Innovation Lab
The vast majority of people with disabilities can and want to work. Yet, more than 25 years after the passage of the Americans with Disability Act, only one in five Americans with disabilities holds a job.
As companies increasingly seek out people with disabilities as part of a diverse and productive workforce—incentivized by labor shortages, regulatory requirements, and the recognition that diversity of backgrounds and perspectives drive growth and value—new approaches to talent sourcing, accommodations, inclusion and advancement are needed.
Through our Disability Employment Innovation Lab, the National Organization on Disability partners with leading employers and educational and philanthropic institutions to design and pilot innovative approaches to disability inclusion, evaluate them, and share leading practices for broader impact.
Below are examples of NOD innovations.
CAMPUS TO CAREERS
Just one in four college graduates with disabilities are working across the U.S. Our nation’s universities have become increasingly skilled at ensuring accommodations on campus for students with disabilities, however, most are not as equipped at preparing students with disabilities for the workforce or connecting these grads to hiring employers.
Leading Disability Employer Seal
The NOD Leading Disability Employers Seal is an annual, public recognition designed to applaud those organizations that are leading the way in disability hiring and encourage additional companies to tap into the many benefits of employing talent with disabilities.
Bridges To Business
Nearly four in ten companies report difficulty identifying qualified candidates with disabilities; and two out of three cite a lack of such candidates as a barrier to hiring. Companies report challenges finding and retaining employees with disabilities; and confusion about what organizations to work with to solve this problem, and how.
Wounded Warrior Careers
With returning veterans struggling to transition to the civilian workforce, in 2007, the US Army asked the National Organization on Disability to design a program to address the career needs of the most severely injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Start On Success
American high school students with a disability are nearly as likely to enter the juvenile justice system as they are to engage in a career. How do we ensure they end up on the right path?