Helping Build A More Inclusive Workplace: The 25th Anniversary of the ADA
On July 26th, we mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA25), which prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation. The impact of the ADA on grant-funded projects in healthcare, education and housing has been significant, as the 57 million Americans with disabilities comprise the nation’s largest minority. Almost 29 million are working age adults who are being served by foundation-funded community programs aimed at economic development and employment.
Kessler Foundation, which focuses its grant making on programs that expand employment, recently released results of a new survey that supports the contributions of Americans with disabilities to the workplace. According to the 2015 Kessler Foundation National Employment and Disability Survey, Americans with disabilities are striving to work and overcoming barriers to prepare for work, find jobs and achieve success in the workplace. This in-depth survey, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, is the first nationally representative survey to examine the workplace experiences of Americans with disabilities.
The survey targeted 3,000 households in all 50 states that included at least one person aged 18 to 64 with a disability or health condition. Unlike other employment surveys, the Kessler Foundation Employment Survey highlights successes in finding and maintaining employment rather than the challenges of facing barriers to the workplace and the employment gap between people with and without disabilities.
According to the survey, work is very important to the majority of people with disabilities, as evidenced by their engagement in work-related activities. Individuals are actively preparing for employment, searching for work and/or overcoming barriers to work, working, and seeking additional hours. The survey found that Americans with disabilities who are employed work an average of 35.3 hours per week, with 60.7 percent of those working more than 40 hours per week.
Findings indicate that Americans with disabilities are succeeding in overcoming barriers to finding and maintaining employment. They reported that the top three barriers to finding work were lack of sufficient education or training, employers’ assumptions that they couldn’t do the job and lack of transportation. In the workplace, the top three barriers were getting less pay than others in a similar job, and the negative attitudes of supervisors and of coworkers. A substantial percentage of employees reported overcoming each of these barriers.
Key results also indicated a strong tendency to rely on informal networks such as family and friends − 62.4% used this strategy when preparing for employment and 68.1% relied on this approach while looking for jobs. The success of networking by individuals is an example of a strategy that can be augmented through community-based programs such as faith-based initiatives.
For foundations, a better understanding of how people with disabilities view their path to success in the workplace is likely to improve the outcomes of projects that support job creation and economic development in our local communities. So in celebration of ADA25, let’s learn from the workplace experiences of people with disabilities, and work collaboratively to develop programs that promote long-term economic growth for all Americans.
