diversity

Disabled Workers - Valuable Resource Treated Like Pond Scum

I'll never forget one day at a start-up. The CEO was designing a new company building. He was ranting, raving about elevators, storming up and down the halls, on his phone. He was talking to his attorney, demanding to find a legal way to not have an elevator in the new building. Why? Supposedly to save costs, but also to deny a disabled applicant needing an elevator, due to being in a wheelchair, a job. He spent thousands of dollars on attorney fees, studying the law, all to avoid putting in an elevator.

With that, I give you this Wall Street Journal article, Disabled Face Sharply Higher Jobless Rate:

The government's first detailed look at disabled workers' employment shows they are far more likely than the overall work force to be older, working part-time or jobless.

The average unemployment rate for disabled workers was 14.5% last year, the Labor Department said Wednesday, well above the 9% rate for those without disabilities. By the Labor Department's count, there were roughly 27 million Americans 16 years or older with a disability last year.

The employment situation doesn't appear to have improved this year: The unemployment rate for those with disabilities had risen to 16.4% as of July.