Author: Amber Cecil

By Carolyn Johnson and Jorge Diaz | Published at 11:01 PM PST on Dec 24, 2017

California ranks 35th in the nation when it comes to employing people with disabilities, but a unique partnership here in Southern California is working to change that, providing young people the skills they need to enter the workforce and stay there.

Twenty-one-year-old Eden Rapp has Down Syndrome, but she is doing a job she loves, working at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center as an intern with Project Search.

The 30-week program is divided into three 10 week rotations, giving young people with disabilities the opportunity to explore various entry level jobs, from food services to administration and materials management.

“My favorite part of this rotation is being able to work at my tasks and being able to get it done,” Rapp says.

“Just as a worker, my goodness, she is the fastest worker I’ve ever seen,” says Gina Jones, nurse manager of labor and delivery at the hospital.

“She really does a great job and just always wants to do her best, always wants to do it right, asks questions, and just has an energy that is so nice to be around.”

Anthony Schmidt is learning what it takes to work in a stockroom.

“Sometimes I work on expiration dates, sometimes I take stuff out to the compactor,” Schmidt explains.

Project Search is a partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nonprofit Best Buddies and businesses like Kaiser Permanente, which are committed to disability inclusion in the workforce.

“Today, more than 80 percent of working age Americans with disabilities do not have employment,” says Ozzie Martinez, chief administrative officer at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center, where Rapp and Schmidt work.

Kaiser has partnered with the National Organization on Disability to create programs that make a difference in the lives of those with disabilities. Project Search is an example of an innovative approach to do just that. Martinez explains the interns rotate through different departments depending on their interests, trying out jobs they think might be a good fit.

In the past 6 years, more than 80 percent of Project Search interns who’ve taken part in the Project Search program at South Bay Medical Center have received full-time jobs with benefits at Kaiser or elsewhere.

Felipe Rosales was actually hired for a full-time job with Kaiser’s janitorial staff before he finished his first rotation.

“I tried my best to work hard, and I was so happy I got hired,” Rosales says, beaming with pride. “I’m saving my money to buy my own car.”

Memo Guzman was also hired before finishing his internship.

“My dream was to be a custodian since high school,” Guzman explains. For him, the best part of having a full time job is getting to help his family. “When I get paid, I sometimes just like to give some money to my mom to help her with anything.”

The program also teaches money management and financial skills.

“Memo said he’s going to help his family pay for the rent, but before he does it, he’s going to talk to the landlord and make sure things get repaired first. So they really understand and learn how the real world works through these programs,” says Gavin Mirigliani, assistant principal at LAUSD’s Willenberg Career and Transition Center.

Willenberg offers a four-year vocational program for special needs students after high school; for some students, that last year is spent as a Project Search intern.

The school provides various labs from culinary arts to graphic design where students learn and practice the skills they need for a job in the real world. But learning the so-called “hard skills” is only part of the process.

“We can get students jobs out in the community, but statistics show they can lose that in the first year because they don’t have those soft skills,” explains Mirigliani. “So that’s what we focus in on: their daily living skills, their hygiene skills, how to interact with coworkers.”

The school district also works closely with Best Buddies, which partners students with job coaches. “When they graduate at age 22 from Project Search,” Mirigliani says, “the Best Buddies job coaches stay with them for life.”

But it’s not just the young interns who benefit from Project Search. Ozzie Martinez describes a cultural shift at Kaiser as a result.

“These students are an inspiration. They come in, and they’re engaged, they’re excited to learn, and I think ultimately what they’ve done is created environments where our teams have become better,” says Martinez. “Their energy and their kindness has provided a culture of caring that’s taken us to a better place.”

The nurses Eden Rapp works with describe her evolution from a quiet, meek young woman into a confident, conscientious worker.

“It is a gift for us to see someone we helped develop grow into an individual who can go out and get a job,” says Sarah Ceja, NICU nurse manager. “She’s a blessing to have around.”

Clinical nurse specialist Nikisha Purnell agrees. “Eden keeps us grounded, which is awesome.”

Rapp acknowledges she’s grown and changed so much in just the first 10 weeks of the program.

“They taught me how to be patient. They helped me focus on what’s important, and they’ve taught me how to be a professional.”

Together they’re changing the course of their lives, with a work ethic and commitment to the job that inspires everyone around them.

For more information:

• Willenberg Career and Transition Center
• Project Search
• Best Buddies

View the video and article on the NBC-LA website.

Senators Casey, Duckworth & Reed Sponsor Session on Strategies for Increasing Employment for Those Who Serve

Carol Glazer, NOD President, today briefed U.S. Senate staff designed to address increasing employment opportunities for veterans. Glazer shared information on NOD’s veterans’ employment programs during “Employment Strategies for Veterans with Disabilities:  Supports and Strategies for Increasing Employment for Those Who Serve.”

