The purpose of National Disability Employment Month is to educate people about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities. The main point of understanding people with disabilities is to interact with — and listen to — them and not focus on our own discomfort.
We must also keep in mind that having a disability is not the same thing as being a disability activist or an expert in disability issues and policies. Every disabled person’s perspective and experiences are worth respect.
To better understand the relationship between ableism and other forms of preconception and discrimination, it’s important to listen to people who experience disabilities along with other marginalized identities. If someone from an underrepresented or underserved community has a disability, the combination of those factors is called intersectionality. This term was coined by professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, the director of the
Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School.
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The following important information, resources, and data affecting our colleagues and community members was compiled by Jennifer Rice, who heads the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council’s Training Subcommittee:
Disability is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.” According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 902,226 people in Oregon reported having a disability, or about 26 percent of the population. This means that 1 in 4 people in Oregon were comfortable reporting a disability. The CDC also reports that Oregonians with a disability also have an increased probability of having depression.
“Oregon by the Numbers,” a recent study sponsored by the Ford Foundation, reported that 42.7 percent of Oregonians felt they did not have good mental health, and 39.9 percent said they did not have good physical health. This means that well over a third of Oregonians are experiencing poor mental or physical health at any given time. If these results are extrapolated and applied to our agency, this would mean 398 DCBS employees experience poor mental health, and 372 believe they have poor physical health.
Liz Johnson, a Paralympian and co-founder of Ability People, has stated: “Having a disability is different than being disabled. Someone with a disability will always have their diagnosis, but it does not mean that they will always be disabled. Having a disability is permanent and it should not be ignored, avoided, feared, or apologized for. With the appropriate time, support, equipment, and environment the person can achieve the same level of success as their peers without a disability. If these supports are not available, a person may feel that they are disabled. For example, someone with cerebral palsy can drive a car with the appropriate supports. Without those supports they cannot drive the car, then they are deemed disabled.”
This experience is also echoed when people with disabilities seek out, obtain, and maintain employment. With the right tools, it is possible for a worker experiencing a disability to have successful employment outcomes.
A recent landmark case,
Lane v. Brown (2015), helped settle the legality of having workers with disabilities in Oregon’s sheltered workshop system receive subminimum wages for menial work in a segregated setting. The bottom-line message of the case is no one should be considered too disabled to work in Oregon. The result is that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can now experience competitive, integrated employment in Oregon. Competitive means their wages are comparable to others in the same position. Integrated means working with a mixture of people who do not experience a disability.
Another result of
Lane v. Brown is that the State of Oregon now assists workers with disabilities find work that aligns with their skills, abilities, and interests. According to Emily Cooper of Disability Rights Oregon, the most important aspect of this case is that “there are thousands of Oregonians now who see themselves in their work as having value.”
This means the barriers that would mark someone as “disabled” are slowly being dismantled, allowing for someone with a disability to feel they are supported by society and have the equipment to participate in successful employment.
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