Ideally, the 2020 pivot to work-from-home means remote work will extend beyond the pandemic. Charles Catherine, the associate director at the National Organization on Disability, thinks that knowing remote work is possible might encourage more companies to hire people with disabilities — in 2020, the unemployment rate for those with disabilities was 12.6 percent but 7.9 percent for those without disabilities.

Carol Glazer joined Spectrum NY1’s In Focus with Cheryl Wills to talk about the reasons why unemployment has hit this community so hard: they often work in low-paying, low-skilled jobs and are, as she says, the last to be hired and the first to be let go in difficult financial times.

“We do ourselves a disservice when we equivocate – when we do anything less than condemn racially based violence in the strongest terms possible. All of us must be unyielding when it comes to racism. It is the most American thing we can do.”

It is long past time to take this fair, commonsense step in the march to freedom for Americans with disabilities. By ensuring that the elimination of the sub-minimum wage remains part of his American Rescue Plan, President Biden can send a powerful message that all Americans, including those with disabilities, must have a chance to have the financial freedom and security we all desire.  

Congress is currently working on negotiating another COVID-19 package based on the provisions outlined in President Biden’s COVID-19 plan. Among his other priorities, President Biden also released a disability platform during his campaign. He is working to ensure that this platform is executed throughout his time in office.