The briefing, sponsored by Senators Bob Casey, Tammy Duckworth and Jack Reed, focused on the more than 1.3 million military personnel who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with disabling conditions over the last decade and a half. In 2006, the U.S. Army asked NOD to help troops returning from war plan and prepare for careers. The collaboration resulted in the Wounded Warriors Careers program, which has helped hundreds of seriously injured veterans find employment, access education or job training.

View employment best practices for veterans with disabilities.

 

“I am proud that Wounded Warriors Careers has helped so many veterans transition successfully to civilian life,” Glazer said.  “We have come to learn that the wasted talents and abilities of wounded veterans – and its impact on thousands of military families – is a completely preventable national tragedy.”

Of those veterans served by Wounded Warriors Careers, 70-percent were employed, in school or receiving job training when the program concluded, versus 30-40 percent of veterans not enrolled.  The program costs about $3,500 per veteran per year, Glazer said, adding that NOD has resources available for companies seeking to hire veterans with disabilities.

The Senate hearing also featured: Bill Murray, Director of Field Operations, Veterans’ Employment and Training Services, U.S. Dept. of Labor; Susan Prokop, Senior Associate Director of Advocacy, Paralyzed Veterans of America; and Master Sergeant Herrick Ross, (retired), Senior Talent Advisor, Military and Refugees, Starbucks.

View employment best practices for veterans with disabilities.

Judith Ohikuare | October 18, 2017, 2:20 PM

Last year, just 17.9% of people with a disability were employed, compared to 65.3% of people without a disability. While the overall unemployment rate for the U.S. has dropped to under 5% in recent years, it stayed pretty much the same for those with a disability, at 10.5%.

People with disabilities are more likely to be jobless, work part-time, or be self-employed than those without disabilities. To better understand what these workers face, the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI) recently released an expansive, global study analyzing this demographic — “a talent pool that many companies neglect.”

In 2016, the United States Justice Department finalized a broader, federal definition of what qualifies as having a disability. The new amendment recognizes a wider group of people who live and work with visible and, as CTI calls it, “invisible” disabilities.

The result in the U.S. is that workplaces will be tasked with responding to an influx of people who classify as having a disability — or confront the fact that many people with disabilities continue to be shut out. Here’s a snapshot of the challenges that CTI’s study participants presented.

Millennials Are More Likely To Be On Record As Having A Disability

CTI finds that under the new federal guidelines, “30% of white-collar workers actually meet the US government’s definition for having a disability.” Although nearly half of all people with a disability are age 65 and up (per BLS), CTI found that specifically among working Americans employees with disabilities were more likely to be millennials. The organization chalks this up to two key areas: greater access to education, and increased rate of diagnoses.

“Thanks in part to support and accessibility of schools mandated by the ADA, more people with disabilities are completing college than ever before — an effect that is strongest among Millennials who completed their education post-ADA,” the study’s authors write. “Second, increasing diagnosis rates of certain conditions — mood disorders like depression, learning disabilities like dyslexia, developmental differences like autism, and other forms of neurodiversity — also contribute to a higher proportion of disability in the Millennial white-collar workforce.”

Many Workers Choose Not To Disclose Their Disability

CTI writes that the National Organization on Disability reports “on average that 3.2% of their workforces are employees with disabilities.” The study’s authors attribute low disclosure rates to workers not realizing they can be considered to have a disability under the new federal guidelines. And, more intentionally, many employees with disabilities “are counseled by family, friends, even employment attorneys, to avoid disclosing their disabilities—for fear of discrimination and other negative repercussions.”

People who do choose to disclose generally do so on a “need-to-know” basis, with the people they interact with most.

Many workers who are reluctant to say anything fear alienation, especially in corporate, white-collar settings. CTI found that employees with disabilities were equally (and sometimes more) ambitious as those without. Seventy-five percent of employees with disabilities said they “have an idea they thought would drive value for their companies, [and] of these employees, 48% say this idea would serve the disability market” — which would possibly create needed solutions.

However, many employees feared that disclosing their conditions could “at worst, stall their progression.”

One-Third Of Workers With Disability Face Discrimination

Thirty-four percent of CTI’s survey respondents with disabilities said they have experienced discrimination or bias while working at their current companies. Employees with visible disabilities were more likely to encounter such bias. Aside from “outright” bias, employees with disabilities also face exclusion at work.

