To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Strengthen Disability Rights Laws for Employment
We need much stronger disability rights laws in order for more employable people with disabilities to become employed, especially in professional occupations.
Why is this important?
Even though the Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect in 1990, too many employable Americans with disabilities are still out of work. The outrageously high number of employable Americans with disabilities is unacceptable in a modern economy. It's clear that people with disabilities have the highest unemployment rate among any group, and have been left behind in the economic expansions since the ADA became law. We must work to make the dream of our nation's 41st President, George H.W. Bush, of people with even minor disabilities to become part of the economic mainstream of the United States, come true.
Strengthening the ADA to ensure more employable people with disabilities obtain good-paying professional jobs should include the following:
1) Adding those with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders, such as Asperger's Syndrome, to the list of people protected from discrimination in employment and accommodations, under the ADA. This sub-group has the highest unemployment rate among the group of employable people with disabilities.
2) Deny employers who discriminate against people with disabilities in employment the right to bid on federal government contracts.
3) Encourage employers to hire people with disabilities, especially those whose only source of income is disability benefits from Social Security, who have college degrees, for professional jobs, and pay them competitive wages.
4) Institute a minimum $1,000 fine (up to as much as $10 million, depending on the company's size) if a company is found to have discriminated against an applicant with a disability in employment and/or accommodations.
5) Make it easier for a person with a disability suing a would-be or former employer to prove discrimination on the basis of disability by taking into consideration the economic damage done to that person due to that particular act of discrimination rather than the damage done to the company.
6) Make it illegal for the agencies charged with administering Vocational Rehabilitation programs to place persons with disabilities with college degrees in low-paying stereotypical jobs, such as supermarket courtesy clerks (grocery baggers), janitors, and working in sheltered workshops.
7) Increase the tax credits for hiring people with disabilities, especially in professional employment, and raise taxes on employers who won't hire people with disabilities.
People with disabilities who are employable can, and must, work. Stronger disability rights laws will ensure the dignity of the employable person with a disability, and secure his or her future, both socially and economically.
Strengthening the ADA to ensure more employable people with disabilities obtain good-paying professional jobs should include the following:
1) Adding those with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders, such as Asperger's Syndrome, to the list of people protected from discrimination in employment and accommodations, under the ADA. This sub-group has the highest unemployment rate among the group of employable people with disabilities.
2) Deny employers who discriminate against people with disabilities in employment the right to bid on federal government contracts.
3) Encourage employers to hire people with disabilities, especially those whose only source of income is disability benefits from Social Security, who have college degrees, for professional jobs, and pay them competitive wages.
4) Institute a minimum $1,000 fine (up to as much as $10 million, depending on the company's size) if a company is found to have discriminated against an applicant with a disability in employment and/or accommodations.
5) Make it easier for a person with a disability suing a would-be or former employer to prove discrimination on the basis of disability by taking into consideration the economic damage done to that person due to that particular act of discrimination rather than the damage done to the company.
6) Make it illegal for the agencies charged with administering Vocational Rehabilitation programs to place persons with disabilities with college degrees in low-paying stereotypical jobs, such as supermarket courtesy clerks (grocery baggers), janitors, and working in sheltered workshops.
7) Increase the tax credits for hiring people with disabilities, especially in professional employment, and raise taxes on employers who won't hire people with disabilities.
People with disabilities who are employable can, and must, work. Stronger disability rights laws will ensure the dignity of the employable person with a disability, and secure his or her future, both socially and economically.