Each October, The Arc joins the national disability community and public and private sector employers in celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). The campaign sheds light on critical issues in disability employment and promotes best practices in hiring employees with disabilities and creating inclusive workplaces.

This year’s theme “The Right Talent, Right Now” recognizes the contributions of people with disabilities to the workforce, and challenges employers looking to hire leading creative minds and top-tier talent to consider the disability community, one of the largest and least utilized labor markets. According to the US Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate for people with disabilities is roughly twice that of people without disabilities (7.2% vs. 3.6%), a gap which has remained static for years. Paradoxically, research shows hiring people with disabilities can significantly bolster productivity, boost creative thinking and problem-solving, and positively impact the bottom line.

In order to narrow this gap, The Arc@Work — The Arc’s national employment program — partners with employers nationwide to create meaningful and inclusive employment opportunities for people with disabilities. To date, they have placed over 1,000 individuals in gainful and competitive jobs in the community. The Arc@Work leads trainings and corporate education events to promote greater understanding of disability issues, enhance workplace inclusion and accessibility, and to share the positive outcomes of hiring people of different abilities.

“The most important element to an employer’s success at hiring people with disabilities is understanding the value and significance to their workforce,” said Jonathan Lucus, Senior Director of Workforce Initiatives at The Arc. “We work with our clients to look at the whole picture and realize that hiring jobseekers with disabilities isn’t just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. We are celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month by spreading this message far and wide so that jobseekers with disabilities in communities across the country can get a fair shot at meaningful employment.”

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