From Government Executive magazine:

Christine Griffin, a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, says the federal government is doing a “terrible job” in employing people with disabilities. She said the ranks of disabled employees in fiscal 2007 amounted to only 0.9 percent of the federal workforce, down from a meager 1.2 percent in fiscal 1996.

It’s not only that few people with disabilities are getting in the door at federal agencies, Griffin said. They also are not rising through the ranks.

… “You can’t have anything that the rest of America has unless you have a job and you have money,” said Griffin, who uses a wheelchair. “They look at us and say, ‘Isn’t it great they get to go to a restaurant?’ But it hasn’t changed their views of what I’m capable of doing. . . . I see employment for people with disabilities as critical to changing society’s view of us as people, as human beings. . . . That’s where this revolution is going to take place.”

From the Tallahassee Democrat:

People with disabilities want to work but find lots of obstacles in their way, says Bryan Vaughan, executive director of the Florida Governor’s Commission on Disabilities. Even when employers have an opening and are willing to hire a person with a disability, prospective employees must then find accessible transportation and appropriate housing.

As a result, people with disabilities have very low employment rates. A recent report by Cornell university found that the employment rate for people with disabilities was just 37.7 percent nationwide, and 39.1 percent in Florida.

From a press release on Yahoo Business:

A national study by the Bobby Dodd Institute in Atlanta found an overwhelming majority of those surveyed feel that people with disabilities face barriers to hiring in the American workplace. The study also found that more than one-quarter (26 percent) of respondents say they are uncomfortable when interacting with people with disabilities or even avoid interaction.

The survey was conducted by 2008 Kelton Research, based on 1,000 nationwide online interviews among adults 18 years or older.

“The challenge that workers with disabilities are facing isn’t their disability,” said Wayne McMillan, president and CEO of BDI. “The challenge is dispelling myths and preconceptions about accommodations and competency. In reality, this population performs at a high level and can provide a tremendous value in the workplace.”

In an effort to combat stigma and communicate the advantages of hiring people with disabilities, the BDI website offers free disability awareness training.

See also:

• Presidential Proclamation for Disability Employment Awareness Month — White House press release
• Work helps Katie Bowman be a ‘totally different person’—Tallahassee Democrat
• Workers with disabilities contribute to many workplaces — By Jim DeBeaugrine in the Tallahassee Democrat

Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Mary Swift documents problems with the Seattle area ACCESS transportation program, which serves 27,000 people with disabilities. A spokesman for the service says its on-time performance is 92.2 percent, but Swift says that means many people wait a long time for rides that may come late or not at all.

These people, Swift says, don’t have the luxury of being able to make other arrangements for transportation to work or vital medical appointments.

That old adage about walking a mile in somebody’s shoes doesn’t apply here.

A new adage about spending a day in someone’s wheelchair just might.

Columns here and here.

From USA Today:

Airline travel has many characteristics that can trigger meltdown in kids with autism, experts say. Among other things, air travel involves breaks in routine, enclosure in tight spaces, crowds, noise, and demands that kids sit still for long periods of time.

What can parents do to reduce the stress? Prepare kids for the trip by sharing photos of airport terminals, planes and destinations. Let kids make small choices, so they feel some measure of control. Bring along familiar books, toys, headphones and snacks. And let the airline know if you’ll need accommodations.

Nearly $1 billion spent, but elevators and escalators still don’t work

From the New York Times:

New York City Transit has spent close to $1 billion on new elevators and escalators in the subway system since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in an effort to improve access for people with disabilities. But a study by the New York Times found widespread evidence of breakdowns, maintenance problems and poor service, with the effect that many areas of the subway system are still not reliably accessible to people who need the elevators and escalators for access.

Among the study’s findings for last year:

• One of every six elevators and escalators in the system was out of service for more than a month.
• The system’s 169 elevators averaged 68 breakdowns or repair calls each, with the worst ones logging more than double that number.
• Two-thirds of the elevators had at least one breakdown in which passengers were trapped inside.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Metro Airport and Northwest Airlines dropped disabled passengers to the floor, failed to provide boarding assistance to the disabled, damaged wheelchairs by tossing them in baggage storage and failed to provide an area for seeing-eye dogs to relieve themselves, a lawsuit filed today in Detroit says.

Five disabled travelers sued the Wayne County Airport Authority and Northwest Airlines in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The suit seeks no monetary damages, but asks that the airport and Northwest follow basic federal laws and rules.

Writing on the website of the Poynter Institute, Susan LoTempio analyzes the coverage of the disability angle in the David Paterson story. While some media outlets interviewed activists and citizens with disabilities, she says,

There wasn’t much mention … of what New York’s 3.8 million citizens with disabilities are up against, like inaccessible transportation, high unemployment and inadequate education.

And another thing:

In a political profile, the New York Post hinted at how Paterson views his own disability. According to the Post, Paterson told The New York Times in 2006 that “he disparaged efforts to make him a ‘disability’ case. ‘Every single white political consultant that I ever worked with likes to promote my disabilities. And I suspect it’s to mitigate race — to give me, in their eyes, an honorary white status.’”

Let’s take heed of his words, and avoid labeling him either black or disabled. Just governor will do.

LoTempio is assistant managing editor of the Buffalo News.

Earlier posts here and here.

Austin [Texas] American-Statesman columnist Ben Wear analyzes the heated discussions that are cropping up in his city these days as officials debate changes to the city’s special transit services for people with disabilities.

The local transit authority says its paratransit costs have almost doubled since 2001 to $26.9 million annually, and consume almost 19.3 percent of its budget to serve about 2 percent of its ridership. It is cracking down on some services. People with disabilities oppose changes in curb-to-curb service. The real question, Wear says, is this: ‘Just what do we owe such people?’