities, such as adapted yoga or working with resistance bands, provide additional health benefits. One in four U. S. adults is living with a disability,3 defined asAdults with disabilities are more likely to have obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or cancer than adults without disabilities. 4 Physical activity can reduce the risk and help manage these chronic conditions. Many adults with disabilities and chronic health conditions can participate in regular physical activity; however, it’s important to consult with a healthcare professional or physical activity specialist to understand how your disability or health condition affects your ability to safely do physical activity. If you have a disability and want to make physical activity part of your daily routine, here are some options. Engaging in physical activity outdoors can help improve your physical health, as well as your mental health and well being. Most people can engage in an active lifestyle through walking including people with disabilities who are able to walk or move with the use of assistive devices, such as wheelchairs or walkers. 5 In fact, walking is the most common form of physical activity reported among active adults with mobility disability. 1Unfortunately, adults with disabilities report fewer neighborhood environmental supports and more barriers for walking than those without disabilities. 2 To improve this, resources were created to help promote the development of supportive environments for walking for individuals with disabilities. Being active in your home can also be a good option. Here are some resources that can help you stay physically active while at home. Decide how much physical activity is right for you and your fitness level, pick an activity you enjoy for example, gardening, doing chores around the house, wheeling yourself around in your wheelchair, walking briskly, or dancing and find ways to include your favorite physical activity into your everyday life. CDC’s Disability and Health Promotion Branch, within the Division of Human Development and Disability, supports and provides funding for two National Centers on Disability that focus on improving the quality of life for people living with disabilities, including their physical activity level.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/physical-activity-for-all.html

Prevalence of Disability and Disability Types by Urban-Rural County Classification – United States, 2016

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a new report comparing the percentage of adults with disabilities living in urban versus rural U. S counties. By analyzing self reported data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System across six levels of urbanization, CDC researchers were able to estimate Researchers found that the percentage of adults living with disability was highest in noncore counties and lowest in large central and fringe metropolitan counties. Compared with adults living in large central metropolitan counties, adults living in noncore counties were These findings serve as reminders that people with disabilities live in all geographic areas. It is important that public health programs include people with disabilities living in rural communities. Read a summary of the article »external icon*2013 NCHS Classification Scheme for Counties1CDC researchers analyzed data on adults with disabilities for counties categorized according to the 2013 NCHS Classification Scheme for Counties. 1 From most urban to most rural, these categories include Nearly 19% of noncore counties in this study are in the Southern and Midwest regions of the United States, compared to 3. 1% in the West coast region, 2. 9% in the Northeast, and 6. 7% nationally. BRFSS allows respondents to self report on up to six functional types of disability. Specifically, participants were classified as having one of the six disability types if they answered “yes” to the following questions: Respondents who answered ‘yes’ to at least one of the disability questions were classified as having “any disability. ”CDC supports 19 state disability and health programs and two National Centers on Health Promotion for People with Disabilities, all of which promote healthy lifestyles and work to improve quality of life for people with disabilities.  The primary goals of the state programs are to CDC’s Disability and Health website also provides information and resources to increase awareness about disability inclusion, helping to ensure that every individual, with or without disabilities, can live, work, learn, and play in their communities. We encourage you to visit the Disability and Health website to find helpful information about disability inclusion and learn more about CDC also maintains the newly updated Disability and Health Data System , an online interactive tool that provides instant access to state level, disability specific health data. Users can customize the disability and health data they view, making it easy to find data on adults with and without disabilities and by functional disability type

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/disability-prevalence-rural-urban.html

CDC and Special Olympics: Inclusive Health

Physical activity is the cornerstone of good health. However, less than half of U. S. adults with disabilities meet the recommended physical activity guidelines. 1 Learn how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with Special Olympics to increase participation in year round wellness programs among people with intellectual disabilities a term used when a person has certain difficulties with thinking, learning, remembering, and reasoning. May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. Physical activity plays an important role in maintaining health, well being, and quality of life. According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, physical activity can help control weight and lower the risk for early death, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Physical activity can also improve mental health by reducing depression and anxiety. For people with disabilities, physical activity can help support daily living activities and independence. Any amount of physical activity that gets your heart beating faster can improve your health. It helps to remember some activity is better than none. For even greater health benefits, the Guidelines recommend that all adults, with or without disabilities, get at least 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity per week, which can be broken down into smaller amounts each day. Muscle strengthening activities, such as adapted yoga or working with resistance bands, provide additional health benefits and are recommended two days a week. Fitness plays a key role in the mission of the Special Olympics a CDC partner organization that provides year round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community. Physical activity, good nutrition, and hydration enhance athletes’ sports performance and improve their overall health and quality of life. Recent Special Olympics data reveal that fitness programming is urgent, given that more than half of Special Olympics athletes are overweight, almost a third have obesity, and 57% have hypertension. 2CDC and Special Olympicsexternal icon have joined forces to increase the number of people with intellectual disabilities who participate in year round wellness programming that includes flexible fitness intervention models and resources to promote weight loss and decrease blood pressure. Special Olympics also trains coaches and fitness instructors to work with people with intellectual disabilities and develops partnerships to support local and national fitness participation. Inclusive health means people with intellectual disabilities are able to take full advantage of the same health programs and services available to people without intellectual disabilities. To prevent illness and promote healthy behaviors and safety for people with disabilities, CDC is committed to disability inclusion in public health programs, working to eliminate barriers to health care and improve the ability to get routine preventive services. As part of this work, CDC supports Special Olympics’ efforts to improve the physical and social emotional well being of people with intellectual disabilities by increasing inclusion in health care, wellness, and health systems for Special Olympics athletes and others with intellectual disabilities. More broadly, the Special Olympics partnership with CDC supports a range of health initiatives, including This partnership leverages the Special Olympics community of more than 700,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities, 135,000 coaches, and 700,000 volunteers to spark nationwide change.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/special-olympics-heroes.html

31st ADA anniversary: Health is for all of us

July 26, 2021 marks the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act , a civil rights law that promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities in every aspect of life. Learn what CDC is doing to support disability inclusion, which can improve health for all. Anyone can have a disability at any point in their life. Disabilities, which limit how a child or adult functions, may include serious difficulty with walking or climbing stairs; hearing; seeing; or concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. One of every four adults in the United States has some type of disability, 1 and many people will experience a disability during their lifetime. This month is the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act , a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. The ADA has made a positive difference in the lives of those who have disabilities by providing better access to buildings, transportation, education, and employment and creating opportunities for individuals with disabilities to work, play, and contribute in their communities. However, challenges remain with access to health care, as well as inclusion of people with disabilities in health promotion and disease prevention programs. 1Additionally, people with disabilities continue to face significant differences in health compared to people who do not have disabilities. For example CDC recognizes ADA as an important policy for facilitating the inclusion of people with disabilities in federal efforts related to health and health care. As such, CDC strives to improve the health of people with disabilities by providing access to disability data, fostering state and national collaborations to promote inclusion, and developing tools for disability inclusion. Below are some of our most recent resources and tools for disability inclusion. Knowing the differences in health between people with and without disabilities is the first step in making sure people with disabilities have access to the programs and services that can help improve their health. CDC created the Disability and Health Data System to provide vital information to better understand the health needs of adults with disabilities at the state and national levels. Equipped with these data, state epidemiologists, researchers, policymakers, public health professionals, and anyone interested in the health of adults with disabilities can plan for inclusive communities that offer the programs and services needed to improve the health of this population. With DHDS, you can get answers to questions such as CDC funds the Association of State and Territorial Health Officialsexternal icon, the National Association of County and City Health Officialsexternal icon and the Association of University Centers on Disabilitiesexternal icon through a project titled, “Addressing Needs of People with Disability in COVID 19 Preparedness, Planning, Mitigation, and Recovery Efforts in the United States. ”The purpose of this project is to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are addressed in COVID 19 planning, mitigation, and recovery efforts through People with disabilities need public health programs and healthcare services for the same reasons everyone does to be healthy, active, and engaged as part of the community. Including people with disabilities in public health programs and activities ensures improvements in the overall health and wellbeing of the entire population. CDC provides resources that public health practitioners, healthcare providers, and others can use to help ensure that every person – with or without disabilities – can participate fully in their communities. Visit the Inclusive Healthy Communities Model webpages to learn how ten communities in five states used IHCM to implement disability inclusion strategies and make healthy living easier for all people across community sectors where they live, learn, work, play, pray and receive care.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/ada-anniversary.html

Prevalence of Disabilities and Health Care Access by Disability Status and Type Among Adults — United States, 2016

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report  published a report describing adults with disabilities in the United States, as well as the differences in health care access by disability type. Using 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, CDC scientists analyzed the survey responses of those adults 18 years of age and older who had any of the following six types of disabilities: They found that 1 in 4 adults in the United States, or 61 million people, have at least one of these disabilities. Anyone can have a disability, and a disability can occur at any point in a person’s life. However, this report found disabilities more common among adults 65 years of age and older; approximately 2 in 5 adults in this age group have a disability. Disability was more commonly reported by women, non Hispanic American Indians/Alaska Natives , adults with income below the federal poverty level, and adults living in the southern region of the United States. Researchers also found that, in general, adults 65 years of age and older with any disability reported better access to health care compared to younger adults with a disability. However, disability specific disparities in health care access were common, particularly among young and middle aged adults. Generally, adults with vision disability reported the least access to health care and adults with self care disability reported the most access to care. Research on the number of people with disabilities, their characteristics, and their disability specific differences in health care access might enable health care professionals to address disability specific barriers to health care, ensure inclusivity of health programs, and improve the health of people with disabilities. Researchers looked at the responses, given by people with disabilities, to four health care access questions: They found that, for each disability type, having health insurance coverage, a usual health care provider, and receiving a routine check up increased with age, while having an unmet health care need because of cost decreased with age. Findings for specific age groups are outlined in the table below: BRFSS is an ongoing state based telephone survey of noninstitutionalized U. S. adults aged 18 years or older living in the community . This is the first time a question about hearing difficulty has been included in the BRFSS, which may be why the number of people with disabilities is higher than previously reported . CDC supports 19 state disability and health programs and two National Centers on Health Promotion for People with Disabilities, all of which promote healthy lifestyles and work to improve quality of life for people with disabilities.  The primary goals of the state programs are to The CDC’s Disability and Health website also provides information and resources that public health practitioners, health care providers, and others can use to increase awareness about disability inclusion, helping to ensure that every individual, with or without disabilities, can live, work, learn, and play in their communities. We encourage you to visit the Disability and Health website to find helpful information about disability inclusion and learn more about CDC also maintains the newly updated Disability and Health Data System , an online interactive tool that provides instant access to state level, disability specific health data. Users can customize the disability and health data they view, making it easy to find health data on adults with and without disabilities and by functional disability type.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/kf-adult-prevalence-disabilities.html

Article Highlights: The Guide to Community Preventive Services and Disability Inclusion

People with disabilities need to be included and have access to the disease prevention and health promotion programs they need to stay healthy and lead full, active lives. In a recent report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine , CDC scientists summarize how public health recommendations from the Guide to Community Preventive can be adapted to better benefit people with disabilities. One in five adults in the United States have some type of disability. Compared to adults without disabilities, adults with disabilities are more likely to be obese, smoke, have high blood pressure, and be physically inactive. Any of these can increase the risk for medical conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers, which are also more common among adults with disabilities. People with disabilities need health programs and services for the same reasons anyone does – to be healthy, active, and part of the community. However, they frequently experience barriers that keep them from obtaining the health care they need and participating in health promotion and disease prevention programs in their communities. As community organizations and public health officials implement the recommendations found in the Community Guide, they may wish to consider removing the health barriers people with disabilities sometimes face when trying to use these programs. With the appropriate adaptations, people with disabilities are more able to benefit from the disease prevention and health promotion programs they need to stay active and healthy, and lead full lives. The Guide to Community Preventive is a resource where public health officials and community organizations can go to see what proven programs exist to address public health issues, such as cancer screenings, access to physical activity, drinking and smoking, among many others. There are several types of changes that health promotion and disease prevention programs such as those within in the Community Guide can use to make sure people with disabilities are included, such as table indicating types of changes pdf icon[288 KB, 10 pages]external icon for each type of program is included with the AJPM report as online supplemental information. This resource can be used to guide specific changes that can improve the access of people with disability to these proven health promotion and disease prevention programs. People with disabilities are the best advocates for appropriate adaptations to public health interventions. Including people with disabilities from the beginning of an implementation will help a program succeed. The Guide to Community Preventive Services and Disability Inclusion.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/preventive-services-and-disability-inclusion.html

Adults with One or More Functional Disabilities – United States, 2011-2014

Working age adults with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty, have less than high school education and be unemployed. How can we improve this?Social_round_facebook Social_round_twitter email iconThe Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has published a new report that describes the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of working age adults with disabilities living in U. S. communities. What’s unique about this report is that the researchers also looked at these characteristics by number of disability types. According to the report, about 12% of working age adults in the United States have any disability and nearly 6 in 10 of them have only one disability type. Living in poverty, having less than a high school education, or being in the labor force, but looking for work, are each more common among adults who have a disability, even those with only 1 disability, compared with those with no disability. Adults with disabilities had from 1 to 6 disability types; the researchers assigned them to groups of adults who had 1, 2, 3, or 4 or more disability types. As the number of disability types increased from 1 to 4 or more, people in those groups were increasingly more likely to live in poverty, have less than a high school education, or if in the labor force, to be looking for work. This MMWR presents important information that public health officials and decision makers can use to understand the characteristics of working age adults with disabilities, including those with multiple disabilities, and make sure they are included in programs and policies designed to increase social participation. United States, 2011 – 2014Working together, public health professionals, employers and communities can address the barriers that may be keeping people with disabilities from getting into the workforce and obtaining the social, economic and health benefits that employment can offer. CDC currently supports 19 State Disability and Health Programs and two National Centers on Disability. State Disability and Health Programs inform policy and practice at the state level. These programs ensure that individuals with disabilities are included in ongoing activities within the state that prevent disease and promote health. The National Centers on Disability

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/features/keyfinding-adults-with-multiple-functional-disabilities.html

Feds Warn Employers Against Disability Discrimination

The federal government is offering new guidance to help businesses ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act as they use technology in hiring and other human resources practices. Increasingly common methods that employers are using to select new hires, judge performance and determine pay or promotions may discriminate against people with disabilities, federal officials say. The U. S. Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission say artificial intelligence and other software tools used by companies can result in employers violating the rights of people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Businesses frequently use computer based tests or resume scoring software to screen job applicants as well as other technology to assess the performance of current and prospective workers. In guidance issued late last week, the agencies point out that without safeguards, software tools can screen out capable people with disabilities. For example, a wheelchair user interviewing for a cashier position may be turned away by a chatbot if they say they cannot stand for hours even though they could do the job while seated, the EEOC notes. The guidance stops short of telling employers that they cannot use artificial intelligence and other software tools, instead detailing what steps should be taken to ensure ADA compliance. When utilizing technological tools, employers should consider the impact on people with various disabilities and have a process for providing reasonable accommodations when appropriate, the guidance indicates. Employers should also remember that if software tools make people disclose information about their disabilities or medical conditions, that could lead to inquiries or medical exams that are not permitted. “Algorithmic tools should not stand as a barrier for people with disabilities seeking access to jobs,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department. “This guidance will help the public understand how an employer’s use of such tools may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, so that people with disabilities know their rights and employers can take action to avoid discrimination. ”Beyond guidance for employers, the EEOC is also offering tips for people with disabilities who believe they have been discriminated against. “New technologies should not become new ways to discriminate,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “If employers are aware of the ways AI and other technologies can discriminate against persons with disabilities, they can take steps to prevent it. ” With a slew of new actions and additional resources, federal education officials are taking steps to ensure that students with disabilities and their families can access school services. In May 2021, 11 year old Ryan Larsen walked out of his elementary school in between classes. A year later, there are few signs of the boys whereabouts. Industry associations and business owners say serial plaintiffs are increasingly using the ADA to extract tens of thousands of dollars in settlements, not to promote access as the law intended.

