Augmentative communication between parents and children with autism, an updatable resource for accessible facilities in public spaces, keyword searches that are automatically adapted to accommodate a user, and a device for teaching smartphone technologies to people with disabilities were the four apps that earned first prize in the 2012 Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility awards, announced [...]
Vertex is building a new drug manufacturing facility on its Cambridge campus, citing the competitive advantage of insourcing its production versus sending jobs overseas in a December 14 article for the online business and technology publication, Xconomy. In “Build It In the Back Yard: Why We Need American Manufacturing,” Brian Patrick Quinn constructs a scenario [...]
A combination of economic growth and aging workforce should lead to 100,000 job openings in Massachusetts’ manufacturing operations over the next decade, according to a new report. This article in the December 2 edition of the Gloucester Daily Times reports on the first meeting of a group of Massachusetts executives, experts, and officials called the [...]
James Fallows’ article, “Mr. China Comes to America” is the second of two in-depth examinations of U.S. manufacturing using offshore labor found in the December issue of The Atlantic. Like his counterpart, Charles Fishman, Fallows sees outsourcing to Americans as a growing trend for the manufacturing sector. In his vision of the future, the resurgence [...]
There have been some great stories these past couple of weeks that demonstrate what people with disabilities are capable of doing in the workforce when given the opportunity, both as individuals and as a group. I’ve been holding on to this article from the Columbia Daily Tribune while looking abroad at International Day of Persons [...]
If you were offered an investment opportunity that earned more than three times the initial value, wouldn’t you consider that a good risk? According to a government official in Nevada, that’s the ROI that taxpayers in his state can expect when businesses hire people with disabilities. Actually, the exact amount is a $3.67 return for [...]
Advocates for people with disabilities have renewed efforts to resolve the dispute over the Labor Department resolution that would require federal contractors to actively track recruiting and hiring of people with disabilities. The National Organization on Disability (NOD) organized a forum during the last week of November that brought U.S. Department of Labor officials together [...]
A recent study of Walgreens distribution centers by the American Society of Safety Engineers indicated significant improvements in workplace productivity since the national drugstore chain has begun its initiative to hire people with disabilities five years ago. Results of the study were included in a Fast Company magazine article by Sara Cann that explored the [...]
The Labor Department’s monthly jobs report showed another small drop in unemployment for people with disabilities, marking the second straight month the rate stayed below 13%. The 12.7% figure was actually the lowest since April, but the 146,000 new jobs created in November was a significant improvement over the 69,000 added back in the spring. [...]
The AllAfrica.com website provides original reporting as well as aggregated content from over 130 news organizations across the continent, making it a perfect one-stop shop resource to continue this week’s globetrotting in observation of the United Nations’ 20th International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The most positive story comes from South Africa. Gabi Khumalo of [...]