December brought a hint of good job news for people with disabilities, the Labor Department reported Friday.
For the second month in a row, the unemployment rate declined for people with disabilities falling to 13.8 percent, down from 14.1 percent in November. Meanwhile unemployment rose from 9.2 percent to 9.5 percent among the rest of the population. These numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
The drop in December was coupled with a rise in the number of employed people while the number of people who are not seeking work appeared to remain steady. That marks an improvement over the situation in November when a drop in unemployment was accompanied by a decrease in the number of people with disabilities looking for work.
The Department of Labor began tracking employment among people with disabilities in October 2008. The data covers people with disabilities over the age of 16 who do not live in institutions. The first employment report specific to this population was made available in February 2009. Now, reports are released monthly.
Employment as what? Greeters at Wal Mart? Janitors for the government agencies? The quality of employment is a major issue. I have a neurological disability that has some impact on my mobility and my manual dexterity. I walk with a cane. I have graduate degrees and once an employer finds out I have a disability I hear nothing further, that includes Federal agencies as employers. When are the employment requirements of the ADA going to be enforced by the Dept. of Justice? I have not taken one dime in SSI\SSDI or BVR benefits, and yet that is an automatic assumption by potential employers.
I got through school just like all other students, with student loans, grants, and a few scholarships. I am unable to complete my doctorate in Education because I have ran out of financial aid, and outside money has dried up. I could also talk, at length, about how schools, including many universities, go out of their way to evade and avoid compliance with the ADA and 504, to say nothing of the IDEA regulations for K-12.
Increasingly districts and universities know students and their families lack the means to litigate them, on disability issues. The problem points directly at US Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) failing to properly enforce these laws and regulations. The biggest “dirty secret” about OCR is that few of their investigators are properly trained in disability access issues. The schools know that too and will bluff their way out of a complaint because more often than not the investigator does not have proper training, nor does OCR have the desire to start litigation against chronic violators.
Enforcement of the various laws involving disability issues such as 505 and the ADA are not of interest to the Dept of Justice. It is time for the Dept. of Justice to stand up and make it policy to enforce the ADA (and the ADA amendments) in addition to Section 504.