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2022/05/16/feds-warn-employers-against-disability-discrimination/29857/

Inspired by daughter, architect approaches accessibility as a 'lifestyle'

Megen Olfert smiles thinking about the backyard treehouse her father designed for her when she was a kid.  It was wide enough for a motorised wheelchair to maneuver inside, and a cement path wound its way through the backyard up to the treehouse instead of stairs or a ladder.  I felt like I was on equal ground as a kid, said Megen, recalling friends coming over to hang out, because sometimes when youre disabled it means you have to do things differently even though you can do the same thing. It made me feel included. Megen was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at nine months old. It became clear to her parents, Charles and Leila Olfert, that their daughter would need a wheelchair and their house would not meet Megens needs. So, Charles began designing a new home for the family.  Ceiling track lifts were installed in Megens room and bathroom, which allowed her to safely transfer from her wheelchair to her bed and bathtub. Wide hallways ensured Megen could freely move throughout the main floor, and the driveway was level with the street so that she could roll into the house instead of using a wheelchair ramp.  I think that there is a kind of negative public connotation when you see a giant wheelchair ramp coming up to the front of your house. I dont like that, said Charles, an architect and one of the founders of AODBT Architecture and Interior Design in Saskatoon. There are so many ways to do a wheelchair ramp that is built right into the landscape and are more subtle. Charles works with businesses and organizations to make their spaces more accessible for people with physical and intellectual disabilities. He credits Megen with expanding his outlook on accessibility issues. Accessibility isnt really a passion of mine, he said. Its a lifestyle because we have a daughter with a disability. Everything that Ive been doing has this lens thats part of my work. When Megens elementary school, George Vanier School, needed a ramp in 1988, Charles helped build it. When high school was on the horizon for her, Charles helped design St. Joseph, including a top notch wheelchair accessible bathroom. Megen was having an impact and helping others in our city and she didnt even know it, he said. Megen is now 39 and lives with her service dog, Que, in a condominium run by Cheshire Homes in Saskatoon, which facilitates independent living for those with disabilities. Her father helped design the home to meet all of her accessibility needs. It even features a device that gives Megen autonomy when it comes to feeding Que.  I want to be able to feed my own dog without assistance, said Megen. I do this every day, twice a day.  For the past 14 years, Megen has worked at Home Depot in Saskatoons Stonebridge suburb. Her encyclopedic knowledge of the store has made her a star with customers, and she hopes her presence will remind them of the potential of people with disabilities.  We need to get more employers to be more accessible to both physically and intellectually disabled people, she said. Charles, meanwhile, hopes more businesses will see the benefits of prioritizing accessibility in their design. He is one of a handful of Saskatchewan architects who have taken the Rick Hansen Foundations certification course that teaches how spaces can be more inviting to people with disabilities. It includes everything from designing signs to help alleviate anxiety to creating spaces for people with hearing issues.  There are only three buildings in Saskatchewan that have been certified gold by the Rick Hansen Foundation: AODBT and the Ronald McDonald House in Saskatoon, and Mosaic Stadium in Regina. Its going to take a little extra money and space and time, so you have to find a client that maybe has that mission in mind already that wants to provide those services, he said. It also does project a good public image.  Charles would also love to see the Saskatoon widen its sidewalks and make them smoother for people who are in wheelchairs. Oftentimes, Megen will operate her power wheelchair on the street while Que walks on the sidewalk because of the shape they are in.  Something Megen believes would make a difference when it comes to accessibility in Saskatoon that doesnt cost a thing   is empathy.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/accessibility-architect-saskatoon-1.6448395

Unlock the Powerful Gifts Your Disability Taught You About Being a Better Leader

Empathy and active listening are two skills every effective leader should have. The experience of living with a disability provides an advantage in recognizing the importance of these skills and wielding them in the workplace. As a leader, you are responsible for a challenging yet essential role within your company. If you live with any type of condition, be it physical or mental, from blindness to neurodivergency, your experiences overcoming this adversity can be an asset. With the help of the empathy and active listening skills youve likely developed, you can create a more lively and supportive corporate culture and build a more synergistic workplace. Here are three areas where demonstrating empathy and active listening will make your business an encouraging and productive environment. You have probably seen your fair share of working environments that lack some of the accommodations you need for your disability. If you use a wheelchair or other mobility aids, perhaps you have noticed a lack of ramps and elevators in many buildings. It can be incredibly frustrating to navigate spaces like these. The good news is, the kindness and patience you have gained from facing adversity will allow you to better understand others’ struggles. When an employee comes to you with a problem, you can assure them that they are not alone. Channel your compassion by empathizing with your employees. Even if you have not faced the exact same difficulties as them, you can still acknowledge and value their concerns by paying close attention to what they are telling you. Active listening involves making a conscious effort to understand and absorb what others are saying. Encourage their continued input. Practicing these skills will improve your listening comprehension while also showing your employees you care about their point of view. Being considerate toward every member of your company will foster a workplace that thrives on unity. Related: Leaders With Disabilities Have Instincts That Inspire Their Teams and Stimulate ProductivityAs someone with a disability, you are probably very aware of your own limitations, which is a real asset when it comes to empathizing with others. Have you ever had a job where you felt like you couldn’t say no to a project? This kind of pressure often results in burnout, which can be harmful to you, your team and ultimately, the work you produce together. Take stock of everything you are asking your employees to do and ask yourself, “Is it too much?”Certain behaviors on your part such as expecting employees to respond to emails while on vacation, discouraging them from taking time off or pressuring them to put their career ahead of their family could be creating an environment where people feel uncomfortable with prioritizing themselves and their health. To mitigate this, start by setting some boundaries of your own. Some healthy examples of this would be using “Do Not Disturb” settings on communication devices while you are busy or only taking on one major project at a time. Communicate your personal limits clearly with your team, and then allow them to set their own. Their boundaries may be very different from yours, and you can treat this as an opportunity to understand the other person better. You may learn someone is uncomfortable with working overtime because they value their family time. Approach these conversations with empathy, picturing what each person’s responsibilities look like from their perspective. Finally, remember your active listening skills; making an effort to recognize and remember your employees’ boundaries will demonstrate you care about their well being. Once your team members know you accept their limits, they will feel more comfortable communicating them to each other. An open minded team that respects its workers’ comfort zones is one that performs together cohesively.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/424196

Supreme Court Decision Weakens Disability Rights, Advocates Say

Disability advocates are not happy about a recent decision from the U. S. Supreme Court limiting the ability to seek damages from many discrimination claims. A recent U. S. Supreme Court decision chips away at disability rights, advocates say, by making it harder to bring claims under some of the nation’s anti discrimination laws. The high court ruled late last month 6 3 against Jane Cummings, who is deaf and legally blind, determining that emotional distress from discrimination is insufficient harm to warrant a lawsuit under four federal civil rights laws. Cummings sued after Premier Rehab Keller in Texas declined to provide her a sign language interpreter at her physical therapy appointments. The therapy provider said that Cummings could use notes, lip reading and gestures to communicate instead. argued that Premier Rehab Keller discriminated against her on the basis of disability, violating the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Affordable Care Act, which apply to facilities that receive federal funds like the therapy provider does. However, a federal judge determined that Cummings’ only injuries were “humiliation, frustration and emotional distress” and indicated that the laws in question did not allow for the recovery of damages in such cases. A federal appeals court affirmed the ruling and a majority of the Supreme Court agreed. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that damages for emotional distress are not available in most breach of contract cases, so it’s unreasonable to think that business receiving federal dollars should be held to a different standard. “After all, when considering whether to accept federal funds, a prospective recipient would surely wonder not only what rules it must follow, but also what sort of penalties might be on the table,” Roberts wrote. In addition to the Rehabilitation Act and the Affordable Care Act, the ruling applies to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer noted that discrimination often harms in ways that are purely emotional. “It is difficult to square the court’s holding with the basic purposes that antidiscrimination laws seek to serve,” Breyer wrote. “The court’s decision today allows victims of discrimination to recover damages only if they can prove that they have suffered economic harm, even though the primary harm inflicted by discrimination is rarely economic. … The court’s decision today will leave those victims with no remedy at all. ”The ruling puts people with disabilities in a precarious position, advocates say. “These civil rights statutes are intended to protect the rights of people with disabilities and other historically disenfranchised groups. In foreclosing relief for the emotional distress that may ensue from discrimination, this holding diminishes the dignity and respect that people with disabilities deserve and are entitled to as full members of our society,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc. The ruling will effectively “weaken the protections for people with disabilities in the Rehabilitation Act and the Affordable Care Act,” according to Ira Burnim, legal director at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. “Nearly 50 years since the passage of the Rehabilitation Act, too many people with disabilities continue to face isolation and humiliation as a result of discrimination,” Burnim said. “By limiting their ability to seek and obtain money damages for the emotional distress they experience when their rights are violated in many cases, the only cognizable harms such plaintiffs experience today’s decision has significantly limited their access to justice. ”

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2022/05/09/supreme-court-decision-weakens-disability-rights-advocates-say/29843/

Intersection of Disability Race Explored at Free, DEI Virtual Conference: Civil Rights Advocate Kimberlé W. Crenshaw Disability Activists to Present

As issues at the intersection of disability and race remain under recognized due to a lack fluency or awareness, nonprofit agencies AHRC Nassau and The Arc of the United States are responding with a free, online conference on May 18 to connect attendees of all abilities and backgrounds with research, best practices, and most importantly, with each other. The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Virtual Conference, Beyond the Comfort Zone: Understanding and Eradicating Injustice, Racism and Inequality in the Field of Developmental Disabilities, will explore the history, the latest research, and opportunities for the increased inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as recognition for direct care staff, who are primarily Black, Indigenous, and people of color . Disability is an underdeveloped area of DEI. For those with no prior connection to the experience of disability or the underlying issues related to race, there can be shame and hesitation in trying to discuss these issues or worse, silence, said Stanfort J. Perry, Conference Chair and CEO of AHRC Nassau. The purpose of this online conference is to create a platform offering the latest insight on the intersectionality of issues pertaining to ableism and racism to encourage questions, conversations, and above all, shine a spotlight on those whom society has marginalized. More than 30 years since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, people with disabilities remain one of the most marginalized groups – at high risk of violent crimes to contracting and dying from COVID 19. Their essential support staff, who make tasks of daily living and participation in the wider community possible, are predominantly women of color who have spent years advocating for a living wage. According to a report from the University of Minnesota – Institute on Community Integration and The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, Black/African American Direct Support Professionals were paid less per hour than white DSPs, and a higher percentage of Black/African American DSPs worked 40 or more additional hours per week. Though there is overwhelming need, an overall lack of funding has resulted in a 43% national turnover rate in the direct care workforce and a staffing crisis. Self advocates, like Jessica Campbell, have advocated for years for necessary funding to ensure services and supports to lead an independent life. Imagine not being able to get medication, access money, stay clean, cook, do your job, or go out into the community thats what a staffing crisis means to us, said Campbell, who is currently a member of AHRC Nassaus Board of Directors and a Field Assistant for the Long Island Region at the Self Advocacy Association of New York State. The upcoming DEI Virtual Conference is important to Campbell because in addition to addressing some of these issues during a conference panel, she hopes more people have a chance to be understood and that more people can begin to understand the experience of disability. For Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc of the United States, Disability providers, at the state and federal level, are working within legal, legislative, and service frameworks that can be complex and difficult to navigate regardless of whether you receive services, work in the industry, or seek to understand as an outside observer. Within these systems, people with disabilities and their direct care staff can become further and further removed from the action of daily life, and lead lives in parallel to their peers without disabilities with few interactions, largely unseen and unheard, said Berns. The DEI Virtual Conference speaker lineup will offer valuable perspectives on how meaningful change must be the result of collective partnership and advocacy across all facets of society.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/intersection-disability-race-explored-free-164700507.html

What’s Next For Disability Policy?

Disability PolicyThe disability community in the United States finds itself in uncertain times. For people with disabilities, the last several years have been at once terrifying and exciting. Disabled people have on the one hand faced unprecedented dangers, like the Covid 19 pandemic and repeal of the Affordable Care Act. At the same time they have marveled at strong signs of the disability community’s political power, and steps towards previously unimaginable but deeply cherished policy goals. The election of President Joe Biden with a thin Democratic majority in Congress held out real hope of relief and achievement for a battered but resilient disability community. Biden had put forward a fairly substantial disability platform. It wasn’t as ambitious as some of his primary rivals, like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. But it proposed far more in disability policy than any previous Presidential nominee. Most notably, the administration’s original Build Back Better plan included what would have been historic investments in home care, and some long overdue fixes and increases in Supplemental Security Income, . But Build Back Better’s massive “reconciliation” package stalled. The pandemic has continued, inflation is rising, war is raging in Eastern Europe, and the President’s approval ratings are low. According to a recent poll by The Century Foundation and Data For Progress, just 1 in 3 disabled voters believe their leaders in Washington care about people with disabilities. With politics in Washington now even more polarized and distracted, and disabled voters’ faith in their lawmakers shaky at best, what can disabled people realistically expect now? And what can the disability community fruitfully focus on in the months ahead?Despite recent setbacks and disappointments, disability policy experts and activists believe that some important objectives and goals are still achievable. Here are three disability policy areas still considered not only important to disabled people, but ripe for real accomplishment. The top priority is still to substantially increase funding for Home and Community Based Services, which enable people with significant disabilities to live independently in their own homes rather than care facilities. The goal is to reduce or if possible eliminate “waiting lists” of elderly and disabled people who are qualified for home care but can’t get it solely because of inadequate funding. HCBS increases would also enable states to raise pay and benefits for home care workers, to address the worsening shortage of workers and pay home care workers what they deserve. This was part of the Build Back Better plan, originally to be a $400 billion investment over 10 years a figure that was significantly reduced during negotiations, but would have still been historic and important if it had passed. Disability policy leaders say that increased funding for HCBS is part of ongoing efforts to agree on a scaled down version of Build Back Better. “There is a smaller economic bill that we are hoping to at least include HCBS,” says Mia Ives Rublee, Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. “There’s wide caucus support for expanding access to HCBS,” adds Bethany Lilly, Director of Income Policy at The Arc, “and we and our Hill champions are going to continue to push hard for this to be included. ““Disability advocates are also talking about how to come back and push for more transformative fixes” to HCBS,” says Julia Bascom, Executive Director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Longer term policy goals for HCBS include:Like most disability policy issues, building home care to its full potential in disabled people’s lives is a combination of small steps, broad ambitions, and patience. “This work will take decades,” Bascom admits.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/04/30/whats-next-for-disability-policy/?sh=69f1480c26bd

How To Look For Help If You Have A Disability

Where can people with disabilities and their families turn for help? How should they start? The answer depends on what exactly each disabled person is looking for. Near the start of every journey with disability, there’s a time when all the tests, treatments, and therapies end, and disabled people ask, essentially, “What’s next? Who’s going to help me now?”Part of the problem is that “help” is probably too broad a word. It can mean too many things, especially to people with different disabilities and vastly different paths to life with a disability. That’s why it is so important for disabled people to think carefully about what exactly they are looking for what “help” actually means to them. Most disabled people are looking for some combination of several qualities: This can include medical and practical information on their specific disabilities, basic knowledge of benefits, support services, and disability rights laws. And most disabled people aren’t just looking for more information, but better as in accurate, up to date, and unbiased, or at least with clearly identifiable points of view disclosed upfront. In other words, disabled people want information they can trust. Disabled people often want and need something more than just lists of programs and their contact information. They crave a sense of direction, purpose, and endorsement from people who have some kind of credibility on disability matters. At the same time, most disabled people are wary of too much advice, especially when it’s too confidently or aggressively given. People with disabilities want advice and perspective, not condescending or unsolicited lectures, or demands. Disability can be lonely, especially when you have to argue or fight for what you need. Most people with disabilities at some point want more than anything else to find someone to join them in their struggles. But kindness and good intentions aren’t always enough. Disabled people want to find people and organizations that also have some kind of standing and influence that might make a difference in whether the answer to some disability related need is going to be a “yes” or “no. ” And eventually, most people with disabilities also want someone who will help them to learn their own advocacy skills, so they can grow in their ability to fight for themselves. Attitude, mindset, and even allies can only get you so far in dealing with disability related barriers. For many disabled people the most urgent and difficult to satisfy priority is simply getting money to live safely and decently, when earning a living in traditional ways is impractical, reduced, or interrupted. They also often need specific kinds of tools and equipment that offer mobility and in other ways help disabled people live more independently and productively. And people with certain kinds of disabilities need one on one help from other people to complete everyday physical tasks and organizational needs. Independence is within reach for most if not all disabled people. But it often requires things that disabled people in particular find it difficult to afford without outside help and funding. Most people want companionship on the journey through life. People with disabilities especially crave partnerships and friendships with people who can relate personally to the disability experience. Many also look for spaces and settings where disabled people can feel free to share their unvarnished feelings about living with disabilities. This kind of support is different from what professional service providers, advocates, and even most family members can provide. But it’s something people with disabilities are in a unique position to provide to each other. When people with disabilities look for help, they are looking for some combination of these things, with different priorities depending on each person’s unique situation. And there’s another question on top of it all. What do disabled people expect help to look like, to feel like?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/04/18/how-to-look-for-help-if-you-have-a-disability/?sh=1b82230371ea

