Mar/110
Disability News: Federal Budget Changes for 2012
President Obama has led America through one of the most challenging economic climates since the early 1900s. While far from recovery, both the President and the American public remain hopeful that the worst has passed. To aid in recovery, the President has described several changes to the Federal budget that will help to spur growth in the areas of education, infrastructure, and innovation. President Obama has remained loyal to his Executive Orders and other heartfelt words that support those Americans with disabilities, and the Federal budget for 2012 reflects it.
Federal Spending in 2012
The Federal budget has been announced for 2012. Disability employers will see several changes in Federal spending; those with disabilities, as well as their advocates and caregivers, will be happy to note the following expenditures:
Increased Budget for Disability Research: The 2012 Federal budget includes over $100 million dedicated exclusively to the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research, or NIDRR. The NIDRR actively conducts research initiatives aimed at expanding the inclusion and employment of those with disabilities. Of the $100 million that will be directed to the NIDRR in 2012, $10 million will be designated to further computing intiatives that utilize the Internet to decrease the barriers of accessibility faced by some 20% of Americans with disabilities.
Increased IDEA State Grants: $200 million has been pledged to provide education grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This will help public high schools accommodate children with disabilities to ensure all children receive an equal opportunity to learn.
Disability Employment Initiative: The new Federal budget will also designate $24 million to the Department of Labor to construct centers to better help individuals with disabilities find and retain employment opportunities.
Independent Living Program Grants: $103 million of the 2012 Federal budget will provide grants for Independent Living Programs provide independent living services to individuals with disabilities. Additionally, $34 million will be provided exclusively to organizations that provide independent living services to the blind. Most noteworthy, $556 billion will be awarded to investments that seek to increase access to public transportation systems for Americans with disabilities.
Increase Anti-Discrimination Oversight: The new budget provides $18 million in funding to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to aid in enforcing the civil rights protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. These two landmark pieces of legislation make it a Federal crime to discriminate against job applicants and employees on the grounds of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religious affiliation, or gender.
Disability training is likely to expand in 2011 and 2012 as many Federal agencies, private investors, and state governments receive Federal funding to increase accessibility and equal opportunity in the workplace. These Federal budget changes reflect a rising concern for inclusion in American society, and further illustrate the Federal government’s steadfast commitment to raising disability awareness and decreasing unemployment among Americans with disabilities.
Source: U.S. President’s Disability Budget, made available at http://www.guerillaadvocate.com
Dec/100
Disability Employment and Work Leave
Organizations do not hire individuals because of what they cannot do. Instead, individuals are hired for their skills, potential, and character. Disability employers know this first hand, hiring individuals because of their abilities rather than their disabilities. These employers see the value of diversity, recognizing that a richly varied group of individuals contributes more to production and innovation than does a homogeneous group. These workplaces build strong foundations for success through ongoing disability education for employees, managers, and other business leaders.
Diverse workplaces must also accommodate workers with disabilities, providing work leave for qualified individuals. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, individuals who become injured, disabled, or ill during their usual scope of employment may be entitled to disability work leave. Entitlement depends on the circumstances under which the worker suffers injury or illness. Moreover, claims are guided by two main Federal laws: the Americans with Disability Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Americans with Disability Act
The Americans with Disability Act prohibits employers from discriminating against those with disabilities in all employment-related activities including recruitment, advancement, pay adjustments, and benefits (i). The ADA does not specifically require employers to provide medical or disability leave. Rather, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities, if those accommodations are necessary to perform their job. Here, disability leave may constitute an accommodation necessary for a worker with a disability to perform their job. A typical example includes the modification of a work schedule to accommodate the rehabilitation of an injured employee.
Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act is a Federal piece of legislation designed to assist workers in maintaining both workplace and domestic responsibilities. Covered individuals may take a leave of up to 12 weeks without pay for serious health conditions (ii). The scope of the term serious health conditions is broad and includes pregnancy, illness, impairments, and physical or mental conditions that require multiple absences.
Other state-level laws and provisions also come into play when employees seek disability leave. Businesses must remain compliant with all applicable laws on both the state and Federal level. Disability resources are the best solution for managing such compliance issues, providing information about state laws, Federal legislation, and the overlapping of the two. Such resources develop employer relations and aid in creating reasonable and lawful business policies.
(i) http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/employ.htm
(ii) See above.
Nov/102
Disability Products for Soft Skills and Sensitivity Training
Soft Skills Training and Sensitivity Training are rapidly becoming integral pieces of most organizational development programs. Internally, these training methods help disability employers to train employees with disabilities to overcome many of the everyday obstacles they may face. The benefit of Soft Skills and Sensitivity Training is not limited to the internal aspects of a business, however. Sensitivity training, for example, develops employee skill sets to interact with persons with disabilities who may be external agents, customers, or friends of an organization.
Soft Skills Training
Soft Skills are related to the EQ, or Emotional Intelligence Quotient, of an individual. EQ can be measured along the dimensions of a person’s open-mindedness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and level of narcissism, to name a few. These skills are thought to be strong determinants of individual success within an organization. For example, the success of a sales associate may hinge upon their ability to be open minded and conscientious of their prospects more so than their knowledge of the goods they sell.
For disability employers, helping employees to develop soft skills can be key ingredients in increasing productivity and worker efficacy. Disability products that help individuals to get along with others, find passion in work, and maintain punctuality pay great dividends when leveraged within disability training programs.
Sensitivity Training
As the name implies, Sensitivity Training aims to make individuals aware of the prejudices the hold so they may become more aware, or sensitive, of others. Sensitivity training further helps individuals to develop proper etiquette when interacting with others, especially peers with disabilities. This type of training is ideal for inclusive work environments as well as businesses that provide goods or services to those with disabilities.
Soft Skills and Sensitivity Training are two methods of disability education that are becoming invaluable. The former augments the level of success an employee may reach, and the latter promotes effective internal and external collaboration. When properly cultivated, these workplace skills can greatly increase the productivity, efficiency, and community goodwill of an organization.
Nov/105
Disability Education: Psychiatric Disabilities in the Workplace
One of the most difficult tasks faced by disability employers of almost every industry is developing an environment in which employees with disabilities can receive the individual support they need to work effectively. Much of this battle is fighting the preconceived ideas that current employees, managers, and even customers may hold regarding those with mental and physical disabilities.
When we think of providing equal employment opportunity to those with disabilities, individuals with physical disabilities almost always come to mind first. However, we must expand our perceptions to encompass individuals with mental disabilities as well. We must further our ideas of what may or may not be considered a disability to also include psychiatric disabilities. Psychiatric disabilities are often disregarded when organizations consider disability employment; individuals who suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are sometimes overlooked during an organization’s efforts to employ disability training and education. However, an estimated 26 percent of Americans over the age of 18 suffer from a mental disorder, providing impetus for businesses to utilize disability education to better understand these conditions (i).
Program Development Associates has a number of resources to help build employer relations among an organization and potential prospects. Organizations interested in developing programs aimed specifically at spreading awareness of psychiatric disabilities will find the Accommodating Employees with Psychiatric Disabilities DVD an invaluable resource. This closed captioned DVD uses a diverse cast of 27 different characters to explore the workplace needs of individuals with six major disabilities: Depression, anxiety, chemical dependency, bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and psychiatric expressive disorder.
Disability education products are perhaps the best supplement to an organization’s disability training initiatives. These interactive products are capable of engaging large audiences, making them ideal for educating sizable groups of employees and management teams. Specific products can be utilized when training to accommodate individuals with psychiatric disabilities in particular. Such resources help to spread awareness and build cohesion among employees, two key ingredients to long term productivity.
(i) http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml
