VABIR

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Labor (DOL’s) Office of Disability Employment Policy are pleased to announce a day of hiring people with disabilities. Learn more about the Federal Hiring Event for People with Disabilities on April 26, held in Washington, DC, by visiting www.USAJOBS.gov/DisabilityHiringEvent.asp. Prospective applicants can find information [...]

by Dan Lawton Disaboom
As the war in Iraq winds down and the conflict in Afghanistan expands, U.S. forces are continuing to experience record cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 
Recent statistics show that more than 90,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD, a figure that accounts for approximately 23 percent of those who seek care with the [...]

 by Kim Donahue, Disaboom.
 Ticket to Work Program SSDI and SSI The Ticket to Work Program is an innovative program from the Social Security Administration for individuals with disabilities who want to work. It increases your choices in obtaining the employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, and other support services you may need to get or keep [...]

Finding and retaining dedicated, hardworking employees is a top concern for all employers, regardless of size or industry. Yet, a significant source of skilled, reliable employees remains largely untapped: people with disabilities.
Individuals with disabilities possess many unique attributes, most markedly the flexibility to adapt to different situations and changing circumstances. Perhaps more than any other [...]

H1N1 Information from the White House

From the White House (10/15/09): 
H1N1 Information
Please circulate widely to friends, family members, co-workers, members of your organizations, etc.
As we enter flu season this fall, here are some important resources to help protect your families and communities from the 2009 H1N1 virus. This new virus is affecting a younger population, hitting [...]

Correctly done, informational interviews can give you valuable information to use in your next job search and leave a good impression on your interviewee. This turnabout on the traditional interview process has you, the student and/or job seeker, posing questions to someone on the corporate ladder in your chosen field to gather information.
What is [...]

As hiring freezes expand and layoffs continue, jobs for people with disabilities are scarce. If you’re on the hunt for work, there are a number of things you can do to increase your chance of landing a job.
1. Network, Network Network
One of the biggest misconceptions of jobseekers is that the job process starts by [...]

Mar 02, 2009
MOVE IT! Join the Movement to End Multiple Sclerosis Now – MS Awareness Week March 2-8, 2009
 
MS Awareness Week March 2 – 8 is the time for the nation to go orange and Move It to end multiple sclerosis, a disease where someone is newly diagnosed each hour. Supported by a Congressional Resolution, [...]

“We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination…. policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and buildings and organizations must be designed to ensure that everyone has a chance to get the education they need and live independently as full citizens in their communities.”
– Barack Obama, April 11, 2008
Barack Obama [...]

Autism Screening Tops Obama’s Medical To-Do List

Autism tops Barack Obama’s medical to-do list, according to the new president’s website. Whitehouse.gov launched at 12:01 pm yesterday, even before the new president had taken his oath of office on the Capitol’s West Front. Autism is the only disorder or disease mentioned explicitly in Obama’s 24-point agenda. Heart [...]

Technology and disability may be linked, but technology doesn’t always catch up to the needs of people with disabilities. Cell phones are a great example. Manufacturers of these handy devices only recently added features that allow easier access to people with poor vision.
What about MP3 players? None of them provide verbal cues for menu [...]

Watch for more lawsuits alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act now that a new law amending the ADA has gone into effect as of Jan. 1.  Over the last decade, the Supreme Court had substantially narrowed the number of people eligible for legal protection under the act. The new statute, passed by Congress [...]

Recession’s Bite Hits Americans With Disabilities Extra Hard
They “tend to be the last hired and first fired,” says one advocate
By Amanda Ruggeri
Posted December 5, 2008
The recession’s crunch on jobs, wallets, and egos is hitting one group of Americans—those with disabilities—particularly hard.
“People with disabilities tend to be the last hired and the first fired,” says [...]

Disabled Veterans Inspired by Athletics
New VA Pilot Program Encourages Disabled Army Veterans to Surf and Cycle
By AUDREY GRAYSON
ABC News Medical Unit
Oct. 19, 2008
Army veteran Michael Fradera, 30, was the victim of an IED explosion that completely demolished the vehicle he was traveling in outside of Baghdad in August 2007.

Fradera woke up three days [...]

IDEA’S IMPACT
Thirty Years of Progress in Educating Children with Disabilities Through IDEA

Lee is a young man with autism whose achievements belie his disability. An African-American graduate of a public high school, Lee was valedictorian of his class, went on to college, earned a degree and entered the world of work. Lee is one [...]

Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act is Signed
President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA) of 2008. The ADAAA ensures that the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act will once again be available to the many people with mental or phyical disabilities who need them.
Enacted after lengthy negotiations, the ADAAA overturns several Supreme [...]

What is the ADA?
The ADA is a federal civil rights law that was passed in 1990 and went into effect beginning in 1992. Its purpose is to protect people with disabilities from discrimination in employment (Title I), in the programs and activities offered by state and local governments (Title II), and in accessing the goods [...]

Abilities ~ Promoting the employment of Vermont citizens of all abilities
September 2008 – Vol 2, Issue 4
Dear Friends ~   Celebrating Deaf Awareness Week
This week – the last full week in September – is Deaf Awareness Week.  It is held in commemoration of the first World Congress of the Deaf that was held that week in [...]

DOVER – Because of his severe autism, the cost of educating 5-year-old Jack Ursitti runs $100,000 a year. But unlike expenses with most medical conditions, the bills for treating him will be borne by Dover schools and the rural town’s taxpayers – not his family’s medical insurance.
Now, the nation’s largest autism advocacy group, Autism Speaks, [...]

Save The Date: WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15, 2008 – Disability Mentoring Day™ is a large-scale, broad-based effort designed to promote career development for students and other job seekers with disabilities (mentees) through hands-on career exploration, job shadowing, and internship or employment opportunities, and matching of mentee/mentor relationships. Disability Mentoring Day: Career Development for the 21st Century, will be commemorated on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 as the official kick-off for a year-round effort.

The national percentage of people of working age with disabilities who are employed continues to hover around 37%, compared with 80% for their peers without disabilities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). However, according to the Harris Poll (2004), 67% of people with disabilities who are not currently working would like to be (Dixon, Kurse, & Van Horn, 2003).

Negative attitudes toward employees with disabilities can result in discrimination (Scope, 2003, Shapiro, 1994). Companies, agencies, and organizations are composed of individuals with their own attitudes and beliefs about people with disabilities. Co-workers will draw conclusions regarding the people with whom they work. Supervisors and management staff will make decisions that affect employees. The individual choices that people make regarding the hiring of people with disabilities can be guided by their attitudes (Hernandez, Keys & Balcazar, 2000). The 1999 President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities pointed out that, regarding employment, “often, the most difficult barriers to overcome are attitudes other people carry regarding people with disabilities” (p. 2).

Each year, thousands of military personnel stationed around the world leave active duty and seek to return to jobs they held before entering the service or look to find their first, or new, civilian jobs. According to government statistics, between October 2001 and February, 2008, more than 30,000(1) veterans returned home with service-connected disabilities (e.g., amputations, burns, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injuries).(2)