5 ‘Takes’ On Disability For Parents Of Disabled Kids

In late April 2022, Facebook users interested in disability issues and culture liked and shared a post by “Diary Of A Mom. ” In it, the mother of an autistic young woman describes a series of refreshingly pleasant encounters in a shopping mall and Build A Bear store. On the surface the post seems fairly typical of memoirs and vignettes shared on social media by thousands of “Special Needs Parents. ” But this post was something different. It was both positive and starkly realistic, and both proud and confessional. This did not go unnoticed by a number of disabled activists who are often wary of disability stories shared by parents, which tend to be either sentimental or horrific, self congratulatory or self pitying. In the mother’s account, store employees and customers are curious about her daughter’s unusual mannerisms, but not hostile. The young woman didn’t get the kind of public reception many autistic and otherwise disabled children get awkwardness, a cold shoulder, even irritation. The mother argues that her own genuine acceptance and lack of embarrassment about her daughter encouraged others to adopt the same accepting attitude. The mother’s calm and open approach to her autistic daughter demonstrated how they should behave towards her themselves. They seem to have followed her lead. But what makes this post even more meaningful and unusual is that it’s also a confession. The mother isn’t patting herself on the back. The point of her story is that her approach to her daughter’s disability wasn’t always so positive and affirming. She used to be more anxious, more focused on controlling her disabled daughter’s unusual behaviors, and more embarrassed by them. “The message I was inadvertently sending to my daughter was awful. That I was ashamed. ”She’s more relaxed now, and no longer ashamed. This is not only far healthier for her daughter, obviously, but also for the mother herself, and a much better example for everyone her daughter meets. This mother began with one kind of “take” on her daughter’s disability. Now she has a different one. The story describes a parent’s distinct and admirable shift in approaches to autism. But it also underscores the more general importance of how parents understand their children’s disabilities. It’s not just about specific decisions, approaches, and parenting techniques, but about parents’ broader understanding of disability itself. Whether they realize it or not, parents inevitably adopt one or some combination of approaches to disability. Some of it’s unconscious, but it’s also a choice. And from the disabled person’s perspective, exactly which medical care, therapies, adaptive equipment, services, and educational approaches parents get for their disabled may be less important in the long run than parents’ basic take on disability. But what are these takes? Here are five of the most common ways parents and families of disabled children and youth understand and conceptualize disability and how they envision their proper role in their disabled children’s lives. In this view, disability is something to be fought and defeated. Most parents are introduced to their children’s disabilities by medical professionals. This tends to encourage parents to fight against disabilities in many of the same ways people fight a disease, like cancer. This negative, embattled take on disability is most readily recognized in language habits. Children and youth with disabilities are spoken of as “battling” or “overcoming” disabilities, not “adapting” to them even less likely “embracing” them. This mindset makes some sense. Many disabilities are caused by medical problems, and a few of them can at certain key moments be usefully reduced by medical treatments and therapies. And people with disabilities certainly do have to fight many kinds of adversity.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/04/24/5-takes-on-disability-for-parents-of-disabled-kids/?sh=17224e8a23a3

Are we in danger of rolling backwards on global disability inclusion progress?

The journey for disability inclusion in the international development sector has gained much momentum in the last 15 years. In 2018 the UK government demonstrated leadership on the issue, as joint hosts with Kenya of the very first Global Disability Summit , as well as the release by Department for International Development of their first Disability Inclusion strategy. Many of us working in the disability and development space, including the Bond Disability and Development Group , were keen to see the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Offices direction of travel following the launch in February 2022 of their new Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy by Vicky Ford, minister for Africa, Caribbean and Latin America at this year’s second GDS.  The strategy, which is to last until 2030, is complemented by 18 Commitments as well as the overriding commitment to steer the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to “meaningfully engage, empower and enable people with disabilities to exercise and enjoy their full rights and freedoms on an equal basis with others, without discrimination and across the life course. ” What did we learn from the government’s new strategy? The high ambition in the strategy is welcome and it is important to acknowledge the continued progress and leadership shown by the FCDO Disability Team. However, there is concern within the sector that the disability inclusion space is shrinking in the UK government, with real potential that rather than going forward, movement will be static at best and is in serious danger of reversing the good progress made.  The strategy states that the foreign secretary aims to harness the “the full force of UK’s diplomatic and development expertise” alongside the FCDO’s wide global coverage to deliver real change for people with disabilities.  However, to get to where you want to go, you require a vehicle that is fit for purpose, with clarity on how you will get there and the means to do it. Currently on disability inclusion, both the delivery plan and funding for are, as of yet, unknown.  At the International Development Committee’s recent evidence session, Bond DDG members spoke of “project devastation”, and as a Bond Group we were dismayed that despite the UK government knowing that the recent Official Development Assistance cuts would severely affect programmes related to people with disabilities, they still went ahead.  Aid spending cuts were mostly made in Africa and Asia, where people with disabilities are most likely to need greater assistance, and the cuts were made in the middle of the Covid pandemic, a time when support was even more acutely needed. The DDG in welcoming the Disability Inclusion and Rights strategy also list seven key factors in its response that the FCDO, and the development sector more broadly, should keep in mind, if we are to ensure progress by 2030:1. Recognise support from Bond’s Disability and Development Group. In signalling its approval of the strategy, Bond DDG member organizations are also ready to continue to support the FCDO, to help realise and achieve the ambition that it so clearly sets out.  2. “Nothing about us without us” must be ensured. Meaningful engagement across the diversity of disability and keeping Organisations of People with Disabilities must be at the centre of how the FCDO develop and implement the strategy.  3. FCDO outcomes have to be more than just a slogan. For their “Rights, Voice, Choice and Visibility” commitment to have an effective impact, they need to be underpinned by targets that fully enable a rights based approach to mainstreaming disability inclusion as well as providing specific disability focused support.  4. Increase the commitment to girls and women. To be seen as a leader on inclusion, there needs to be serious and qualitative investment across services and policies, in every sphere of FCDO’s engagement, that are truly gender transformative and disability inclusive.  

https://www.bond.org.uk/news/2022/04/are-we-in-danger-of-rolling-backwards-on-global-disability-inclusion-progress

What to Look for in a Disability Insurance Policy

The COVID 19 pandemic has shown how unexpected events can affect one’s well being and financial stability. You may have friends or family members who were physically and financially impacted by the coronavirus. Or you may have been personally affected. While no one has a crystal ball to predict the future, there are ways you can protect yourself and your family against the unexpected. It’s likely you have considered how life insurance could protect your family should you unexpectedly pass away. But have you considered what would happen if an illness or injury kept you from earning your usual income? How would you and your family pay monthly bills and maintain your lifestyle? You may think you are covered by the disability income protection benefits that many employers offer, such as group short term and long term disability insurance. Short term disability usually pays benefits for a few months if you are unable to work, and when that runs out, long term disability benefits kick in. What you may not know, however, is that long term disability insurance typically only pays 40% to 60% of an employee’s base salary to a specified maximum.  Income protection insurance, also known as individual disability insurance, pays benefits in addition to long term disability, which will cover more of your income. Some individual disability insurance policies even cover bonuses, commissions or other incentive compensation not covered by long term disability insurance. By adding income protection insurance, you’ll receive more benefits, allowing you to continue paying your bills and maintain your lifestyle into the future. The monthly benefit amount you receive is based on your income at the time you purchase the policy and will begin paying after you meet a benefit waiting period. Benefits will be paid until you recover, or the maximum benefit period is reached, whichever comes first. When you apply, you’ll choose the benefit waiting period and maximum benefit period that work for you. For example, if you have significant savings, you may feel comfortable choosing a longer benefit waiting period to lower the cost of your policy. While all income protection policies should have these options, not all policies are the same. So, make sure to look for these key policy features to ensure you’re protected when you need it most:You’ll want to buy a policy that will allow you to increase your coverage as you earn more money. If you were to purchase a policy today, you’d qualify for a specific monthly benefit that reflects your current income. But what monthly benefit would you expect 10 years from now? For example, if you earn an annual salary of $100,000 today and receive a 4% raise each year, you’ll make $148,000 in 10 years. It’s important to have the ability to increase your coverage to match your future and support your lifestyle for the life of the policy. It’s also important that your benefits keep pace with inflation. As we emerge from the pandemic, the United States continues to experience high levels of inflation. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in March 2022 that the consumer price index was up 7. 9% over the previous 12 months. In such inflationary conditions, it’s important that benefits keep pace as costs increase. Look for an income protection policy with a rider that will adjust benefits each year to align with the consumer price index. Having a residual disability rider will help fill in the gap if you’re disabled but can still work just not at full capacity. Some residual riders pay half your monthly benefit up to a certain time period, such as a year. Others pay proportionate to your income loss. And some will pay a benefit if you return to work full time, but your earnings still lag due to your disability. If you became catastrophically affected by a disability by losing your sight or hearing or two or more limbs, for example a catastrophic disability rider will pay an additional benefit on top of your monthly benefit. This could help your family pay for the extra care you would need, such as a home health aide.

https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/insurance/604526/what-to-look-for-in-a-disability-insurance-policy

Vaccinating Children with Disabilities Against COVID-19

Information for Vaccine Providers and Partners Planning VaccinationCDC recommends everyone 5 years and older get vaccinated against COVID 19 ? including children with disabilities who may be at a higher risk for severe illness from COVID 19. This page includes strategies to improve COVID 19 vaccine accessibility for children with disabilities and special healthcare needs. Many children with disabilities have underlying medical conditions ? such as lung, heart, or kidney disease, a weakened immune system, cancer, diabetes, some blood diseases, or conditions of the muscular or central nervous system ? which put them at increased risk for severe illness from COVID 19. Similarly, children with developmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability, or autism, may be at increased risk of mental health concerns from social isolation and severe illness from COVID 19. They may also have barriers to accessing needed health care and other characteristics that increase their risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes COVID 19, includingA special healthcare need can include physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities, as well as long standing medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, a blood disorder, or muscular dystrophy. Children and youth with special healthcare needs require more care for their physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional differences than their typically developing peers. Learn more about Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs in Emergencies. Consider implementing and supporting the following strategies and vaccination accommodations to ensure children with disabilities and special healthcare needs – and their caregivers, family members, and service providers – under your care can receive their COVID 19 vaccinations at the clinic location:10 Tips from Special Olympics Athletes on How to Make COVID 19 Vaccination Clinics InclusiveSpecial Olympics partnered with Jefferson Center for Autism and Neurodiversity to raise COVID 19 vaccine awareness. Children are allowed by law to have their service animal accompany them at COVID 19 vaccination sites. Remember, children with disabilities and special healthcare needs benefit most from team based. Trusted care providers can work with parents and caregivers to learn and address any specific vaccination concerns.

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/planning/children/disabilities.html

Ending the Two-Tier System of Disability Benefits

In the period before the adoption of disability benefits, people with disabilities who were unable to work were often forced into destitution and viewed as undeserving of public support. The creation of public disability benefits marked a drastic shift in the government’s treatment of people with disabilities, signalling societal recognition of their right to financial security. But despite such changes, out of date views on the worthiness of people with disabilities to receive benefits prevail. The US currently employs a two tier system whereby those who have worked receive improved benefits and those who have not worked “long enough” are left behind. All people with disabilities deserve to live with dignity and financial security. To achieve this, the United States must move beyond arbitrary notions of deservingness and abolish the two tier system.  The system of disability benefits that is in place today was first established by the Social Security Act in 1935. Notably, the Social Security Act created two separate programs for the provision of disability benefits. The main program is established in Title II of the act and is known as Social Security Disability Insurance . Eligibility for this federal program requires that individuals meet a set of conditions, including at least 20 quarters of work experience in the past 40 quarters; this made SSDI inaccessible for those born with disabilities and those who became disabled before accruing enough work credits. These people could only receive benefits through Supplemental Security Income , a significantly less generous program that provided cash assistance to low income people with disabilities who did not meet the work history requirement. This distinction between SSDI, which is still only available to those with work histories, and SSI has persisted to the present day, creating substantial difficulty for those people with disabilities forced to rely on SSI. There are numerous issues with SSI, all of which can cause significant hardship for recipients. The first and most glaring is that SSI provides only subpoverty level income to its recipients. The maximum SSI benefit for an individual in 2022 is $841 a month, or $10,092 a year. In contrast, the federal poverty line for an individual in 2022 is $13,590 a year. As a result, people with work limiting disabilities who rely entirely on SSI for their income are forced into poverty, leaving them with little financial security.  To make this reality even worse, SSI program rules are designed to make it extremely difficult for recipients to earn additional income. Only individuals who earn less than $841 a month from any income source are eligible for the program, and each additional dollar earned of “countable” outside income reduces benefits received from SSI by one dollar. SSI also imposes significant restrictions on assets for recipients: Assets over $2000 disqualify an individual from receiving SSI. These rules force recipients to avoid saving and to not seek out additional sources of income in order to keep their benefits, as each additional dollar earned in income is offset by a decreased benefit payout. When considered with the fact that the SSI benefit is below the federal poverty line, it is obvious that SSI is a failure as a social insurance program, likely stemming from the perception that those without work histories are less deserving of public assistance than those with work histories. Fixing the immediate problems with SSI is not a difficult task, as the failures of the program are clear. A recent bill proposed by Senator Sherrod Brown , the Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act, would go a long way in patching the glaring hole in the social safety net that SSI currently represents. The bill proposes raising the SSI benefit to 100 percent of the federal poverty level and indexing it to inflation, raising the asset cap from $2,000 to $10,000, and raising the income recipients can earn before being subjected to benefit reductions. These reforms would significantly improve the quality of life of Americans with disabilities, and polling by Data for Progress, a progressive polling firm, finds that these changes, along with the removal of the asset cap, are overwhelmingly popular among the American public.  Given this polling, it is likely that the lack of policy action taken to improve SSI is less a result of political resistance and more a result of inertia and lack of attention. A determined campaign to improve SSI could therefore yield real benefits for people with disabilities who rely on it.

https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2022/04/ending-the-two-tier-system-of-disability-benefits/

Advocates say people with disability are increasingly ‘forgotten’ in emergency planning

Insufficient accomodation and government support spark calls for better resourcing and planning in disaster responsesAfter being evicted from her short term accommodation to make way for tourists, flood victim Margaret was left with nowhere else to go. “I would have been homeless, living out of my car with two dogs,” the 79 year old said. After panicking all afternoon about where she would end up, Margaret, who asked that her surname not be published, received a last minute call from the state led Community Recovery Program informing her she would have a roof over her head for at least another week. “I feel like a hot potato,” she said. “I’m too old to be moved every seven days. It’s taken a lot out of me. ”Margaret lives with a mobility disability and said she has been moved six times since she was evacuated from her Gympie home in February. She is not alone. According to advocacy groups, many people with disabilities are struggling to access appropriate support after flooding in northern NSW and Queensland. Margaret said under the recovery program, she has been repeatedly placed in unsuitable accommodation that does not cater to her needs. “I was first moved to a bed and breakfast in Imbil, where the closest town is 7km away. I thought how the heck am I supposed to get to town? Because there’s no public transport,” she said. She said she was later moved to a yurt in the mountains that only had an outdoor barbecue for cooking and no inside shower. “I had two falls there because I was really stressed out and then I had to be taken to hospital,” she said. “I don’t feel like I belong in my own country any more. ”A coalition of 40 peak advocacy organizations have written an open letter demanding better resources and planning for disaster responses for people with disability. They say people with disability “continue to experience risks, neglect and serious negative impacts during disasters and emergencies”, resulting in “loss of services, supports and basic needs, as well as physical and psychological injuries”. “We cannot continue to underestimate the significant and long term effects of these events for people with disability and carers,” the letter states. Giancarlo de Vera, senior manager of policy at People With Disability Australia, said people with disability are feeling increasingly “forgotten” when it comes to emergency planning. “We’ve had stories of being stuck in danger and being isolated … We’ve heard about people losing their wheelchairs,” de Vera said. De Vera said people with disability are often turning to the community for assistance as they are not receiving sufficient support from the government. “They’re not seeing inclusive support … or decision making quick enough,” de Vera said. “Throwing money at a problem doesn’t solve it. “We want … to be trusted, to be the driving stakeholder to create plans that protect us and keep us safe. ”Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morningQueensland’s Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy declined to comment on any specific case due to privacy laws, but said it is providing “a range of assistance to people requiring short and longer term accommodation. ”“The department assists people with their housing needs, including through temporary and emergency accommodation such as hotels and motels, where they are unable to remain in their homes as they have been impacted by the flooding,” a spokesperson said. The spokesperson said housing assistance has been provided to 768 flood affected households as of 31 March and a $600,000 Rapid Response Fund has been established “to deliver enhanced housing and homelessness services in impacted areas”. Overall, as of 7 April, 100,151 flood grant applications have been received by the government, with 42,810 payments totalling $17,776,546 made.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/11/advocates-say-people-with-disability-are-increasingly-forgotten-in-emergency-planning

New York: What is the megacity like for people with disabilities?

