Featured on GettingHired

Featured Education Partner: Rowan University

BusyBee — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:44:00 GMT

Rowan University was one of the first institutions of higher education to see the value of GettingHired.com's University Partnership program. Rowan is using the GettingHired.com site to communicate to students, prospective students, alumni and their families the commitment of Rowan University to providing career development tools and identifying internships and employment opportunities for students with disabilities.

Rowan has an enrollment of about 10,000 students from the mid-Atlantic states and 30 foreign countries, and is included in the "Top Tier" of Northern Regional Universities by U.S. News and World Report. Rowan's Career and Academic Planning Center, working in partnership with its Division of Disability Services within the Academic Success Center, has assembled resources and information specifically to assist students with disabilities prepare for and find employment. These resources of course prominently include GettingHired.com. Ruben Britt, Assistant Director of the Center, seeks to utilize every avenue available to promote job opportunities for Rowan's students. According to Mr. Britt, when he sought to expand the Center's resources for students with disabilities, he concluded that GettingHired.com "covered all the bases," providing not only access to job opportunities, but also a network of support and career development tools for his students.

Visit www.rowan.edu to learn more about Rowan University, GettingHired.com's featured Higher Education Partner.

Featured Service Provider: Center for Independent Living of South Florida

BusyBee — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:40:00 GMT

The Center for Independent Living of South Florida was one of the organizations that early on recognized the value of joining GettingHired.com's network of Service Providers. The Center for Independent Living of South Florida saw the opportunity to use GettingHired.com's network to increase awareness of the good work it was doing to empower persons with disabilities to reach their highest level of independence. And as a registered Service Provider, The Center for Independent Living of South Florida saw that its staff would have access to the career development tools and the job opportunities available at www.gettinghired.com to support its pre-vocational skills and competitive employment services. Larry Georgeson, Center for Independent Living of South Florida's Project Director for Workforce Development, was impressed with the ease of navigation for GettingHired.com's Jobseekers, and has recently further expanded use at the organization.

The Center for Independent Living of South Florida is one of more than 680 Centers for Independent Living spread across the United States. Since its creation in 1993, the Center for Independent Living of South Florida has grown from a one-room office to a 14,400 square foot facility near downtown Miami that serves all of Miami-Dade County.

The Center for Independent Living of South Florida recently created an Information Technology program to help reduce the digital divide between individuals who have access to computer technology and individuals with disabilities who do not have access. Fewer than 25% of persons with disabilities have access to computers compared with about 60% of the general population. The center's IT program serves 60 to 75 adult participants annually. The program incorporates the latest technological equipment, including DSL Internet lines, to meet the needs of a cross-disability population of users. Participants are using the IT center's resources to create resumes and conduct online job searches. And of course, as a registered Service Provider, the Center for Independent Living of South Florida is making available to its consumers the best resource available to job seekers with disabilities, GettingHired.com.

Visit www.soflacil.org to learn more about the Center for Independent Living of South Florida, GettingHired.com's featured Service Provider.

Featured Advocacy Organization: American Foundation for the Blind

BusyBee — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:35:00 GMT

GettingHired supports AFB's recent initiative, "Sign-On to Letter to Congressional Leadership Concerning Health Reform and Vision Loss". The following letter, addressed to Senators Max Baucus and Charles E. Grassley, was also sent to Representatives Edward M. Kenney, Michael B. Enzi, Charles B. Rangel, Dave Camp, Henry A. Wasman and Joe Barton.

June 4, 2009

Hon. Max Baucus

Chair, Senate Committee on Finance

U.S. Senate

219 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Via fax: 202-228-0554

Hon. Charles E. Grassley

Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Finance

U.S. Senate

219 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Re: Health Care Reform

Dear Senators Baucus and Grassley:

We, the more than 100 undersigned international, national, and community-based organizations representing, serving, and advocating for the more than 20 million Americans of all ages experiencing significant vision loss, urge you to exercise your leadership to ensure that any comprehensive health reform legislation enacted by the 111^th Congress adequately addresses the needs and rights of individuals living with vision loss. Specifically, we call upon Congress to send to President Obama legislation that, at a minimum

ensures that individuals with vision loss and other disabilities can properly identify and take medications by mandating appropriate labeling standards and methods for providing nonvisual and enhanced visual access to drug container labeling and related information;
establishes clear Medicare (or other national minimum benefit plan) coverage for, and fosters broader private plan availability of, low vision devices and other medically necessary assistive technologies; and
allows orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists to be full participants in the professional team providing specialized services to people with vision loss by establishing unambiguous Medicare (or other national minimum benefit plan) reimbursement for the services such professionals offer.

Congress is currently weighing a variety of health care policy options that have the potential to fundamentally transform the scope and delivery of health care to all Americans. While many of these policy options could be of significant benefit to Americans with vision loss, we are concerned that proper attention is not being given in the policy debate to several basic health care needs experienced by people who are blind or visually impaired. We therefore ask for your help to craft and enact policy solutions as part of health care reform to address these unmet needs.