That exclusion generally manifested in four ways: misjudgment (underestimating their intelligence, assuming they are more junior in the organization than they actually are); insults (badmouthing, telling jokes at their expense, talking behind their backs); avoidance (avoiding looking them in the eye or talking to them); and discomfort (staring, seeming nervous).

For many in this group, the cost was feeling disengaged, frustrated, and pessimistic about their prospects. “Even though employees with disabilities are as likely to report being ambitious as employees without disabilities (80% vs. 79%), they’re more likely to feel stalled in their careers,” CTI wrote. “Even more disturbing, nearly half of employees with disabilities (47%) say they’ll never rise to positions of power at their companies, no matter how well they perform.”

Employees with disabilities face a number of challenges, but many of them also talked about having confidence in their abilities to be problem solvers and be assets to their companies, if given a fair chance. Every workplace is different, but CTI outlined some suggestions for where employers can start to make a difference, from including having disability as a measure of their “overall diversity focus,” and designing office spaces and providing tech tools “that have been designed with users with disabilities in mind.” (Not to mention, bringing up the topic of accommodations during the onboarding process.)

“When there was a conference up a flight of stairs that I couldn’t reach with my wheelchair, they moved it to the ground floor for me,” one survey respondent, a millennial manager in accounting, told CTI. Another worker, an employee at Unilever said it was a “big help” when their managers made it “very clear that you can provide value even if you don’t come into the office every day.”

Read on Refinery29.com

By RACHEL LAYNE MONEYWATCH October 16, 2017, 5:45 AM

How many people in your office have a disability?

If you’re in the US, about 30 percent of college-educated employees working full time in white-collar jobs have some kind of disability under the federal definition that was expanded last year, a new study from the Center for Talent Innovation found. That’s almost one in three employees.

That’s far more than the 3.2 percent that “self-identify” to employers tracked by the National Organization on Disability, according to the study, which the CTI said is the first of its kind.

What’s more, 62 percent of employees with disabilities have the “invisible” kind, that is, people can’t tell from just looking at them.

More than one-third said they’ve experienced discrimination, or “negative bias.” That can mean assumptions like they lack skills needed for a certain assignment, or they’ll take too long to do a task, for instance. Those with visible disabilities fared worse, with 44 percent reporting discrimination, while 40 percent with some signs of disability saw discrimination.

“It’s complicated for people to be spending a lot of time to try and manage a condition working with, say, chronic migraines every day when they could easily manage that condition with different lighting at their desk, but are afraid to ask,” said Julia Taylor Kennedy, executive vice president and director of publications at CTI.

It’s no wonder just 21 percent of people with disabilities tell human resource departments they have a disability, according to the survey. About 39 percent tell their managers. That can frustrate employers that want to make adjustments so people can do their jobs well, according to the survey.

Employees with disabilities are even more ambitious than those without, the study found. About 80 percent consider themselves to be very ambitious compared to 79 percent of those without a disability. But having a disability can also get in the way of building a career. Of those surveyed, 57 percent report feeling “stalled” compared to 44 percent of those without disabilities, according to the study.

That means employers, too, are losing out on growth when they neglect to create an atmosphere that allows everyone to fully participate, Taylor Kennedy said.

“It’s costly for employers to have employees that can’t contribute to their full potential. It’s costly to have employees who are afraid of sharing their ideas because they know they might face bias or stigma from their colleagues,” she said.

Another finding: Millennials make up 33 of employees with disabilities. That compares to 27 percent among Gen-X and 29 percent for baby boomers.

The higher numbers are likely for two reasons, the study says. One, millennials are the first generation to go through school under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that means more are making their way through college. Second, it’s likely tied to the rates of diagnosis for some conditions — like dyslexia, depression or forms of autism — that weren’t previously used.

The researchers used disclosure, defined as telling someone you have a disability of any kind, formally or informally. That’s different than to “self-identify,” which typically means checking a box when dealing with an employer survey.

For the US portion of the study, researchers asked 3,570 employees in white-collar professions between the ages of 21 and 65 the same series of questions asked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Researchers also asked about chronic illnesses, such as cancer or Parkinson’s, and if those conditions posed challenges to career or work, along with other questions that disclosed disabilities, yielding the higher numbers.

The report included a look at  Brazil, Germany, India, Japan and the UK and how they differ from the US because multinational companies also need to know how to not only comply with the laws in their operations outside the US, but also address cultural differences, Taylor Kennedy said.

CTI also oversees something called The Task Force, a group of more than 80 global corporations and organizations representing nearly 6 million employees in 192 countries that aim to act on its study findings, according to the CTI website.

The disability report includes strategy examples from CTI members, including from companies such as Accenture (ACN), Bloomberg, and Unilever (UL). Organizations with expertise in employing people with disabilities like the US Business Leadership Network and Lime Connect also offer suggestions in the report.