A close look into the state of accessibility in one of the world’s largest and most diverse cities. Hundreds of millions of citizens around the globe flock to metropolises to access opportunities, freedom and adventure. For many, these cities sustain an ideal way of life with essential services, grocery stores, hospitals, offices and cultural attractions often just a few blocks away. But for people with disabilities, life in a big city is often a different story. More than one billion people – approximately 15 percent of the global population – experience some form of disability. According to the United Nations, people with disabilities include those who have “long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, which in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”. By 2050, some 68 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas, up from today’s 55 percent. And as the world’s urban areas grow, there is an urgent need for cities to adapt to the needs of disabled people to ensure they are not marginalised and excluded. Unlike any other marginalised group, anyone can become a member of the disability community at any point in their life. People can develop a physical disability because of an accident, illness, or simply, old age. New York City, one of the world’s largest and most diverse cities, is considered by some to be one of the least accessible in the United States when it comes to public transportation. So what is it like today to live in New York City with a disability?The city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority subway and bus system is well connected and operates round the clock, making travel opportunities seem endless, but for the 550,000 New Yorkers who have difficulty walking, using this system to get around the Big Apple is not so appealing. Of 472 active subway stations, for example, fewer than a quarter are equipped with elevators. According to TransitCenter, a US nonprofit organization working towards more just and environmentally sustainable transit, that means a person who can navigate stairs can enjoy a total of 222,312 station to station trips while a person who requires an elevator can access only 11,990, or 5 percent, of the total possible trips. The opportunities for a disabled person to travel are further reduced when considering the length of time that elevators spend out of service. The worst offender, 161st Street Yankee Stadium station, is down 111 days of the year. I live in New York City with cerebral palsy and use a motorised wheelchair to travel long distances for safety and time efficiency reasons. During my undergraduate university years, I lived on campus in upper Manhattan, the most metropolitan of the city’s five boroughs and travelled 20 blocks to get to the nearest accessible subway station. Each time, I’d hope it was a good day and the elevator would be operational. On different occasions, I’d find myself stuck on a subway station with a broken elevator. In such situations, I had two options. I could wait for a kind stranger to help me carry my 27kg chair up flights of stairs. Alternatively, I could get back on the train and ride it to the next closest station with an accessible lift, which could be as many as a dozen stops away, and then either take the bus or ride the subway from the opposite track back to my destination in the hopes that side would have a functioning elevator. New York subway stations tend to have different elevators for people going downtown and going uptown. The MTA aims to make New York City’s subway system, the city’s central nervous system which runs on 100 year old technology, completely disability accessible by 2034. At present, 25 percent is accessible. Making the subway fully accessible will enable people with disabilities to better access essential buildings like hospitals and schools and allow them to be more included in society.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/3/30/new-york-what-is-the-megacity-like-for-people-with-disabilities

Disability inclusion at work: the many not the few

Teresa Almeida examines how disability prejudice perpetuates workplace ableism and the disability unemployment gap. People with disabilities face ongoing barriers to employment, as well as within the employment cycle and peer atmosphere. More flexible accommodation for all employees will help increase disability inclusion within companies. One billion people, or 15 per cent of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, making them one of the largest and most heterogeneous diversity groups in society . In the UK, 20 per cent of adults report having a disability, with 70 per cent of those estimated to be non visible . Despite the existence of a range of non discrimination legislation and policies, disability is associated with higher levels of inequality across the labour force and social and political environments . Indeed, disabled people have been subject to historical and present day marginalisation, as “ableism” or the privilege of not having a disability, creates barriers for accessing power, resources, and opportunities . At work, there is a growing body of evidence exploring the labour market outcomes of disabled people. This evidence indicates that finding and retaining work when one is disabled is a challenge. Working age disabled people are more likely to be unemployed, earn less and encounter more barriers to advance in their careers . In Europe, the employment rate among those with disabilities is 47 per cent , compared to 67 per cent among those without a disability . In the US, the gap is wider: 19. 3 per cent of those with a disability were employed compared to 66. 3 per cent without disabilities in 2019 , with estimates showing this disparity is increasing over time. While these data might not paint a complete picture, with other factors such as age and education being correlated with disability, discriminatory practices in the labour market have also been identified in correspondence experiments. In these studies, fictitious profiles are sent in job applications to open positions, with the only difference being disability status. By monitoring the resulting call backs, researchers can measure unequal treatment solely based on disability, providing direct evidence of lower recruitment outcomes . For instance, in a large scale field experiment in Canada, applications were sent to 1,477 open positions . The researchers found that disclosing a physical disability halved the call back rate of applicants: from 14. 4 per cent for those without a disability to 7. 2 per cent when disclosing a disability within an application. As disability scholars point out, few groups experience as much discrimination as people living with disabilities, yet the labour market inclusion of disabled people can help break down entrenched stereotypes, benefiting individuals, organizations, and national economies . A well documented reason for the lower participation of disabled people in the labour force is a lack of awareness of disability, coupled with pessimistic views or beliefs about disabled workers’ performance . Central to workplace disadvantages and discrimination associated with disability are biases stemming from either inaccurate information or prejudice. Employers tend to underestimate the productivity or work capacity of disabled employees and overestimate the costs of making workplace accommodations or reasonable adjustments to reduce disadvantages for disabled people .

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2022/03/31/disability-inclusion-at-work-the-many-not-the-few/

Hired for ability, not disability

Michael Reiner at his desk in the newsroom of Youngstown Channel 27 WKBN. His day begins at 4 a. m. , writing and editing news copy, and posting to the station’s website and social media. YOUNGSTOWN Wellsville resident Michael Reiner, 25, works as a digital web producer for Youngstown’s Channel 27 WKBN. Among news stories he posted Thursday on the WKBN website was: “Columbiana County Board of Developmental Disabilities recognizes WKBN. ”The story is about the station being recognized for hiring a person with a disability. That person is Michael Reiner. His disability is cerebral palsy. He walks with forearm crutches. Reiner loves sports and early developed a sports writer’s skills. He competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 8th grade. In high school he freelanced high school sports for The Morning Journal. Later, as a journalism major at Kent State University, he worked in sports for the student television station, TV2 KSU. CCBDD Superintendent Bill Devon told WKBN that it’s good business to hire those with disabilities. “They are very successful, dedicated and loyal. . . You get an employee who shows up every day, that’s a very good employee. ” Reiner worked as an intern doing digital media for the CCBDD Reach 4 More program. It was Justin Shilot, digital media manager for WKBN, who first spotted his talent and drive when Reiner was only a freshman at KSU. “I grew up in Wellsville and I follow its basketball team. Michael was writing recaps of the Wellsville games on Facebook for fun and it caught my attention. It was more than you’d expect: stats, quotes from coaches and players, photos. He took that initiative. I found out he was a friend of a cousin of mine and I reached out to him,” said Shilot. Shilot spoke about Reiner to WKBN Director of Digital/Production John Amann. “I told him Michael was doing all this work just for the love of it. ” Reiner was invited to intern at the station in 2017. In the summer of 2019, before his senior year as a journalism major at KSU, Reiner served another internship at WKBN, this time in web production. Shilot and he worked closely during that stint. “We were a two man team, tracking down all the scores for all the football games throughout Friday nights in four counties, posting and revising them over and over. ” A month after graduating in May 2020, he snagged his first real job, director of social media and marketing at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort. After a year there, he began working for WKBN in September 2021. “We got a peek at him as an intern,” said Vice President and General Manager David Coy. “He’s a hard worker and loves this crazy business. ”Reiner’s work day at the station begins at 4 a. m. and ends after the noon news. He writes and edits news copy, posts news stories and images to both the WKBN and Channel 33 WYTV websites, continually updating the websites with breaking news, and posting on Facebook and Twitter. Technology allows him to watch in real time which stories are being clicked on and by how many people in the web audience. “It’s a fast paced environment and I love it. It’s ever changing. I love the people I work with and I love telling the stories of the people in the valley,” he said. Michael lives in Wellsville with his parents, Bill and Paula Reiner, and twin brother Mitchell, who works in sales in Pittsburgh. “He has always been positive,” said his father. “He never says no to any challenge. He will try anything. Even physical tasks that some others might be timid about trying. If I say, ‘Want to go off roading?’ he says, ‘I’m ready, let’s go. ”Chelsea Simeon, digital executive producer, is his immediate supervisor at WKBN. “There’s nothing not to like about Michael. He’s the hardest working employee here. I have to chase him out of here some days. Everybody loves him and he gets along with everyone,” she said.

https://www.salemnews.net/news/local-news/2022/03/hired-for-ability-not-disability/

‘A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF CREATIVITY’: Music instructor thrives on teaching kids with disabilities

Pictured: Gabriel Ashley strums his guitar as he works with Alec Harter during his lesson at Greenfield Music. Alec has been using his musical skill and talent to help inspire the same love he has for music by giving lessons to kids with disabilities. Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Tom Russo | Daily ReporterGREENFIELD With a silver ring in his nose and a collection of colorful tattoos running up both arms, Alec Harter looks every bit the rock star. But he’s a big softie when teaching music to children with disabilities. On Wednesday, he gently guided 9 year old Gabriel Ashley through a 15 minute ukulele lesson at the Greenfield Music Center, where Harter has been teaching for two months now. Pictured: Gabriel Ashley strums his guitar as he works with Alec Harter during his lesson at Greenfield Music. Alec has been using his musical skill and talent to help inspire the same love he has for music by giving lessons to kids with disabilities. Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Tom Russo | Daily ReporterPictured: Gabriel Ashley strums his guitar as he works with Alec Harter during his lesson at Greenfield Music. Alec has been using his musical skill and talent to help inspire the same love he has for music by giving lessons to kids with disabilities. Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Tom Russo | Daily ReporterPictured: Gabriel Ashley strums his guitar as he works with Alec Harter during his lesson at Greenfield Music. Alec has been using his musical skill and talent to help inspire the same love he has for music by giving lessons to kids with disabilities. Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Tom Russo | Daily ReporterPictured: Gabriel Ashley strums his guitar as he works with Alec Harter during his lesson at Greenfield Music. Alec has been using his musical skill and talent to help inspire the same love he has for music by giving lessons to kids with disabilities. Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Tom Russo | Daily ReporterThe 27 year old musician plays guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo, piano and drums, and loves sharing his love of music with kids. He has a special place in his heart for kids like Gabriel, who need a little extra guidance and support. The lifelong Greenfield resident said the sentiment goes back to when he was a young boy learning to play guitar. He witnessed an instructor at the Greenfield Music Center showing an abundance of patience with a relative of Harter’s who is autistic. “Seeing how our instructor handled him, I thought that was the coolest thing,” he said. That was about 20 years ago, and the student has since become the teacher. “I think it’s really cool to teach kids with special needs,” Harter said. He said it doesn’t phase him when a child needs to be repeatedly redirected or has a meltdown in the middle of a lesson. He simply redirects and gently perseveres. Before becoming a music teacher, Harter worked at an autism center in Warsaw, Ind. , where he worked with both foster kids and kids with disabilities. He found a great way to connect with them was through music. He would later teach music to children with disabilities at the Pendleton Music Academy before joining the staff at the Greenfield Music Center. “I’ve seen firsthand the impact music has in the life of someone with special needs versus those who are never introduced to music,” said Harter. Music has a way of touching a person’s soul unlike anything else, he said. “People with autism or sensory disorders react differently to smells and textures,” he said. “When I play guitar with an amp, I can give them something new to experience. Those sounds are textures for their ears. That’s not something they come across every day. ”Teaching them to play an instrument gives students with disabilities some control over the sound, and opens up a whole new world of creativity, he said. Gabriel’s mom, Lora Ashley, said her son looks forward to his lesson with Harter each week.

https://www.greenfieldreporter.com/2022/03/25/a-whole-new-world-of-creativity-music-instructor-thrives-on-teaching-kids-with-disabilities/

Disability influencer and mom of 4 fights stereotypes by sharing her parenting experiences online: ‘The only thing I can't do is walk’

When TaLisha Grzyb met her tutor in college, she had no idea that she was meeting her future husband. “I was always very much focused on education, and even when he asked me out, I sort of told him no. Its like the running joke in our relationship. I told him no two times, and then it’s third times the charm, TaLisha tells Yahoo Life. TaLisha, a disability advocate, and her husband Quentin were married in 2016. Shortly after their honeymoon, TaLisha discovered that she was pregnant with twins. From the beginning, she knew that her pregnancy would be unique because TaLisha lives with muscular dystrophy, a disease that causes muscle weakness and muscle loss. For some it can impact mobility and motor functions. For TaLisha, congenital dystrophy means that she has never been able to walk due to low muscle tone, and she uses a wheelchair full time. TaLisha and Quentin welcomed healthy twins boys, Micah and Mason, in 2017, and went on to have two more children. Today the proud mother of four shares her experiences on a Youtube channel called, Rolling Through Life with Talisha. She knows there are a lot of misconceptions about mothers with disabilities, and shes on a mission to normalize her familys experiences. According to the National Council on Disability, there are 4. 1 million parents with disabilities in the U. S. , and many face legal and social challenges as they raise their families. The organization Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment reports that parents with disabilities are referred to child welfare services and permanently separated from their children at disproportionately high rates. In fact, 35 states include disability as grounds for termination of parental rights. Growing up, TaLisha had frequent doctors visits and hospitalizations, but says that she was raised by parents who encouraged her to achieve and push through obstacles. “I was not allowed to say I cant do something and they raised me just as they would any other child,” says TaLisha. “Ive always wanted to be a mom because I just fell in love with the way that I was raised. ”When she met Quentin, they agreed that children would be a part of their future, and TaLisha says she never questioned her ability to carry a baby or be a mother. “I never focused on what I cant do. Like in my head, the only thing I cant do is walk,” she tells Yahoo Life. The doctors, however, saw things differently, and TaLisha says that her pregnancy with the twins wasnt met with positivity. TaLisha recalls that doctors mentioned terminating her pregnancy and asked her several times if she wanted to keep the babies. “I know moms without a disability are not treated in that manner. So I kind of built a distrust for the medical community because of that reason,” says TaLisha. “When youre a new mom, youre very vulnerable. Youre very hormonal. And I feel like in my head, all I should have been hearing is, Congratulations, how can we help you?”After the twins, the couple welcomed their third son, Tyson, in 2018 by cesarean section. In 2021, TaLisha became pregnant with their fourth child and decided to take back some of the control she felt was missing from her previous deliveries by having an at home vaginal birth. “I didnt agree when they wanted to do the C section because they wanted to do it at 38 weeks and I wanted to be full term,” TaLisha shares. “I’m not able to be given an epidural since I have a rod in my back. I have to be put fully asleep, so Im given general anesthesia for my C section, and Im not awake for the birth. I dont hear the first cry or anything like that, and I sort of felt robbed in that aspect with my previous deliveries. ”TaLisha intended to do an at home birth with a midwife, but because she was considered high risk, she couldn’t find a midwife who would take her on as a client. Instead, she and Quentin studied, prayed, meditated and delivered their fourth son, Titan, together at home, with help from her mother. TaLisha insists that this isn’t the right approach for everyone, but she felt confident that this was the best decision for her family.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/disability-influencer-and-mom-of-4-fights-stereotypes-by-sharing-her-parenting-experiences-online-183629499.html

Justice News

Today the Justice Department reached a settlement agreement with Ready to Work, a not for profit residential, work and social services program for individuals who are homeless, with facilities in Aurora and Boulder, Colorado. The settlement agreement addresses civil rights violations identified during the course of an investigation conducted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. It resolves a complaint under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act that Ready to Work discriminated against an individual with opioid use disorder by denying her admission to its residential, work and social services program because she uses a prescribed medication to treat her OUD. Under the agreement, Ready to Work will not deny services on the basis of disability, including OUD, or apply standards or criteria that screen out individuals with disabilities. The agreement also requires Ready to Work to adopt non discrimination policies, train staff on its non discrimination obligations, and report on compliance. Ready to Work will also pay damages to the Complainant. “People with opioid use disorder are too often subject to discrimination rooted in myths and stereotypes rather than in science,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement will ensure that people with opioid use disorder do not face discriminatory barriers when seeking access to housing, jobs and social services, which are critical to support recovery and combat the epidemic of opioid addiction. Ensuring that people with opioid use disorder can obtain essential services without facing discrimination is an important priority for the Civil Rights Division.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-secures-settlement-resolve-disability-discrimination-against-people-opioid

