Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s celebration. Now that “Auld Lang Syne” has been sung and the noisemakers and party hats have been put away for another 365 days, we can look at what’s in store for 2013. One advocate for people with disabilities has already thrown the gauntlet down and is challenging American businesses to provide more employment opportunities for these individuals in the coming year.
Since becoming president of The National Organization on Disability (NOD) in 2008, Carol Glazer has “increased its focus on employment by a factor ten,” according to the NOD site bio. The organization may make another exponential leap if Glazer has her way in 2013. Just after Christmas day, the NOD distributed a press release via PR Newswire in which she challenged Fortune 500 CEO’s to hire more people with disabilities in the coming year.
Glazer’s case is simple. Pretty soon America is going to need new workers to fill the jobs left vacant as the Baby Boom generation hits retirement age. Over the next 15-20 years, says Glazer, one out of every five American citizens will be age 65 or older. Many people with disabilities are already receiving career skill training and getting work experience via contract services, youth internship programs, and other opportunities. When companies need workers, these individuals with be ready to answer the call and hopefully put a dent in the high unemployment rate among people with disabilities.
The business case for hiring people with disabilities extends beyond their qualifications for employment. NOD vice president of corporate programs, Meg O’Connell, provides some perspective on the consumer power of this population in the press release with this quote:
… [T]he disability market, which includes customers with disabilities and their spheres of influence, represents $1 trillion in disposable income worldwide. In this country specifically, people with disabilities control $247 billion in disposable income and represent a consumer population equal to the size of the U.S. Hispanic market.
Including people with disabilities in policy statements regarding hiring a diverse workforce, establishing relationships with job recruiters that have contacts with disability organizations, and setting hiring goals for people with disabilities are all good ways to get started, Glazer suggests.
Last year around this time, the NOD released a list of nine U.S. companies that had made hiring people with disabilities a priority and were reaping the benefits. Imagine the impact if nine new companies followed in their footsteps in 2013? Share which businesses you think might be a good candidate for hiring people with disabilities in the Comments section.
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