National Disability Employment
Awareness Month
"Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation."
October is designated as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. This year, the Department of Defense theme is "Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation." This theme not only reflects the aspirations and sincere hope of the 54 million people in the United States who have at least one disability, it also urges employers to embrace the richness of America's diversity by considering the talents of all workers.
People with disabilities constitute the nation's largest minority group. Any one of us can become disabled and become part of this group at any given time. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Americans with disabilities increased 25 percent, becoming the fastest growing minority group. Over 65 percent of working-age adults with disabilities are unemployed and of those that are employed, nearly one third earn an income below the poverty level.
The federal government defines the term disability as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. A targeted disability is a severe disability that the federal government has identified for special emphasis for employment purposes. Targeted disabilities include: deafness; blindness; missing extremities; partial paralysis; complete paralysis; convulsive disorders; mental illness; and distortion of limb and/or spine.
The federal government has set a goal to assure that 2% of our workforce is comprised of persons with targeted disabilities by 2010. In FY08, 0.88% of the federal workforce was classified as having targeted disabilities. In FY08, DoDEA reported 0.24% of the total workforce as having a targeted disability. As you can see the federal government, including the DoDEA, has quite a way to go towards reaching the 2% goal. Of particular concern federal-wide is that the participation rate of persons with disabilities keeps going down. Accordingly, this year, President Obama plans to reinstate an executive order, originally introduced by President Clinton, to hire 100,000 federal employees with targeted disabilities.
During this month, we pay tribute to the accomplishments of the men and women with disabilities who have paved the way and worked hard to do their part to keep America safe, strong, and committed to ensure that we can all be full participants regardless of our differences and difficulties. As stated in this year's theme, it is important for all persons with disabilities to expect to be full participants in the workplace. We hope that employers will provide the right opportunities so that full participation of persons with disabilities in the workforce will become a reality. In order for that to happen, we need to get involved and take action today. We can reach our goal of 2% one step at a time only if everyone becomes an active participant now.
Employees are encourage to participate in any upcoming disability training events, workshops, disability related committees, recruitment efforts, as well as ceremonies designed to celebrate the accomplishments of our valued employees who happen to have a disability.