Top 5 Tips For Employers For Handling A Request For Disability-Related Accommodation

Employers who invest in effective accommodations with employees who experience a work limiting . . . [+] health condition can retain valuable talent. When an employee’s health situation changes, they may need to request a reasonable accommodation due to long term effects from a medical condition. For employers, it is vital that your managerial and Human Resources teams are prepared to handle these instances – with a focus on providing an employee with the accommodation they require while balancing the needs of your organization. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a reasonable accommodation as a modification to a job, work environment, or the hiring process. These adjustments allow an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity to get a job and perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities. Employers can thoughtfully be prepared to handle these requirements with some preparation. Below is some general guidance from Allsup Employment Services , with a list of the top 5 tips for handling a request for accommodation. Handling a Job Accommodation request due to Disability: 5 Tips 1. Review the Americans with Disabilities Act interactive process. This is a 5 step process that fosters open, honest communication between you and your employee so that your organization can do its best to meet the needs of the individual. If you’re not already familiar with this process, check in with your HR department and be sure to review it. It’s important to have an understanding of it prior to having to use it. 2. Make it easy for the employee to talk with you. Keep in mind that for an employee – sharing their health situation and limitations with you can be intimidating and uncomfortable. Be as open and receptive as you can. For example, you can let the employee know you want to set them up for success in their position. It’s helpful if you relay that your office is a safe, private environment where they can be transparent in talking about their challenges and that any and all conversations about their request is kept strictly confidential. 3. Request the proper documentation. Ask for the proper medical documentation from your employee. It could be as simple as a doctor’s note. One of the Vocational Rehabilitation Case Managers at AES shared a success story with me. One of her clients who worked as a cashier, fractured her ankle and called her, worried that she’d need to quit her job since she could no longer stand all day. The case manager advised her to talk to her employer and let them know her situation. The employer asked for a note from her orthopedic surgeon. Upon receipt of the note, her manager agreed to provide a stool for her to sit on at her cash register while her ankle mended. The stool was already in the store, so this was a simple solution that cost the employer no money and quickly addressed the concern. 4. Work with Human Resources. There will be times when you’ll need to strategize with HR to make sure you come up with the best solution. HR is a partner you can work with to brainstorm and figure out what works best for both the company and the employee. Many times solutions are simple: a flexible schedule to accommodate medical appointments, equipment to outfit the employee’s home office or a remote work situation. 5. Offer to reassess if and when necessary. Let your employee know they can come back to you if something in their situation changes and they require more or different assistance. Reassure them that in this event, you’ll reassess with them and try to find a solution that works for both of you. These are a few of our top tips to help with reasonable accommodations. Employers who would like to find more information on this topic can also check out the Job Accommodation Network , whose services are funded by the U. S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy. JAN provides free consulting services for employers. Your organization can receive individualized consultation about various aspects of job accommodations, including the accommodation process, solutions, product vendors, referral to other resources, and ADA compliance assistance.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulamorgan/2022/03/15/top-5-tips-for-employers-for-handling-a-request-for-disability-related-accommodation/?sh=2a5928425603

Person First, Disability Second: The Road to Full Inclusion

“We Thrive: Health for Justice, Justice for Health” Shared language around the experience of disability is a starting point for having increased choices in the world. It also helps ensure people with disabilities are respected for who they are as people. Practice and policy must shift to become person centered. Disability is a core justice issue, but people with disabilities are often an afterthought where social justice is concerned. Unless you have a disability or a relationship with a person who has a disability, the barriers to full inclusion may not be immediately visible; but inherent bias and a lack of engagement of people with disabilities have led to separate, segregated service models that continue to isolate people with disabilities from the community and their typical peers. The “invisibility” of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to typical citizens has long been a marker for potential abuse and neglect. 1Disability cuts across all segments of society. Even though an estimated sixty one million American adults have a disability and about seven million Americans have intellectual and developmental disabilities , the challenges faced by people with disabilities remain largely hidden from view, and systems of support are often lacking. 2 Opportunity exists to build neurodiversity and disability into justice conversations. 3 A recent study showed that 90 percent of companies had diversity priorities, but only 4 percent factored in disability. 4 Certainly, the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a new one in the nonprofit sector. Increased consideration for “accessibility” is gaining traction as DEIA reflects issues of ableism and sanism. 5 It also signals greater attention and investment from nonprofit and other leaders. Broadly speaking, equity and inclusion initiatives have increased in prominence in the nonprofit sector in the wake of the movement against anti Black racism, thanks to the activist efforts of the Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter keeping antiracist work front and center. According to Nonprofit HR’s 2021 Nonprofit Diversity Practices report, Black Lives Matter “responses” inspired 63 percent of 675 North American organizations to make “adjustments to prioritize/reprioritize diversity objectives, programs and/or initiatives. ”6 Of the surveyed organizations, 28 percent also reported that they planned to increase or had increased their diversity budget. 7 However, only 6 percent had provided “ability centered training. ”8The structural exclusion and underfunding of disability programs create troubling outcomes that appear at each life stage for people with disabilities. 9 Special education funding through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has not progressed alongside existing needs. 10 In 2020, Congress funded only 13. 2 percent of its 40 percent contribution leaving states and local districts on the hook for $24 billion in costs. 11 Like so much in the disability sector, service funding varies across individual states and becomes an annual advocacy charge to maintain or even meet the status quo. 12 A justice lens begins with putting the person first when referring to the experience of disability: a person with developmental disabilities; a person who resides in a group home. It’s about acknowledging the experience of disability for a person rather than using a diagnosis to define a person’s personality, interests, or goals. When possible, consider not referring to the disability at all and just tell the story. Language goes to deeper issues that tie to visibility and the systemic exclusion of people with a disability. Some people live independently, in supportive apartments, in group homes, or with their families. How people with disabilities process and engage with the world is as varied as the human experience itself.

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/person-first-disability-second-the-road-to-full-inclusion/

After Disability Awareness, What’s Next?

After disability awareness …“Disability Awareness” has never felt more necessary right now and at the same time pitifully inadequate. Take for example the disability community’s recurring negative reactions to recent Center for Disease Control statements and recommendations. Disabled and chronically ill people have many substantive problems with the CDC’s actual policy of late. But the situation has been made even worse by the way they have been communicated, by the CDC itself and by its Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky. A lot of the distrust is specific to the pandemic. Some of it might be unavoidable. But some more broad lessons are certainly there to be learned. In particular, it has become clearer than ever that simply mentioning disabled people demonstrating “awareness” of them isn’t enough. Disability awareness is necessary, but not sufficient. But in professional, academic, and corporate cultures it tends to be treated like a one time inoculation, or a to do list box to be checked off. Busy people with scores of intense responsibilities may understandably want to be able to “take care of” an emerging constituency like the disabled community with something simple, like disability awareness. But awareness is only the first step in a rich and complex array and continuum of disability thinking and understanding. What else is there? What are some possible next steps after basic disability awareness?Disability awareness tells people that it’s time to stop using offensive disability slurs, like “retarded,” and to update formerly approved but now outdated words, like “handicapped,” to “disabled” or “person with a disability. ”A next step might be to move towards identity first phrasing, like “disabled person” or “autistic person. ” Better yet, ask the disabled person what disability terms they prefer and respect their preference without lecturing them. Disability awareness says don’t stare at disabled people, but don’t look away or avoid them either. And disability awareness tends to suggest that it’s okay to ask a disabled person questions, because that shows you aren’t afraid of them. A more nuanced and flexible approach is even better. In most situations, interact with disabled person as you would anyone else, until you get clear indication from the person that they need or want you to do something different to accommodate their disability. But don’t ask a disabled person personal questions about their disability unless you are a close friend or relative, or have a specific professional need to ask. Don’t expect every disabled person you meet to “educate” you about disability. Some disabled people are happy to do that. It’s a kind of personal mission for them. But many if not most prefer to just get on with their day, and don’t appreciate being pressured to offer free labor the effort it takes to teach a random stranger how to treat disabled people with respect. Disability awareness calls for businesses and other organizations to learn about and comply with accessibility standards, like those in the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as state and local codes. Since access barriers are still far too common, decades after accessibility standards have been in place, compliance would certainly be a plus. But mere compliance is literally “the least we can do. ” Accessibility standards are starting points. To move beyond disability awareness, aim for maximum ease of unassisted use and access for everyone not the just minimum needed to avoid a lawsuit. And ask disabled people and their organizations for advice on making buildings and online services accessible and user friendly. To provide better service to people with disabilities especially employees and students disability awareness emphasizes learning about and following the “reasonable accommodation” guidelines in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The standard approach for organizations has been to set clear policies for applying for and evaluating disabled people’s requests for accommodations. And the responsibility to accommodate disabled people has been understood to be limited to what is easy and inexpensive to provide.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/02/28/after-disability-awareness-whats-next/?sh=1dba646f7297

Why billions in Medicaid funds for people with disabilities are being held up

Lauren Weber Andy Miller From The American Rescue Plan Act that President Biden signed into law increased funding to Medicaid, but delays and red tape have kept several states from claiming much of the cash almost a year later. Doug Mills/ Images hide caption The American Rescue Plan Act that President Biden signed into law increased funding to Medicaid, but delays and red tape have kept several states from claiming much of the cash almost a year later. Matthew Southern, 35, who has intellectual and developmental disabilities, is able to stay out of an institution because health aides paid through a Medicaid program assist him and his roommate with ordinary tasks. But amid a worker shortage worsened by the pandemic, Southerns father, Dan, has had to step in to fill in gaps in his sons care by volunteering at their home 45 minutes away from his northwestern Atlanta suburb. He blames the low pay across the industry. No one wants to work for $12 an hour, Dan Southern said. People can work at Burger King and make more money. Last year brought an injection of hope: The federal government, through the American Rescue Plan Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in March 2021, increased funding with a 10 percentage point match that could amount to some $25 billion in federal money for Medicaid home and community based services, which have long faced staffing crunches. That massive infusion of cash could be used by states to buttress wages, move people off waiting lists for disability services, train more workers, or expand covered services for vulnerable elderly and disabled people, helping to keep them out of nursing homes. But almost a year later, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington were among 19 states as of Feb. 17 yet to receive the conditional approval needed from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to fully access the money. Over half of states 28 of them received such approval in 2022, according to CMS. Thats more than nine months after the relief package was signed into law. California, for example, received its conditional approval Jan. 4. Other states have their own red tape and are waiting for legislative or other approvals, Kaiser Health News found by querying all state Medicaid offices. We all would have liked to see the money out sooner, said Damon Terzaghi, a senior director at ADvancing States, a national membership association for state aging and disabilities agencies. Bureaucracy is what it is. Daniel Tsai, director of the CMS Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said that this infusion of federal aid was a life changing amount of funding, and that CMS staffers were doing everything they could alongside states to move forward as quickly as possible. Tsai also pointed out that the states partial approval from CMS, which theyve all received, allows them to access some of the money. But some states such as Kansas and Wyoming have been reluctant to do so without full approval. Others bemoaned the slow federal process. The Medicaid disbursement process contrasts sharply with the distribution of relief dollars through Medicare channels to hospitals, said Connie Garner, national public policy adviser for Easterseals, a health care provider for people with disabilities. Garner said the typical back and forth in the federal state Medicaid partnership is part of the reason for the delay, as well as states desire to spend the massive amount of cash wisely. But funding is needed now, she said. Needed care cant wait, she said. A 2021 survey by the American Network of Community Options and Resources, an advocacy group for providers that support those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, found that because of staffing shortages, more than three quarters of service providers were turning away new referrals, more than half were discontinuing programs and services, and the vast majority were struggling with recruitment and retention of staff.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/03/02/1083792436/why-billions-in-medicaid-funds-for-people-with-disabilities-are-being-held-up

Don't be scared to talk about disabilities. Here's what to know and what to say

Thomas Lu Sylvie Douglis Lets start with some numbers. More than 1 billion people nearly 15% of the worlds population experience some form of disability. In the United States alone, about 61 million, or 1 out of every 4 adults, live with at least one disability. So its probably safe to say that you know someone with a disability or might be disabled yourself. To be clear, these disabilities may not be physical or even visible: they could be learning, developmental or intellectual disabilities, or mental or chronic illness, to name a few. But as common as disability is, not many people know how to talk about disability or how to interact with disabled people. To so many people, [disability] remains a mystery, this very scary and overwhelming topic, says disability rights activist and writer Emily Ladau. We dont talk about it. We ignore it. We shy away from it. We hide it away. But thats not what we should do when it comes to disability, because its just something thats part of what makes people who they are. In her book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally, Ladau shares thoughts on how both nondisabled and disabled people can collectively make the world a more inclusive and accessible place. Emily Ladau is a disability rights advocate, speaker and the author of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally. Left: Ten Speed Press; Right: Rick Guidotti hide caption Ladau, a wheelchair user with multiple disabilities, points out that there isnt a single story of the disabled experience. She says, while it isnt disabled peoples responsibility to educate people without disabilities about the nuances of living with a disability, progress is made through dialogue. I believe that offering honest and sincere guidance and conversation remains a key part of the path forward for the disability. Thats how progress has been made by the powerhouse disability activists who have come before me. Its how we will continue forward, she writes. We talked with Ladau about the sorts of guidance she would give to someone – disabled or not – who wants to be a better ally and help destigmatize disability in America. Disability is a natural part of the human experience, says Ladau. Theres no singular experience of what it means to be disabled, and theres certainly nothing inherently bad or shameful about being disabled or having a disability. So the words disabled or disability? Use them. They are not bad words. Ladau defines ableism as attitudes and actions that devalue someone on the basis of their disability. It exists in many different forms and places. Ableism can be as small as someone asking about your disability by saying, Whats wrong with you? or as big as a lack of accessible public transportation that provides a disabled person a means to access employment, education or even healthcare. Detail from the cover of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau. Tyler Feder/Ten Speed Press hide caption Detail from the cover of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau. There is no one disabled community. As Ladau says, If youve met one disabled person, then youve met one disabled person. Every person with a disability has a unique experience with their own disability. Within Ladaus family, for instance, she, her mom and uncle have the same rare genetic disability. But for each of them, the disability manifests and impacts them differently. One persons experience may inform another persons, but no singular experience reflects that of the entire community.

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/18/1081713756/disability-disabled-people-offensive-better-word

3 Disability Microaggressions And Why They Matter

What are disabled people supposed to make of everyday ableist talk? Should they brush it off as just annoying, but predictable comments from people who should probably know but usually don’t? Or, is there more to casual ableism than irritation? And how hard should non disabled people work to avoid it? Does it really matter? Ableism isn’t words alone, but it isn’t just actions either. Ableist talk matters the language, conversational habits, and ideas that intentionally or not, sadden, frustrate, and anger disabled people. The somewhat contested term “microaggressions” happens to serve very well in this case to label and describe the effects of ableist talk. Many are small offenses by themselves. But their effects can be huge and harmful when accumulated gradually over a lifetime living with disabilities. Though sometimes meant well, they can still feel like attacks, and leave as lasting an imprint as any physical act of aggression. Here is a look at three of the most common types of microaggressions disabled people have to deal with in everyday communication. First, there are the words nobody should use, like: “retarded” or “retard,” “moron” or “idiot. ” Then there’s outdated terminology like “handicapped,” and well meaning but off putting euphemisms like “differently abled,” “special needs,” and “mentally / physically challenged. ” There’s unnecessarily negative phrasing like “wheelchair bound,” “confined to a wheelchair,” and “suffers from. ” And there’s the ongoing debate within the disability community itself over whether to say “person with a disability” or “disabled person. ” While these examples aren’t all equally despised or controversial, they all have the potential to put off or offend any particular disabled person. Why people use these words …Even the most insulting and now virtually taboo disability related words and phrases were mostly at one time considered more or less accurate, if not entirely neutral. In fact, quite a lot of the terminology that grates on disabled people today was originally crafted to be empowering or less “negative. ” But, disability language never stops evolving. At the moment, it’s moving mostly away from overwrought and fussy euphemisms once considered “politically correct,” like “person with a disability” and “special needs,” towards simpler and more widely defined use of “disability” and “disabled. ” So while some words are clearly insulting and off limits, others may be more fairly thought of as merely off base and unfortunate. What it feels like …Hearing offensive terminology hurts. Hearing outdated terminology can be a clue about the speaker’s level of understanding about disability. Hearing cheery euphemisms feels nauseating and condescending. And it’s all tiring for disabled people who hear troubling terminology like this constantly. Even the least picky disabled person can’t escape at least some annoyance from ableist speech. Why it matters …Language both reflects thinking about disability, and shapes it. The words and phrases people use to talk about disability signal what they may be thinking whether or not that reading is always accurate and over time channels their thinking about disability in certain directions. Language practices also help answer an important question. Are disabled people to be viewed as gross and contemptible, or vulnerable and sad or simply another segment of the population with more or less equal standing, and with no inherent emotional baggage to be overly concerned about? Language and speech habits offer clues and nudges in certain directions, good or bad. The most common example of condescension is the habit some people can’t seem to break, of speaking to disabled people of any age like they are immature children. It’s using an uncharacteristically soft, slow, high pitched, cooing voice when speaking to disabled youth and adults. But it’s not just about tone of voice. It’s also the assumption that disabled people are less self aware, less able to know and manage their own needs, less able to understand things.  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/02/26/5-disability-microaggressions-and-why-they-matter/?sh=1f0b95fb7e17

Social Security Disability Insurance: Who can apply for this benefit?

