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National
Disability Employment Awareness Month - NDEAM
HISTORY
According to the US Department of Labor,
this effort to educate the American public about issues related to
disability and employment actually began in 1945, when Congress enacted
a law declaring the first week in October each year "National Employ the
Physically Handicapped Week." In 1962, the word "physically" was removed
to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals
with all types of disabilities. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a
month and changed the name to "National Disability Employment Awareness
Month."
October has also evolved as the kick-off month for
year-round programs that highlight the abilities and skills of Americans
with disabilities.
NDEAM is an annual opportunity for your company to
take another step forward in your efforts to improve the representation
of people with disabilities in your workplace!
ACTIVITIES
Many
companies use NDEAM as an annual opportunity to increase the
“disability-friendliness" of their companies through educational events,
special recruiting initiatives, etc. Examples of possible initiatives:
- Feature an employee with a disability in your company's
newsletter.
-
Participate in
Disability
Mentoring Day - give some of your employees the opportunity to
engage face-to-face with students with disabilities from your
community.
-
Hold a special "brown bag" lunch for
your employees. Feature a guest speaker, a panel of your own
employees with disabilities, or a film like
The Ten Commandments of Communicating with People with Disabilities.
-
Invite someone from your
local Center
for Independent Living to come out and do
an accessibility assessment of your facilities and make
recommendations on how you can make them more disability-friendly.
-
Partner with some local community
organizations to hold a demonstration of access technology for your
employees - featuring products like screen readers, remote sign
language interpreters, and voice recognition systems.
-
Investigate new recruiting
partnerships with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Goodwill,
or other organizations in your communities.
-
Partner with other employers to hold
a job fair that targets folks with disabilities in your community.
-
If you don't already have one, form a
Disability Employee Network or Affinity Group in your organization to help you make
your workplace and products and services more disability-friendly.
-
Send out a weekly (or daily) e-mail
throughout your agency or organization announcing Disability
Awareness Month – in each e-mail, highlight one famous person with
disability – e.g. Danny Glover (dyslexia); Thomas Edison (deaf/hard
of hearing); President Franklin D. Roosevelt (used a wheelchair).
(See:
http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/general/FAMOUS.HTML)
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