Read at CBS News MoneyWatch

Alicia “AJ” Petross is a leader in diversity and inclusion.  As Senior Director Global Culture, Diversity and Inclusion, and Engagement at The Hershey Company, AJ  has a track record of success in building trust throughout the organization and leading new and exciting approaches to diversity and inclusion. Because of Hershey’s exemplary employment practices for people with disabilities, the National Organization on Disability recently named the company a 2017 NOD Leading Disability Employer.

NOD recently sat down with AJ to find out what drives her passion for workplace inclusion—and how Hershey’s is leading the way.

1. What led you to choose a career in diversity & inclusion?

From a young age, I remember my father helping a relative of ours to gain employment. She suffered from narcolepsy and was plagued by psychiatric boarding even though her disability was manageable. My father removed her from facilities by finding her employment, which meant she could regain independence. Having a job meant everything. The opportunity to earn a living is vital for everyone of working age. Having a disability should not prevent people from being employed. Seeing her journey was a powerful experience, one that stayed with me and influenced my career decades later.

2. What influences your commitment to diversity, as you continue to build a culture of inclusion at Hershey?

At Hershey, diversity and inclusion is a commitment that is ingrained in who we are. It’s about advancing our vision, our culture, and our environment so everyone can bring a meaningful contribution to the table. We have comprehensive strategies for diversity representation and retention and for making diversity a cornerstone of our corporate reputation.

We cannot be innovative without diversity of thought.  That’s why the diversity of our C-Suite is intentional. Changing demographics, socio-economic trends, technology and globalization are converging on our workplace and marketplace like never before – and 85 percent of consumer-packaged goods purchases are made by women. At Hershey, our gender representation in C-suite roles is peer-leading and very influential to inclusion at our company. Women are at the helm of The Hershey Company’s most profitable businesses and hold powerful C-Suite positions. Examples include: Michele Buck, who became the company’s first female CEO earlier this year, other top ranks such as our Chief Financial Officer Patricia Little and General Counsel Leslie Turner and the leaders of the Hershey’s and Reese’s brands, Melinda Lewis and Veronica Villasenor.

As important as the diverse perspectives of our C-Suite are, we’ve learned that their actions continue to improve the diversity and inclusion of our workforce. Diversity, inclusion, and culture are incorporated throughout our company strategic plans, our corporate vision and values, and our global Hershey leadership behaviors. We will continue to use this foundation as we advance our culture of inclusion at Hershey.

3. What impact has Hershey’s inclusive efforts made on the neighboring community? The company?

Hershey dedicates time and attention to civil, human rights and social justice issues. Most recently, efforts in this space resulted in a facilitated dialogue session with local business and civic leaders to discuss the marginalization some have experienced in the local community and at the national level. The dialogue focused on reaffirming our commitment to fostering a culture of respect, safety and acceptance within the greater Hershey community.

Whether hosting Former Pennsylvania Governor and National Organization on Disability Chairman Tom Ridge for a disability awareness education session with employees or signing Hershey’s commitment for the Federal Equality Act, we work to ensure we are actively committed in our attention to civil rights, human rights, and social justice issues.

Another example includes our participation in President Obama’s White House Equal Pay Pledge, First Job Compact, and Fair Chance Pledge, which highlighted Hershey’s commitment to creating a contemporary workplace. Through these initiatives, we built a commitment to equal pay for equal work, giving more people opportunities to gain experience in the workforce and eliminating unnecessary employment barriers.

Hershey’s investment in the communities where we do business is important and enduring. I am proud to work for a company that is visibly committed to inclusion.

4. Why is it important for The Hershey Company to support the National Organization on Disability? Can you share an example of any programs that support disabilities?

The Hershey Company has been a proud member of the National Organization on Disability’s Corporate Leadership Council for 5 years.  We value our partnership because NOD is a leader in disability inclusion. Hershey’s purpose is bringing goodness to one another and to the world.  As I mentioned earlier, being able to be employed regardless of ability is essential.

Another example is our partnership with Susquehanna Service Dogs, which trains service dogs on the company’s campus.  This raises awareness on our campus, which contributes to our “disability friendly” environment.

5. What’s next in Hershey’s commitment to diversity & inclusion?

Hershey is partnering with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation on a Food Manufacturing Training Curriculum for Individuals with Disabilities. We are in discussions about developing programs that expand our pipelines for qualified candidates for potential hiring into manufacturing roles and retail positions at Chocolate World. Our hope is that our partnership will drive disability hiring in food manufacturing beyond The Hershey Company across Central Pennsylvania.

Learn more about The Hershey Company.