The US government provides assistance to people with disabilities through their Social Security Disability Insurance scheme, in the event they meet certain requirements. To get this benefit, however, your medical condition should meet Social Securitys strict definition of disability. Meanwhile, in order to be eligible to apply for SSDI you should also have worked under Social Security. This monthly benefit is received by those who are unable to work for a year or more due to their medical condition. The US government makes clear through their official website that people with partial disability or short term disability are not eligible for the payments. Benefits usually continue until you can work again on a regular basis, reads the Social Security release. There are also several special rules, called work incentives, that provide continued benefits and health care coverage to help you make the transition back to work. If you are receiving SSDI benefits when you reach full retirement age, your disability benefits automatically convert to retirement benefits, but the amount remains the same. You qualify for the benefit in the event that you cant work and engage in substantial gainful activity because of your disability. Meanwhile, you can enter into the Social Security Disability Insurance scheme if your condition has lasted or is expected to last for at least one year or to result in death. This is a strict definition of disability, explains Social Security. Social Security program rules assume that working families have access to other resources to provide support during periods of short term disabilities, including workers compensation, insurance, savings and investments.

https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/2022/02/14/620a3558ca47419f4f8b4598.html

People with disabilities get career boosts thanks to Moffitt Cancer Center and MacDonald Training Center

Cadajah Brooks finally has a job. A really good one, too, making sure hospital rooms at the Moffitt Cancer Center are clean and perfect for patients. I just love it, said the woman with special needs. Sometimes Ill talk to the patients, ask them how they feel. Make them smile. Brooks learned and earned the job thanks to a groundbreaking partnership between Moffitt and Tampas award winning MacDonald Training Center, which gives people with all disabilities a big employment boost for jobs in technology, manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality. Moffitt funded, designed, and outfitted a Skill and Simulation Lab at MacDonald that allows students to learn necessary facets of environmental services. This eMerge Career Collaborative gives students with special needs the chance to earn a living wage and gain more independence. It also works toward shattering misconceptions. When you give someone with a disability the equal opportunity to succeed in life, contribute to society and care about others, they always will, said Karenne Levy, president and CEO of MacDonald Training Center.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/money/angies-list/health/people-with-disabilities-get-career-boosts-thanks-to-moffitt-cancer-center-and-macdonald-training-center

A quadriplegic lawyer's 3 best tips for career success for others with disabilities: 'I'm a big believer in living with adventurous wheels'

In 2004, a surfing accident left Josh Basile with a severe spinal cord injury and permanent paralysis at age 18. Though his life was forever changed, Basile continued to chase his dreams and graduated magna cum laude from law school. Basile, now a lawyer, philanthropist, disability rights advocate, and community relations manager for web accessibility company accessiBe, has worked tirelessly to promote web accessibility and be a leader in the disability community. From fighting for the catastrophically injured in court, to inventing an inclusive sport called Slingshot Golf, to founding a nonprofit for others with spinal cord injuries, Basile has seen immense success throughout his career. CNBC Make It spoke with Josh Basile to discuss three tips for others with disabilities trying to achieve career success:Find somebody that is doing something well and learn from their experiences, says Basile. Gaining insight from others who share similar circumstances can be useful for those unsure of their future potential after a traumatic injury. Follow in someones tracks because so much in the working world is figuring out what not to do, he told CNBC Make It. Analyze what mistakes to avoid and let that guide you in the right direction. Basile credits mentorship for providing him with motivation early on in his paralysis journey. My mentors taught me that life goes on in beautiful ways and that I could still wheel after my goals and dreams with purpose. They showed me what was possible and gave me the confidence to fight and advocate for a better future. Mentorship has been proven to be beneficial in the workplace, according to a 2020 study from Guider, a career development company. According to the study, 87% of mentees feel like their mentoring relationships gave them a sense of empowerment and boosted their self confidence. People with mentors are also promoted 5 times more than those without them. According to Basile, your personal and professional success will largely be influenced by recognizing the worth of your contributions. Too often persons with disabilities are thought of as charity. And that is so far from the truth. Basile says. Theres such great value in your unique voice, skills, and talents. Businesses need you. Being able to articulate your strengths and fully contribute at work takes confidence. Believing in yourself not only helps you rise to the occasion but also shows others what youre capable of despite having a disability.  Basile is proud to share that his self confidence has not only given him career success, but hes also expecting a baby boy in March. Theres a popular saying that goes life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Being adventurous as someone with a disability can be extremely nerve wracking, especially when theres still so much room for improvement in accessibility and inclusivity. However, Basile reassures that there are so many opportunities open to you if you just have the willingness to try. I have proactively stepped out of my comfort zone by partnering with accessiBe to help raise awareness, both online and through the media, about the importance of web accessibility, and what it truly means for people with disabilities and businesses of all sizes, he says. Im a big believer in living with adventurous wheels. The outside world can be very scary, but youre going to end up finding out that there is so much life to be lived. Basile also says that putting yourself out there is also beneficial to the disability community as a whole. Once youre out there, not only are you improving your quality of life, but youre also starting to change the narrative of the world around you. You start teaching people around you about the value and importance of having workers with disabilities at all levels of business, not just at the entry level. Youre helping create a better world. Check out: 77% of workers with disabilities say their employer has done a better job supporting them since the pandemic started43% of employees say they have little opportunity for mobility at work38% of women in tech plan on leaving their job within the next 2 years heres why

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/06/quadriplegic-lawyer-shares-3-tips-for-success-as-a-person-with-disabilities.html

Why technology accessibility is key for disability inclusion at work

Technology, like video conferencing tools and online messaging systems, has gained prominence in workplaces across the country, especially during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as many businesses have switched to remote and hybrid models. In fact, more than half of U. S. workers rely on technology to complete their jobs. For workers with disabilities, tools for accessibility, like screen readers and subtitles for video meetings, are extremely important and necessary for workplace inclusion. 2021 was a prominent year for DE&I efforts across businesses nationwide, as 77% of workers with disabilities say their employer has done a better job supporting them since the pandemic started. But there is still progress to be made, and technology accessibility is a great place to start.  For quadriplegic lawyer and community relations manager, Josh Basile, accommodations in tech have been life changing. I was injured back in 2004. We didnt have the technology and the scalable solutions that we have today to make the internet more accessible. And watching how our technology has advanced and evolved, I see more and more independence for myself, he tells CNBC Make It. Technology, like AI powered applications on websites, gives me another way of being able to access the world around me and be included. According to The Employer Assistance and Research Network, a resource hub for workplace disability inclusion, technology accessibility means tools that can be used successfully by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. This allows everyone in the workplace to interact with different systems and programs in a way that best suits their needs and capabilities.  Basile, who is a community relations manager at accessible, a web accessibility hub, says that technology accessibility in the workplace has allowed him to be more efficient and refined. Its incredible what you can do with the right technology or the right accommodations, he says. Its created an even playing field in many ways. It allows you the opportunity to contribute at your highest level. And, over the years, its helped me continue to improve my output and contribution in the workplace. For example, Basile uses a QuadStick, a mouth operated controller, to surf the web and edit word documents with his voice. There are tools like AI powered solutions that can create customizable experiences for different disabilities, he says. So its not just for persons that are paralyzed or that are blind. Its also for people that have cognitive disabilities like ADHD and epilepsy. EARN lists several areas where companies may need to improve their technology accessibility efforts, including email and other electronic correspondence; self contained products like calculators, printers, and copying machines; and software applications and operating systems. Promoting inclusion through accessibility is proven to have several benefits for businesses. Not only does it increase productivity and boost corporate image, but it also aids in employee retention and recruitment. A recent Adobe study found that, amongst millennials with and without a disability, almost 3 in 4 say that accessibility and inclusivity are deciding factors in evaluating a job opportunity.  Basile looks at it as a domino effect. Disability employment is becoming more attainable and less complicated. And youre having more people, as theyre entering the workforce with a disability, have success stories, and then all of a sudden, other people are saying if Josh can do it, I can do it, too. Check Out:77% of workers with disabilities say their employer has done a better job supporting them since the pandemic started43% of employees say they have little opportunity for mobility at work 35% of women who left or lost their jobs during the pandemic are still unemployed get

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/why-technology-accessibility-is-key-for-disability-inclusion-at-work.html

Government ‘must tear up national disability strategy’ after high court defeat

Disabled campaigners have called on the government to tear up its “fundamentally broken” National Disability Strategy, after the high court ruled that the much criticised document was unlawful. The high court found that a botched consultation had made it “impossible” for disabled people to “shape” the content of the strategy. Mr Justice Griffiths found this week that the consultation, launched early last year through a national survey, was unlawful because the thousands of disabled people who took part were not given enough information about the government’s proposed strategy to allow them “intelligent consideration and response”. The government had argued that the survey was just an information gathering exercise, but the court had heard how the Disability Unit’s own website listed the survey at the time as an “Open Consultation”, while it was hosted on the unit’s “Consultation Hub”, with the promise that responses would inform the strategy’s development. The court also found that the survey’s multiple choice format, and the word limit on the small number of questions that allowed free form responses, “did not allow for a proper response even to the issues canvassed in the Survey”. Because the court has found that the consultation was unlawful, so is the strategy, which was published last July. It is not yet clear what action the government will take following the ruling, although a spokesperson said it was considering its next steps. Doug Paulley , one of the four disabled campaigners who took the judicial review* against work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey, said it was “entirely clear” that the consultation had not been “fit for purpose”. He called on the government to withdraw its “fundamentally broken” national strategy and “start afresh with disabled people’s organizations and disabled people at the heart of it, as they always should have done”. He said: “What I would hope for is they would actually go to DPOs and disabled people and do a proper consultation and focus on what disabled people actually want, which is enforceable and genuine rights. “What I think they will actually do is appeal the judgement. ”But he said the judgement meant there was “a very clear ruling that the strategy is now unlawful and will remain so until something is done”. One of the four claimants, disabled activist Miriam Binder , died last month, and her family said today that they were “incredibly proud” of the part she had played in the legal victory. Her daughters said in a statement: “It is a bittersweet moment for us as a family that our mum is not here to see this, but mum didn’t do this for just herself, she took on this fight for every disabled person in the UK. “We are so incredibly proud of her and her courage. “She has always been a stalwart campaigner for justice, particularly for disability rights and equality. “We are elated with the judgement and hope this makes a difference to the lives of those living with a disability. “This is an extremely fitting bequest and we take comfort in the knowledge that she made a difference. ”In depth analysis of the government’s strategy by Disability News Service after it was published last summer showed it had been padded out with scores of pledges to “discuss” or “consider” further action, to commission lengthy research, and to carry out reviews of existing policies. At the time, Inclusion London called it “a cynical re packaging of current polices and current budgets”, while the DPO Forum England, a network of many of the country’s leading DPOs, said it had ignored bold action on increasing benefit levels, supporting inclusive education, combating the disability employment gap, increasing accessible housing, and reforming social care.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/government-must-tear-up-national-disability-strategy-after-high-court-defeat/

New Guidance About COVID-19 and Disability Under the Americans with Disabilities Act

As we enter the third year of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has updated its Guidance about when COVID 19 is considered a disability and would then qualify a person for the protections pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act . This supplements Guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services about whether Long COVID is a disability under the ADA. The guidance, released in December 2021, is clear that contracting COVID 19 is not automatically considered a disability. Rather, the symptoms of COVID 19 that resolve in a few weeks with no additional consequences are specifically NOT considered disabilities. In fact, the EEOC Guidance says that the disability analysis is exactly the same for COVID as it is for any other possibly disabling condition. The EEOC also states that a person who has experienced COVID 19 and fulfills the criteria, below, can be regarded as an individual with a disability. The analysis to determine if COVID 19 has resulted in a disability is as follows:The truly helpful aspects of the new EEOC Guidance are the examples. For instance, the following are considered ADA qualifying COVID 19 disabilities:Examples offered that are NOT considered COVID related disabilities under the ADA are symptoms that resolve within a few weeks, such as:Despite the nearly two year wait for the EEOC to provide Guidance about the interplay between the ADA and COVID 19, no new analysis was provided. The standard disability analysis should be used anytime a situation is presented where the ADA may apply. To learn more about how this guidance affects the printing industry and what to expect in the future, join PRINTING United Alliance to gain access to the foremost experts in the space as well as to answer individual questions as it relates to your business operation. And, as COVID mandate changes are rapidly evolving, members can reach out to our expert Alliance staff for further questions on this, or other important matters: Marci Kinter, VP, Government & Regulatory Affairs: mkinter@printing. org; Gary Jones, Director, Environmental, Health and Safety Affairs: gjones@printing. org; and Adriane Harrison, VP, Human Relations Consulting: aharrison@printing. org. Follow the latest alerts on COVID 19 from the PRINTING United Alliance Government Affairs team online. This piece was originally published on printing. org. Adriane Harrison is Vice President, Human Relations Consulting at PRINTING United Alliance. Adriane assists members with a wide variety of HR matters involving statutes, regulations, policies, procedures, culture, and staffing, as well as the gamut of day to day HR issues. In addition, she supports professional development by conducting webinars, participating in panel discussions, and speaking at industry events on human resources issues. Currently, Adriane is the Chairperson of the Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition, a member of the Women in Print Alliance, and a founder of the Women’s Print Mentoring Network. Adriane received a journalism degree from the University of Illinois and a law degree from DePaul University in Chicago. As an attorney, Adriane practiced in both the public and private sectors. Her work was in the areas of Constitutional, commercial, securities, and criminal law. Adriane and her family live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In these unprecedented and uncertain times, PRINTING United Alliance and NAPCO Media are committed to providing the printing and visual communications industries with the most up to date resources on the ongoing COVID 19 situation. The staff is here to help you as we all weather this storm together. This webinar will examine how printing operations are adapting to changing conditions and enhancing customer value.  Back for its 38th year, this venerable list ranks the largest printing companies in the U. S. & Canada. Catch a glimpse into whos who in printing & the key trends impacting the graphic arts industry.

https://www.piworld.com/post/guidance-covid-19-disability-under-americans-disabilities-act/

