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Employment Stories Wanted!

/in /by The Arc

The Alliance for Full Participation, an organization of which The Arc is proud to be a founder and partner to help increase employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), is seeking short videos telling stories of integrated employment for people with IDD. These can be success stories, job searches in progress, or stories about a job that didn’t work out. We are looking for videos and stories from people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; employers; direct support providers; family members; co-workers—all those who have an employment story to share.

How to Share

Keep it simple, short (about 2 minutes) and to the point. Whether you’re using an expensive camera, a smart phone, or something in between to shoot your story, try to keep the camera steady and balanced. Use a tripod if you can. If you don’t have an external microphone, try to have the speaker close to the camera so the audio will be clear.

Include visuals that show your story—you working at your job, looking for a job, the people you work with, etc. Try not to make a “talking head” video that only shows one person talking. Be creative, and most importantly, HAVE FUN! This is your chance to share your story with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of viewers.

A lot of time people want to share a lot of facts in their videos, like where they work, how long they’ve been working somewhere, how many hours they work, and the exact tasks they do. Facts are important, but feelings help make a good story. Make sure you are telling how the employment experience makes you feel.

Once you have created your video, create an email. In the email message, include your name and email address. If you want, you can also include a brief description of the video. Attach your video file to the email and send to: df6w0q165cv4@m.youtube.com

This will automatically upload the video to the AFP YouTube Channel.

NOTE: YOUR VIDEO FILE SIZE MUST BE SMALLER THAN 25MB.

If the video file size is bigger than 25MB, contact Carol Walsh cwalsh@allianceforfullparticipation.org and she will coordinate with you.

The AFP YouTube channel is located at: https://www.youtube.com/user/RealJobsAFP

A national team of reviewers will watch your video and choose several to premiere during the plenary session at the Alliance for Full Participation Summit: Real Jobs—It’s Everyone’s Business, November 17-19, 2011 at the Gaylord National Harbor, in Washington, DC. We will also create a compilation of all the submissions to show at the exhibit hall at the conference. If you would like to attend the Summit, register now here. Early bird rates end July 31.

If you have any questions, please contact Carol Walsh at cwalsh@allianceforfullparticipation.org, www.allianceforfullparticipation.org. Please note The Arc is not collecting these videos and cannot answer any questions. We are helping to spread the word as part of our partnership with the Alliance for Full Participation, so please direct any questions or comments to them. Thanks!

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The Arc Begins Affiliation With the U.S. Business Leadership Network to Improve Employment for People With Disabilities

/in /by The Arc

WASHINGTON – Today, The Arc, the largest organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), is announcing it has become an affiliate of The US Business Leadership Network® (USBLN®). The USBLN seeks to help build workplaces where people with IDD are valued for their talents and contributions.

“It’s partnerships like this one that will help advance employment for people with IDD. The Arc aims to be a resource to businesses large and small that see the value in employing people with all kinds of skill sets so that they can contribute to society in a meaningful way and live a fulfilling life,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc.

The Arc advocates for and serves people with IDD, including Down syndrome, autism, FASD, cerebral palsy and other diagnoses. The Arc has a network of over 700 chapters across the country promoting and protecting the human rights of people with IDD and actively supporting their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes and without regard to diagnosis.

The Arc’s network will help the USBLN, which is the national disability organization that serves as the collective voice of over 60 Business Leadership Network affiliates across North America and represents over 5,000 employers, advance employment opportunities for people with IDD. In this tough economy, with the national unemployment rate at 9%, people with IDD face huge obstacles to gaining employment in the private sector.  While there are federal programs to help those with IDD find employment within the federal government, in recent years the percentage of federal employees with disabilities has decreased.

The USBLN promotes the business imperative of the preparation and inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace, marketplace, and supply chain while supporting the development and expansion of its BLN affiliates. The USBLN recognizes and supports best practices in hiring and advancing employees with disabilities, marketing to consumers with disabilities, and encourages contracting with vendors with disabilities through the development and certification of disability-owned business enterprises. To learn more, visit www.usbln.org.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for The Arc to take a step forward in our goal of increasing employment for people with IDD.  We look forward to what this affiliation will bring across the country to the people we serve,” said Berns.

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Discrimination in the Workplace: Has It Happened to You?

/in /by The Arc

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking up a troubling employer discrimination lawsuit. Jason O’Dell of Maryland applied for work as a lab technician through a major national employment agency. The opportunity seemed promising, but shortly after disclosing his Asperger’s diagnosis, the lawsuit states that Jason was told that the position was “on hold.” But the agency allegedly kept on recruiting to fill the job.

So the federal government stepped in and slapped a lawsuit against the firm, called Randstad. Since this is a huge, national employment agency, The Arc wants to know – has anyone out there had a similar experience with the company? We can’t allow discrimination like this to be tolerated.

Share your story with us in the comments, or email Kristen Bossi at bossi@thearc.org.

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The Arc Makes a Statement on Employment

/in /by Shelly DeButts

Late last week, The Arc submitted a formal statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) to be recorded as testimony in the record of the hearings held to draw attention to the critical issues of employment of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

We took this opportunity to go on record with The Arc’s position that people with IDD have a fundamental moral, civil and constitutional right to be fully included and actively participate in all aspects of society, including having the opportunity to be competitively employed. We pointed out the dismal statistics concerning the state of employment of working age adults with IDD and urged specific reform in several key areas of public policy. We highlighted the work The Arc is doing to identify and promote best practices in helping people with IDD become successfully employed through programs such as School-to-Community Transition funded by a grant from the Walmart Foundation. And we advocated for forceful, coordinated efforts to build up opportunities for integrated community employment.

We were grateful for this opportunity to be heard by our Congressional leaders and we urge them to take our advice. But our voice becomes louder and stronger when joined by our supporters on the grassroots level, so we encourage you to read the full statement, find out more about the issues at hand and take every opportunity to let your elected officials and community leaders know you support full inclusion for people with IDD, including but not limited to opportunities for competitive employment.