A recent proclamation by President Obama calls on the nation to recognize and support the significance of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. So why am I not more excited?
- Policy needs to support people with disabilities in efforts to obtain & retain employment.
- October is Disability Employment Awareness Month.
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Read The Presidential ProclamationI am well aware that October is Disability Employment Awareness Month. In fact, in my role as Managing Director of SPR’s nAblement channel, I have been very engaged in one manner or another during each of the past 5 Octobers to recognize and call attention to this considering how aligned it is with the delivery of professionals with disabilities into technology opportunities.
For example, I will be helping to support a week-long virtual job fair with Abilitylinks, a long-time collaborative partner, focused around this rite of October.
In my role as Board President of National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA), I wanted to make a supportive comment regarding its significance to our mission - supporting the highest possible quality of life for anyone in our nation living with spinal cord injury or disease - and innumerable references to it have come across my laptop over the past week or two.
Yet, I have to admit I feel a bit underwhelmed at the commencement of Disability Awareness Employment Month, maybe because I live this premise every day. This is my focus, this is my driver, this is my passion. The President’s Proclamation is strong and clear, but I don’t feel a formal release - even from The White House - changes the state of the state around disability and employment. The real change will only come generation by generation among those of us living with disability, educators and other key influencers of our preparedness for success in a very competitive and often hard-bitten workplace, and employers themselves. And that means that public policy needs to support people with disabilities in their efforts to secure, and retain, employment.
We need the perfect storm of drive and determination by people with disabilities to gain their education and degrees to consider a career, our educational system to insist on setting the same bar for all students and then committing to supporting achievement across the spectrum, and our employer community to overcome its inherent and often ill-informed perspective that people with disabilities are, to at least a significant extent, less capable, productive and driven than the general candidate base.
I for one will be hoping that this October kicks off the tempest that may finally culminate in real change in “career” opportunities for qualified candidates with disabilities in our nation.
Patrick Maher,
President, National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA)
Managing Director, nAblement