Self-Employment Can Be A Vital Method For Returning To Work After Disability

Self employment offers an unparalleled level of autonomy for people with disabilitiesThe COVID 19 pandemic has caused considerable turmoil in the American job market for nearly two years. Unemployment levels rose higher in just the first few months of the pandemic than over the first two years of the Great Recession, with low wage and low hour workers experiencing the majority of job losses and many economists drawing comparisons to the Great Depression of the 1930s. While the latest news about unemployment is encouraging, the persistence of the virus and its variants leave the future uncertain. If a silver lining is to be found, though, it may be in the radical increase in self employment that we have seen during the pandemic. With the rising necessity to switch from in person to remote work environments, employers are getting more comfortable with enlisting independent contractors. Hiring freelance workers presents a number of benefits for organizations, including the ability to more quickly onboard specialized talent as well as reduce the costs of full time employee retention. It’s not just employers who enjoy the benefits of self employed and freelance workers, though. There are many reasons people might give up their traditional 9 to 5 job in favor of working for themselves, either as a freelance worker or business owner. These are many of the same reasons that self employment may be appealing to men and women looking to get back into the workforce after leaving due to a medical condition or disability. Self employment offers an unparalleled level of autonomy for people with disabilities. Even the best, most employee centric companies often involve a hierarchy and corporate framework that can involve several levels of accountability and operational processes. Self employment allows for self management, letting you use and grow your skills and abilities naturally without the need to answer “up the ladder” within an employer environment.  When various governments and groups mandated lockdown protocols earlier in the pandemic, businesses that relied on employees to work in person had more complicated issues to resolve, while others were able to successfully pivot to remote/online connectivity. While we hopefully won’t have the same extent of limitations going forward, many employers are allowing workers, and particularly freelancers, the continued flexibility of not having to commute into an office. This can present a tremendous benefit for someone with a disability who has limited mobility. The concept of work life balance is getting increased attention among workers, and for a good reason. Everyone has their own personal lives and commitments that they tend to outside of a work environment, whether that is spending time with family members or participating in your favorite hobby. People with disabilities may have additional demands on their time, such as regularly scheduled meetings with medical providers, tests and screening appointments, and physical therapists, which could impact their ability to work a typical eight hour workday. One benefit of the self employed lifestyle is getting to set your own work hours that will allow you to be most productive and not conflict with other engagements, while still meeting the company’s business needs.  People who live with disabilities often have to deal with unfair stereotypes, stigma, and assumptions about their condition and abilities. These attitudinal barriers can unfortunately prove to be just as difficult to overcome as any practical limitations posed by their health condition. Self employment can bring a sense of self empowerment. The feeling of truly being in control of one’s life and being able to make real, tangible contributions to a team or workforce can have a significant positive impact on a person’s mental health and self image.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulamorgan/2022/01/24/self-employment-can-be-a-vital-method-for-returning-to-work-after-disability/?sh=59903d954f1a

Project aims to improve end of life care planning for people with learning disabilities

Improving end of life care planning for people with learning disabilities will be the focus of a new two year study that aims to produce a toolkit of guidance, approaches and resources, as well as staff training materials.  The research project has been commissioned to help staff in learning disability services support the estimated one million people living with learning disabilities in England, two thirds of which are based in residential care or supported living settings when reaching the end of their lives. It will be headed up by Professor Irene Tuffrey Wijne, learning disability and palliative care expert at Kingston and St George’s, and Dr Rebecca Anderson, research associate in the Centre for Health and Social Care Research, run jointly by the two universities. They will be supported by two researchers Richard Keagan Bull and Amanda Cresswell who have a learning disability. The project will also include leading experts and industry professionals from The Open University, The Mary Stevens Hospice, Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, and Dimensions and MacIntyre. Professor Tuffrey Wijne said: “Learning disability services support staff are at the frontline of end of life care provision and planning but are often unprepared for this, lacking confidence and knowledge. They’ve asked for help in knowing how to get these discussions and planning right for the people they support, as people with learning disabilities can find it hard to understand what is happening and are rarely involved in ensuring their end of life care is given according to their wishes and preferences. During the first six months of the study, The Open University will lead a review to find out what is known about end of life care planning with people with learning disabilities, and what approaches and resources are already available. The wider project team will also hold focus groups with people with learning disabilities, their families and professionals, asking them for their views and preferences. Working with a team of people with learning disabilities, family carers and healthcare staff, the project team will then select, and develop further, preferred approaches and resources identified as being most likely to work well with people with learning disabilities across a range of circumstances. MacIntyre and Dimensions will then evaluate these approaches in practice through a pilot project with around 30 people they support.

https://www.learningdisabilitytoday.co.uk/new-study-to-improve-end-of-life-care-planning-for-people-with-a-learning-disability

Mindset Matters: New Year, New Outlook On Mental Health And The Disability Economy As Central For Corporate Growth

Pandemic fear psychology and anxiety of virus contagion or psychological fears of disease or . . . [+] contagious infections with 3D illustration elements. While a New Year is upon us, the world is once again dealing with another coronavirus surge. As many companies were preparing for the initial stages of their return to work strategy they are once again scrambling to figure out how to quickly adapt to this ever changing climate. Everyone throughout the corporate ecosystem from executives to employees is feeling a level of uneasiness causing a true mental disruption across their everyday lives. This variable of the unknown is continuing to lead to interference within one’s psyche and a decrease in organizational morale. Dealing with these challenges once again proves the point that corporate culture must engage in mental health and corporate well being strategies as a cornerstone for continued growth in the digital economy of the 21st Century where work life is in constant momentum and the questions of how and where we work is evolving in real time. This ever changing reality needs a champion to bridge the concerns around mental health with that of business life. Companies must find a more effective way to tackle the emotional rigidity that has beleaguered our world for almost two years by discovering a pathway towards emotional agility where individuals and organizations have more agency and control of their emotional needs and develop more effective ways to respond to both the fluctuations in the market and that of a changing business landscape. What has often been lacking in evaluating this burgeoning and diverse Disability Economy is the protean nature of its capabilities. The Disability Economy is not defined just by market segments, demographics, or even the spectrum of disabilities themselves, but rather even something more profound. It offers organizations a lens into creating a better understanding of a changing corporate environment and the needs of the individuals who serve them. It helps shape a business philosophy that leverages the lived experience of disability as a way of strategic thinking and assists in honing the skills of long range planners while providing leadership insights needed to transform the business design for the future ahead. In providing this framework, the philosophical arm of the Disability Economy can serve to amplify the needs of mental health and campaign for greater improvement across the corporate landscape that gets us to a place where we can be cognizant of the needs of others and how that has a tangible impact in the daily work environment. Psychologist Susan David in her book, Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life wrote that “Being emotionally agile involves being sensitive to context and responding to the world as it is right now. ” It is this very idea that is central to the ethos of the Disability Economy. As the world changes, culture changes, people you know change. Understanding emotional adaptability means knowing that things can change while having the capability to be able to work through it. The world as it is now will not be what it will be in the future nor is it what it was in the past. By being adaptable to ones surroundings means you can work through how the world is right now. It is essential to be able to be both empathetic and have the capacity to listen.  Organizational cultures are recognizing that there must be a new way of doing business. They are coming to the realization that the value of their business should always be about its people and being able to serve their needs is vital in these unpredictable times. Yet, the Disability Economy having evolved by the very nature of its roots sees the inextricable connection between taking care of the person as a whole and as Dr. David states “Recognize that life’s beauty is inseparable from its fragility. We’re young until we’re not. We’re healthy until we’re not. We’re with those until we’re not. ”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankaufman/2022/01/07/mindset-matters-new-year-new-outlook-on-mental-health-and-the-disability-economy-as-central-for-corporate-growth/?sh=70d18fb76313

77% of workers with disabilities say their employer has done a better job supporting them since the pandemic started

2021 was a prominent year for DE&I efforts across businesses nationwide. Hybrid work not only helped with issues like workplace discrimination, but ushered in a more accessible environment for disabled workers.  According to a recent Adobe survey of 1,000 full time workers, part time workers, and students based in the U. S. including respondents with and without disabilities, employers have done a better job supporting disability needs, but improvements can be made to etiquette education, recruitment and retention. With 1 in 4 American adults identifying as disabled, according to the CDC, its important for employers to have policies and initiatives that prioritize and empower workers with disabilities. The start of the Covid 19 pandemic caused workplaces to be more intentional in creating workplace inclusivity, and many survey respondents noticed a major change. In fact, among people with disabilities, over three quarters say their workplace is doing a better job of supporting them , while a similar number of people say their co workers are considerate of their unique needs. But though progress has been made, there is still room for improvement. About 70% of respondents with disabilities rated their organizations disability etiquette training as fair, which indicates that improvements are needed. In addition, more training was embraced by others, with 77% of employees interested in learning more about the impact of mental wellness and how to work with diverse learning styles. The majority of survey respondents without a disability say they frequently or sometimes consider the accessibility needs of their coworkers with disabilities. However, the remaining 18% report that they rarely or never consider the accessibility needs of their coworkers.  Regardless of disability status, 84% of those surveyed feel co workers would benefit from workplace accessibility. According to EARN, the employer assistance and research network on disability inclusion, workplace accessibility isnt limited to just physical accessibility; it includes digitally accessible information and communication technology as well. Accessibility at work is also valuable for business owners.  Its not only people with disabilities who benefit from accessible workplaces. Accessible workplaces help businesses increase productivity; ensure a wider pool of talent can apply for, maintain and advance in employment; and expand their potential customer base, EARN says on their website. The majority of members of the disability community surveyed by Adobe say that accessibility and inclusivity benefits are a deciding factor in evaluating a job opportunity. Most millennials, with and without a disability, found these benefits particularly important, with 80% citing them as a major decision making factor. As Americans are increasingly quitting their jobs in the current Great Resignation, the pressure is on for employers to improve their initiatives to retain staff. Among people with disabilities, mental health support was a leading area of interest, with 73% identifying it as a major concern, compared to 33% of those without disabilities. Access to hybrid work was also a major deciding factor among employees, especially with the ongoing pandemic. Adobe found that 46% of the general population first look at a companies hybrid and remote work policies when deciding about an employment opportunity. This was even more favorable amongst the disability community, with 58% preferring remote and hybrid workplaces. Check out: These 3 women quit without another job lined up heres how they financially prepared35% of women who left or lost their jobs during the pandemic are still unemployed 43% of employees say they have little opportunity for mobility at work

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/30/employers-better-supported-workers-with-disabilities-in-2021-but-still-can-improve.html

2022 New Years Resolutions For The Disability Community

2022 New Year’s ResolutionsAs 2021 draws to a rather messy close, especially for people with disabilities, it’s time for another round of disability themed New Year’s Resolutions. Last year’s resolutions here were focused on disabled people’ s individual habits. This year, let’s look at resolutions for the disability community as a whole. There are scores of worthwhile goals. Here are a few that have the potential to make the most impact:Make sure any normalization of Covid doesn’t leave disabled and chronically ill people unacceptably vulnerable. The disability community started 2021 fighting for access to vaccination a fairly straightforward battle. We enter 2022 fighting just as hard, but against more complex and diffuse problemsThere may be no way now to completely eradicate Covid 19, or to fully protect the most medically and practically vulnerable among us from its effects. But it’s not out of the question that in 2022, we could do a better job not just with Covid itself, but how it affects the disability community. We can do this by squarely confronting the now familiar matrix of pandemic problems specifically affecting disabled and chronically ill people, including substantial overlap with the elderly. These familiar problems for us. But they are much too often forgotten or misunderstood by our nondisabled neighbors, government leaders, and even scientific experts. Higher risk and vulnerabilityMany of us have medical conditions that make it more likely we will catch Covid, and that if we do, our risk of serious illness or death is higher even if we are fully vaccinated. Many of us also live in practical situations like living in congregate care facilities or having retail jobs that can’t be done from home that limit our ability to protect ourselves. Inadequate access to preventative measuresEven now, there are people with disabilities who face accessibility barriers to vaccination. This includes “homebound” people, those who lack adequate transportation, and people who have extra difficulty navigating web based registration systems. For some disabled people, like people with lung diseases or autism, even wearing a mask really can be too difficult. Onus on disabled people to protect ourselvesAs the already shaky commitment to society wide pandemic prevention erodes even further, a consensus could develop that those of us at highest risk should be solely responsible for protecting ourselves. We will need to fight hard to maintain some semblance of social responsibility with Covid, so disabled and chronically ill people aren’t left completely on our own, and forced to essentially hide from our fellow citizens who decide they are “done with Covid. ”We need to resolve now that by the end of 2022, we will substantially reduce risk, illness, and death rates from Covid 19, specifically for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. And we need to ensure that disabled and chronically ill people aren’t the only people forced to isolate ourselves because everyone else has forgotten or minimized the danger.  Maintain or increase disabled voter participation. Earlier this year, disability voting researchers at Rutgers University found that 2020 voting rates for people with disabilities in the U. S. rose substantially, thanks in part to more methods of casting a vote being made easily available as a pandemic measure. Can we maintain this progress? Can we finally close the persistent voting participation gap between people with and without disabilities? There are a few things we can at least try to do as we approach the November 2022 Midterm Elections. First, we can make easier access to mail in voting and a variety of other methods more permanent. Mail in ballots alone don’t solve all disabled people’s voting accessibility problems. But along with more accessible polling sites and machines, and early voting opportunities, voting by mail makes voting easier for everyone, especially people with disabilities for whom voting in the traditional manner is often inherently more difficult.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2021/12/31/2022-new-years-resolutions-for-the-disability-community/?sh=29321f423c88

Unintentional discrimination’ at the heart of disability lawsuit against California community college district

In a case some say could have a profound impact on disabled students’ rights, California’s largest community college district is planning to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a case centered on blind students’ access to textbooks, handouts and other classroom materials in a format they can understand. Arguing that federal disability rights laws don’t cover unintentional discrimination, the Los Angeles Community College District board of trustees has announced it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling in favor of the students. But in hopes of settling the case before it reaches the high court, the board also plans to ask for a 60-day extension to allow negotiations to continue. The deadline for the extension is Jan. 3. The Americans with Disabilities Act, enacted in 1990, protects people with disabilities — including those enrolled in college — from discrimination. Read more about the ADA and the plaintiffs’ complaint against Los Angeles Community College:Americans with Disabilities ActPlaintiffs’ complaint against Los Angeles Community College DistrictRuling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit“(We’re directing our attorneys) to engage immediately in negotiations to identify a constructive and mutually beneficial resolution to successfully resolve the matter,” said board President Gabriel Buelna. “The district is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and access for all students, especially those with disabilities or other needs, to pursue their higher education.”The case stems from a 2017 lawsuit brought by two blind students, Roy Payan and Portia Mason, who claimed the district did not provide important academic materials, such as algebra textbooks and syllabi, in an audio or Braille format. The result was that the students could not complete classes required to transfer to a four-year college. Some blind students had to wade through years of bureaucratic delays to obtain materials in a suitable format, while others had to hire tutors to read the material aloud. Other students just gave up and dropped out, said Patricia Barbosa, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. Even worse, Barbosa said, the district assigned blind students who were unable to take math classes into a class they had even less ability to participate in: film. The district did not immediately explain why this happened.“Education is a magic bullet for people who are disabled. It allows them to get out of poverty, gain independence, move their lives forward,” Barbosa said. “The whole purpose of the community college district is to offer an education to marginalized people. In this case, they did not do that.”Under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, colleges, employers and other organizations must provide the same opportunities and rights to disabled people as they do to nondisabled people. For blind students enrolled in college, that means classroom materials must be in Braille or a digital format that can convert to audio. Colleges typically have offices dedicated to helping disabled students obtain whatever extra help they need. But at Los Angeles Community College, help was not always available, Payan said. He tried taking algebra four or five times, he said, with no success. Most instructors said they couldn’t convert handouts to audio-friendly files because they didn’t know how. When Payan requested an audio version of the textbook, an administrator said the textbook company wouldn’t provide it because the college didn’t have enough blind students to make it worthwhile. One of Payan’s math instructors proposed enlarging the type on handouts.“I said, ‘You can make it the size of a car, I still can’t see it,’” said Payan, who’s been blind for more than a decade. Payan ended up hiring a tutor to read the algebra material aloud. He passed the class, which allowed him to transfer to California State University, Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration. He’s now a doctoral student at the University of Southern California studying public policy.

https://edsource.org/2021/unintentional-discrimination-at-the-heart-of-disability-lawsuit-against-california-community-college-district/665076

Disability: An Identity That All Can Share

Author, filmmaker, and disability policy strategist Day Al Mohamed. International Day of Persons with Disabilities is December 3, and we have daily reminders of how inclusiveness in society has benefited all. The day is recognized and celebrated by a myriad of nations. It was first proclaimed by the United Nations as an annual observance in 1992, with the goal to promote “an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well being of persons with disabilities. ”In early December, I always see blog posts and memes in the disability community about this but it doesn’t seem to be very visible and I find myself wondering, why not? Is it because most people just don’t know? Disability is a huge part of American society. There are more than 61 million people with disabilities living in the United States today. That is 1 in 4 adults. Someone you know absolutely has a disability. Day Al Mohamed and guide dog Gamma. “Disability is an inescapable element of human existence and experience. Although it is rarely acknowledged as such, it is also a fundamental aspect of human diversity. ” But what does that mean? What does having a disability look like? It seems like such a simple question but there are so many descriptions and definitions of what a disability is. It varies by country and culture, and even by individual organizations/agencies. In fact, the US Federal government alone, has more than 60 different definitions of disability! The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health defines disability as having three dimensions: As for what disability looks like…well, a person with a disability can look like anyone else. Disability exists on a continuum. Two people with the same type of disability can be affected in very different ways. Not to mention disabilities that may be hidden or not easy to see. Disability is one of the only identities that can happen to anyone at any time. This means when you get a concussion and afterward you have trouble processing – you’ve got a disability; when your grandma needs a walker – she’s got a disability; when your friend develops diabetes or has anxiety – they’ve got a disability. The truth is that disability is a natural part of the human condition. This is especially true when you consider aging and how technology has allowed us to live longer. More than 30% of Americans over age 65, and over 50% of those over age 75 have some kind of disability. I’m a history buff, and even I was surprised to learn that disability has been present from the very founding of America. Gouverneur Morris, one of the Founding Fathers and Penman of the Constitution, was an amputee! You might not recognize the name, but I am sure you will recognize some if his most famous and recognizable words: “We, the People, of these United States…”And he’s not the only one. Disability became much more visible nationally after the Civil War when nearly 300,000 soldiers from the Union Army alone returned home injured. Many could no longer work their farms or in the factories as they had before. From this new disabled population, the first comprehensive pension system for disabled veterans was born. There is a great rumor about the Veteran’s Pension Building in Washington, DC : that its stairs were built wide enough and shallow enough to allow disabled veterans to ride their horses up them to the Pension Office. I’m not sure if it is true, but it is a fun story.

