People with disabilities make up the largest, fastest-growing minority in the United States.  Our annual spending power is estimated at $220 billion.  According to U.S. Census data, more than 32 million Americans have a disability, but just 38 percent of people with disabilities are employed. That’s more than 14 million people with disabilities who are NOT working who want to work. A rule of thumb:  double Minnesota’s unemployment rate and you’ll have the rate for people with disabilities in our state.

Despite these sobering statistics, research shows that managers who supervise employees with disabilities rate them as “good” or “excellent” performers.

A job, a career can be life-changing.  I wouldn’t be who I am today without 30+ years of work experience.  Many “leadership” opportunities occur as part of the work world.  My leadership experiences, including Leadership Twin Cities, happened through my employer.  My transportation advocacy leadership began when I first started working and accessible transportation to and from work was just beginning in the Twin Cities.

Accommodating a person’s disability is less costly than most assume; 70 percent of accommodations cost less than $500. And, for every dollar spent on an ADA accommodation, the employer received between $34 and $40 in benefits, according to the Job Accommodation Network.  My main accommodations at Courage Center today are getting help to unlock my office door and having help filing a few times a year.

So, take some time now to assess how your company is doing and whether or not changes need to be made to recruit and hire more people with disabilities. If there’s a gap, get in touch  with experts at the Minnesota Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS), Minnesota Workforce Centers and Courage Center. When the economy rebounds and you’re looking for talented workers, someone with a disability may be just the answer.

Recently, I took part in an impressive interview project called “It’s Our Story,” a collaborative effort to record the histories of 1,000 people in the disability community, across the nation.  To date, 928 people have had their stories logged on the web site of Disability Media Initiative, in 98 cities and 148 locations.  Their goal is to log 1,000 interviews by July 2010, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

An interviewer, Scott Cooper, was at Courage Center for three days in August, interviewing a variety of local disability rights advocates and leaders.  What the experience brought home to me was how important history and role models are to members of a community.  As a boomer, I was on the forefront of the disability rights movement.  I was one of the first people with a disability to be mainstreamed in the Brooklyn Center School District.  There were no role models with disabilities for me to follow back then. Heck, I was amazed to learn, as an adult, that FDR was disabled!  So, it’s not surprising that I didn’t want to be labeled as “handicapped” as a kid.  I had no real friends who were disabled, other than a few who I met through Camp Courage.  My friends with disabilities and my  disability advocacy efforts didn’t start until I was working.  My self-acceptance as a person with a disability started as an adult and has evolved over time.

Now, through stories of lots of people just like me, kids with disabilities growing up in today’s world will have at least 1,000 role models and stories to guide them to break down their barriers.  My peers, those of us who did so much of the hard work that is now benefitting so many people, are full of great wisdom.  Here’s to the people, like Scott Cooper, who are helping tell our stories.