Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
Every October carries National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and this year it runs under the theme Celebrating Value and Talent, timed to the nation's 250th birthday and to the contributions American workers make. The month asks the country to look straight at the talent Workers with Disabilities bring to their jobs, nationwide. Employment has never been only a paycheck. A job carries purpose, independence, and the chance to be valued as the person you already are.
Recognition came late and moved slowly. It started in 1945 as a single week, and only Workers with Physical Disabilities counted. October did not become the whole month until 1988. Forty three years sit between those two dates, and the distance was closed by people who removed barriers and refused the doubts stacked against what Workers with Disabilities can do. Those doubts were the obstacle, and removing them took decades of advocacy.
The people doing the work were asked why working matters, and they answered for themselves. Noah meets new people on the job, and the work keeps him busy rather than leaving him without direction. Rachel works with people who bring a positive attitude and say kind things, and with new managers who answer her questions, and she calls it the best job she has ever had. Abby is part of her community through work, contributes to others, and belongs to a team, and her wages buy the things she loves, coffee included. One person is proud of working hard and being named employee of the month. Another, holding two jobs, says both feel like family.
Give someone a place to work and you have given them a place to belong. The article's last point carries the rest: work strengthens relationships, it gives purpose and belonging, and it puts a small luxury like a cup of coffee within reach. That is why a job someone is truly included in is a route to a better life and not simply a job. Good intentions are not the standard here. Access built in from the start is, and awareness is where most of us stop, which is the gap between what these workers describe and what our own programs currently offer.
This October the article asks us in, to the work of making the future inclusive, and for us that work sits in the roles we write into our own programs, events, and services. The workers here already said what makes a role worth having: purpose, a team to belong to, a chance to contribute to others, and being valued as the person you already are. Roles built to carry those four things are how Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities for People with Disabilities actually get made.
A role built that way is a place to belong, and offering one is entirely within our reach.
Read the Full Article: Helping hands: Why National Disability Employment Awareness Month matters.
By: Mo Ortbal and Rick Alcantara