https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/disability-identity-all-can-share/

Long-term disability? He said/she said fight leads to this result

There was evidence to support both sides. Here’s why the scales tipped in favor of an employee seeking long term disability benefits.  A maintenance supervisor had long term disability insurance. His employer provided the insurance. The policy provided two years of benefits for claimants who could not perform their current jobs. Benefits continued beyond two years for claimants who could not perform any job. The employee left his job in July of 2016 due to lower back pain. He had back surgery two months later. The insurer cut benefits under the policy after two years. It said the employee could perform sedentary work. MRI results were “relatively mild,” the court said. But the employee’s doctor said he needed to avoid lifting, bending and prolonged sitting. The employee further noted that he successfully applied for Social Security disability benefits. Those benefits are available only to those who are not able “to engage in any substantial gainful activity. ”The insurer hired a doctor. The doctor said the employee could do sedentary work. And the insurer stood by its decision to deny the claim for extended benefits. The employee sued. He claimed that the denial violated ERISA. A lower court ruled in his favor. The insurer appealed. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling. It upheld the finding that the employee could not work. The insurer pointed to evidence indicating an ability to work. That included its examining physician’s opinion that the employee could do sedentary work. The physician also said the employee engaged in “symptom magnification. ” The insurer also noted that the MRI results were mild. But that evidence had to be balanced against other evidence indicating that the employee could not do even sedentary work, the appeals court said. That evidence included the fact that the employee had successfully applied for Social Security disability benefits. Also, evidence from other health care professionals indicated he could not work. The employee’s own accounts of debilitating pain were also probative, the appeals court explained. There was evidence that the employee was not disabled. But there was also enough evidence to permit the lower court’s decision that he was, the appeals court ruled. The appeals court affirmed the lower court’s decision.

https://www.hrmorning.com/news/long-term-disability/

Disability action inadequate; must be strengthened by governor, lawmakers

At a time when state has billions of dollars in federal money plus state treasury receipts dramatically outperforming projections, the Wolf Administration is failing to fully address the collapse of the community system that provides critical services for people with intellectual disability and autism. The Administration’s actions may have tragic consequences for people with disabilities. Congress and the President have asked governors to rescue disability programs by increasing funding for the community system’s Direct Support Professionals. DSPs provide lifesaving, caring support for persons with disabilities, and this goal was a key element of the passage of the American Rescue Plan. It is also a vital provision of the pending Build Back Better legislation. Our Commonwealth has received money to achieve this goal, but doing so requires leadership by our Governor to use both the federal dollars and PA’s increasing revenues for this purpose. Instead of responding to the crisis, the Wolf Administration has presented a plan that fails on several fronts:· Fails to strengthen community services as required by federal law. · Fails to fund a wage that will hire enough skilled workers to operate community services. · Fails to offer a pathway to reduce an up to 60% turnover in community program staffing. · Fails to provide rates for sufficient staffing for programs serving people with medically and behaviorally complex issues. · Fails to restore service to 6,500 people who have lost supports in the last 18 months. · Fails to provide Equal Pay for Equal Work 30% less than state workers. · Fails to support the 5,000 people in crisis at this moment. PA requires community programs to provide the gold standard of quality supports. Providers are expected to hire people who can deliver mental health support; teach people how to obtain and hold jobs; administer medication; support people with severe behavioral challenges and medical fragility; be trained in first aid, CPR, and other life saving procedures; and work with a state bureaucracy that requires reams of documentation each day for every daily activity as well as all medical and behavioral events. Underfunding has resulted in a daily struggle to find qualified workers with prior training or understanding of people with disabilities. This challenge has a direct impact on the quality of services, and has resulted in significant additional training and education expenses for providers. In addition, 12,000+ people are now on endless waiting lists. 5,000+ people are in emergency status. 6,500+ people have lost services in the last 18 months. Families of people with disabilities, service providers, and DSPs join in asking the governor to fully fund the $541 million needed to begin salvaging this system. This is not a difficult concept. It is within reach. But first Governor Wolf must lead by revising disability rates to stop the further collapse of this system. The governor has repeatedly promised service providers that he would protect people with disabilities and their DSPs. We remain deeply disappointed in the actions to date. Our governor can either rescue people or leave them exposed to significant risk. We implore Governor Wolf to avoid the collapse of the intellectual disability system on his watch. Thousands of Pennsylvanians with disabilities depend on his leadership. Gary Blumenthal is the brother of an adult with significant challenges from autism. He has worked for over 40 years in the disability community as a Kansas state legislator, a federal official in the Clinton and Obama administrations and as vice president of InVision Human Services, with offices in Harrisburg, Reading and Wexford.

https://www.sungazette.com/opinion/other-commentaries/2021/12/disability-action-inadequate-must-be-strengthened-by-governor-lawmakers/

Covid Can Be a Disability Under Anti-Bias Law, EEOC Says (1)

Workers who contract Covid 19 can be protected from discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in new guidance Tuesday. Depending on each worker’s circumstances, the EEOC said, the virus can meet the ADA’s three definitions for a disability, which cover actual physical or mental impairments that substantially limit a major life activity, an employer’s perception that a worker has a disability, or the worker’s record of impairment. Someone who has Covid 19 and experiences multiple day headaches, dizziness, and brain fog attributed to the virus is an example of an impairment under the ADA. However, not every person with Covid 19 will qualify as disabled, the agency said. Employers must assess each employee individually to determine if they meet the appropriate standards, it said. If someone has Covid 19 but is asymptomatic or has mild symptoms like the flu that only lasts a few weeks with no other consequences, they wouldn’t qualify. The agency’s revised guidance expands on a September update that said workers suffering from “long haul” Covid 19 may be disabled under the ADA “in certain circumstances. ” The Health & Human Services and Justice departments said in July that long Covid can classify as a disability. There is no requirement for limitations from Covid 19 to last a particular length of time for someone to qualify under the ADA, the EEOC said. That includes if symptoms come and go. Impairments that result from getting Covid 19, such as a stroke that limits brain function, can be considered a disability under the ADA. It could be a potential violation of the ADA if an employer prevents an employee from returning to work once they are no longer infectious. “Like effects from other diseases, effects from COVID 19 can lead to a disability protected under the laws the EEOC enforces. Workers with disabilities stemming from COVID 19 are protected from employment discrimination and may be eligible for reasonable accommodations,” EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows said in a statement. “There’s no changes to the law, it’s what we’ve been saying the whole time that Covid can be a disability,” said Eve Hill, board chair of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a disability law advocacy organization. Karla Grossenbacher, a partner at Seyfarth Shaw focused on labor and employment law, said there’s “nothing unexpected” in the guidance. “But it’s good to have confirmation that the analysis is what we thought it would be,” she said. Grossenbacher said this provides “clear guidance on how to analyze the issue” when an employee applies for accommodations based on Covid 19 and that the same traditional analysis applies for determining whether accommodations are necessary. “One of the things employers often don’t understand, if Covid aggravates another underlying preexisting condition, that condition can become a disability, even if it wasn’t before,” something the guidance addressed, said Hill, a partner at Brown Goldstein & Levy focused on civil rights law. “Everybody being on the same page is really useful,” Hill said.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/covid-can-be-a-disability-under-federal-anti-bias-law-eeoc-says-5

Mindset Matters: Reframing Entrepreneurship And Disability To Shape A New Business Culture

Author Adam Grant speaks during the Massachusetts Conference for Women . 2017 at the Boston Convention Center on December 7, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. During this Covid 19 pandemic, the world of business has had to redefine itself at a rapid pace. Moving from a centralized work environment to a remote reality has opened new pathways for opportunities by various means, among them are persons with disabilities. But despite the coronavirus being an accelerant to new ways of working, it is time to pivot once again to look at the larger tapestry of business culture and explore the arena of entrepreneurship which is the oxygen of emerging business culture. As the rules of work are changing moment to moment, the significance of entrepreneurship must once again be evaluated and seen through the new lens of a budding Disability Economy. This column is not about exploring specific entrepreneurs within the developing space, but rather how we can begin to think about entrepreneurship from a meta perspective and recognize that the developing Disability Economy is critical for the growth of entrepreneurship while providing an intersectional attitude across the larger business culture. In his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, professor and writer Adam Grant wrote that “Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. ” It is these skills that will be critical in redefining how we think or reexamine disability in the context of the business culture of the 21st Century while realizing that entrepreneurs with disabilities can boldly stake their claim within the world at large. If true disruption of the rules of business is to take place, then we must learn how to think differently and embrace it is an essential tenant of the Disability Economy. By applying these ideas to a growing business lexicon, the world of disability entrepreneurship offers a new perspective around the future of work and invigorates some of the heavy liftings around changing the stigma that has often been hardwired into the traditional attitudes of the corporate culture. While the role of entrepreneurship serves as a vehicle to reassess perception, for the disabled entrepreneur it is an instrument of empowerment that shapes leaders, creates new opportunities, and expands the possibility for the growth of new industries while enhancing the very status of this community, and creating a gateway to compete in the global marketplace. To take the next steps of economic empowerment for persons with disabilities or even the evolution of the Disability Economy, there must be a way to clarify that the value of different needs is not about ‘otherness’, but rather expanding the vantage point through a lens of a diversity of thought that opens up a perspective for new opportunities that can have a significant influence across an ever changing economic landscape. As we begin to discuss a broader framework of disability entrepreneurship and its place in the Disability Economy, we must discuss another branch of thinking known as intrapreneurship which is based on the idea of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within the confines of larger corporations. Recognizing that a sea change is happening in the areas of diversity and inclusion, organizations like The Valuable 500, Purple Space, to The National Organization on Disability, Disability: IN, and numerous others are continuing to push to get disability to be acknowledged as vital stakeholders for corporate growth within an emerging digital economy. Yet to do this, there needs to be another step that is essential for not only putting the wheels in motion but allowing for lasting change. Intrapreneurship offers a mechanism for this to happen and creates an opportunity for employees with disabilities to amplify their narrative as a lynchpin that fosters greater innovation and creativity that leads toward a superior competitive advantage and increased economic growth.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankaufman/2021/12/17/mindset-matters-reframing-entrepreneurship-and-disability-to-shape-a-new-business-culture/?sh=2823b43c774f

How to ensure your holiday celebrations welcome people with disabilities

whether they’re online or in person – give us all a chance to catch up with friends, share a meal or just have a good time. The best of these celebrations include everyone, regardless of ability. Austin nonprofit Knowbility spends the year helping to create accessible web sites and other digital experiences. For the holidays, Knowbility staff turned their attention to providing tips for party planners and participants. This week, they produced a webinar with tips and even some accessible gift suggestions for people with disabilities. “I think sometimes people are intimidated by a disability, and they’re afraid to acknowledge it,” said Knowbility executive director Sharron Rush. “But people with disabilities understand that they have disability, and it’s not a thing of shame. It’s not something to be awkward about. ”“When people host virtual celebrations, you want to make sure that the platform you using has the ability to provide closed captioning. So someone with a hearing disability can feel included, can participate in the conversations. ” – Mariella Paulino“One of the things that you’d always want to be sure that you do if you have a blind person in your group on an online meeting is begin by saying, ‘This is Sharron. And my opinion is this and this and this. ’ And then when you’re finished, you signal that, ‘This is Sharron, and I’m done. ’” – Sharron Rush“If you’re inviting a blind person to an event, make sure that you give a quick introduction of the space that they’ll be in. There’s a table in the middle of the room. You’ve got a few sofas to the right. Something short like that is a great way to get your guests a little more comfortable with the space. ” – Anthony Vasquez“One of the things that everyone should absolutely do for the dinner table this year is they should have a clear mask that allows somebody with a healing disability to lip read. ”

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/how-to-ensure-your-holiday-celebrations-welcome-people-with-disabilities/

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2021

December 3 is International Day of Persons with Disabilities , and on this Day WHO joins other partners around the world to celebrate a day for all. More than 1 billion people experience disability, and this figure is predicted to rise, due in part to population aging and an increase in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases. Despite this, few countries have adequate mechanisms in place to respond fully to the health priorities and requirements of persons with disabilities.  While disability correlates with disadvantage, not all people with disabilities are equally disadvantaged. Much depends on the context in which they live, and whether they have equal access to health, education and employment, among others. As governments and the international community continue to battle the COVID 19 pandemic, and chart a course forward, it is essential that disability inclusion is central to health system planning, development, and decision making. Strong, effective health systems support robust health emergency management. WHO is committed to supporting Member States and development partners to fulfill their commitment to leave no one behind, by addressing disability inclusion in the health sector, including as part of our efforts to end the COVID 19 pandemic.

https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2021/12/03/default-calendar/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-2021

Bob Dole Lived With a Disability for Decades. Here's How It Shaped His Life and Legacy

Bob Dole was just 21 years old when he suffered the injuries that would change his life. In April 1945, while stationed in Italy during WWII, the young soldier was struck by enemy fire. As a result of his wounds, Dole was permanently left without feeling in his right hand and arm, which measured more than two inches shorter than his left after reparative surgeries; part of his left hand was also left numb. Dole, who died on Sunday at the age of 98, would live with and be shaped by the aftermath of those injuries in the years that followed, including the 30 he spent as a U. S. senator from Kansas. While Dole, once a three sport athlete, was initially left despondent by his injuries, he went on to speak about his disabilities openly over the years. In a 1969 speech to the Senate, Dole spoke passionately about the challenges faced by those with disabilities, calling the community a minority group that “has always known exclusion; maybe not exclusion from the front of the bus, but perhaps from even climbing aboard it; maybe not exclusion from pursuing advanced education, but perhaps from experiencing any formal education; maybe not exclusion from day to day life itself, but perhaps from an adequate opportunity to develop and contribute to his or her fullest capacity. ” From then on, Dole worked to advance the rights and protections of individuals with disabilities, most notably through the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, a seminal piece of legislation that was meant to guarantee rights and improve the day to day lives of individuals with disabilities. Disability rights and advocacy were also part of Dole’s 1996 bid for president against incumbent Bill Clinton. “President Clinton says, ‘I share your pain,” Dole said at a campaign event that year. “I can say, ‘I feel your pain. ”Of course, Dole’s wounds affected more than his politics. In 1996, he detailed for the New York Times the ways in which they affected his daily life, from getting dressed to eating. And in an interview with Ability magazine, Dole said his disability changed the entire course of his life. “Having a disability changes your whole life, not just your attitude,” Dole said. “Prior to my injury I was a pretty good athlete, but afterwards I learned to apply myself more and made good grades for a change. ”That kind of total life adjustment is not uncommon, says Bill Fertig, director of the resource center at United Spinal Association, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of those with disabilities. “Each and every physical injury is different, regardless of what the diagnosis says, and each person experiences their loss differently,” says Fertig, who became paralyzed after a motorcycle accident about 20 years ago. “[But] the things that change are in your life, which then becomes a new part of your life. It’s the new normal. ”Michele Karel, a geriatric mental health specialist at the U. S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, says people have a huge capacity for adjustment, either after a catastrophic injury or during the normal course of aging. “Most of us imagine, ‘I could never live if I lost my vision, if I could no longer walk,” she says. “We don’t imagine we can adjust, but then we do. ”The stresses of a long term physical or cognitive disability can take their toll, and Karel says veterans who suffer catastrophic injuries are at higher risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. But generally, through treatment, most individuals do eventually learn to adjust, even if that means reevaluating goals and priorities. “If we have losses in some areas, it doesn’t mean we’ve lost everything,” Karel says. “We select the things that we’re good at, we select our strengths, and really optimize what we can do in those areas, and we learn to compensate for the areas that we struggle with. ”

https://time.com/5510675/bob-dole-disability/