Drug Label Information

Current Law: No state in the union clearly requires labeling of prescription or other medications to be accessible to individuals with vision loss through minimum large print font size, audible labeling technologies, tactile markings or braille, or other methods calculated to provide alternatives to visual use of medication labeling and related information. Moreover, current federal law places no meaningful requirements on such labeling to ensure nonvisual and enhanced visual access. Additionally, while retail pharmacies can be held accountable for providing some degree of access to label information under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA neither provides standards for pharmacies to follow nor establishes a consistent national policy ensuring that customers will, upon request, be provided the nonvisual or enhanced visual means of their choice to use drug labeling safely and independently. The failure to make medication labeling accessible to people with vision loss has been shown to lead to significant health risks (see e.g., consumer survey conducted by the American Foundation for the Blind at www.afb.org/labels).

Proposed Policy: Congress should enact legislation requiring retail pharmacies to offer, upon the request of a customer, nonvisual or enhanced visual means for using medication labeling and related print information safely and independently. The means to accomplish label accessibility must be the means of the customer's choice and conform to national minimum standards to ensure consistency, reliability, and customer privacy,.

Low Vision Devices and Other Medically Necessary Assistive Technology

Current Law: Very few private health plans offer customers access to low vision devices or other assistive technologies that maximize remaining usable vision or otherwise provide nonvisual access to information and the environment. Moreover, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) refuse Medicare coverage of any device that employs one or more lenses regardless of a device's other technological features simply on the grounds that devices using lenses fall within the long-standing statutory bar on coverage for eye glasses. Other categories of assistive technology are routinely denied coverage on the grounds that they are convenience items, are not primarily for use in the home, or on other erroneous bases. People with vision loss can use low vision devices and other assistive technologies to manage their health care needs, properly identify medications, maintain proper diet, and ensure safe mobility at home and in community. Along with appropriate rehabilitation services, low vision devices and other assistive technologies prevent injury and the acquiring of additional disabling conditions.

Proposed Policy: Congress must overturn the CMS regulation barring coverage for low vision devices and establish clear criteria for their provision. Such criteria should acknowledge other distinctive features employed by the most valuable low vision devices, other than their mere use of a lens, such as a device's integration of a light source, use of electrical power, or other distinctive features. In addition, Congress must establish clear parameters for CMS to follow to provide Medicare beneficiaries with vision loss access to assistive technologies meeting their unique needs.

Vision Rehabilitation Services

Current Law: Medicare currently pays for some forms of vision rehabilitation services provided under the direct supervision of a physician and offered by an array of state licensed personnel. However, orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists, professionals who are explicitly trained to provide such vision rehabilitation services, are not among the professional disciplines recognized for purposes of Medicare reimbursement. This means that, while the services offered by other professionals--such as occupational and physical therapists--are services provided by personnel who are regularly part of the team of providers offering some limited form of vision rehabilitation addressing, for example, a beneficiary's needs for daily living skills training or other related services, the professional team is incomplete. As a result, beneficiaries are not ensured access to the full range of quality services, such as orientation and mobility, provided by the best qualified professional disciplines. Moreover, since the limited vision rehabilitation-like services that CMS will pay for must be provided under strict physician supervision, these services, which are most relevant when offered in a beneficiary's home or in community, are diminished in effectiveness. Finally, a Medicare demonstration project currently being undertaken to assess vision rehabilitation reimbursement has such significant design and administrative flaws that Congress should not wait for the project's conclusions or have confidence in their validity.

Proposed Policy: Congress must establish unambiguous coverage for the services offered to Medicare beneficiaries by orientation and mobility specialists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and low vision therapists to allow the most qualified and complete team of professional service providers to meet the unique needs of individuals with vision loss. Such services should be allowed to be provided in a beneficiary's home and community to maximize their effectiveness.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration and for your advocacy on behalf of Americans living with vision loss. We look forward to working closely with you as health reform moves forward.

Respectfully,

Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals, National Headquarters, Tucson, AZ
Accessible Design for the Blind, Asheville, NC
Alaska Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired, Anchorage, AK
Alphapointe Association for the Blind, Kansas City, MO
American Association of the Deaf-Blind, National Headquarters, Silver Spring, MD
American Council of the Blind, National Headquarters, Washington, DC
American Council of the Blind of Maine, Clinton, ME
American Foundation for the Blind, National Headquarters, New York, NY
American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, National Headquarters, Alexandria, VA
American Society on Aging, National Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
Associates for World Action in Rehabilitation & Education, Mohegan Lake, NY
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, National Headquarters, Alexandria, VA
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Ohio, Columbus, Ohio
Association for Gerontology and Human Development in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, National Headquarters, Atlanta, GA
Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired, Grand Rapids, MI
Association for Vision Rehabilitation and Employment, Binghamton, NY
Association of Blind Citizens, Holbrook, MA
Aurora of Central New York, Syracuse, NY
Badger Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Milwaukee, WI
Bay Area Digital, San Francisco, CA
Bay State Council of the Blind, Watertown, MA
Blind Childrens Center, Los Angeles, CA
Blinded Veterans Association, National Headquarters, Washington, DC
Blind Services Planning Council, Chicago, IL
Braille Institute of America, Los Angeles, CA
Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind, Huntington WV
California Council of the Blind, Sacramento, CA
Carroll Center for the Blind, Newton, MA
Catholic Charities Maine, Portland, ME
Center for Deaf-Blind Persons, Milwaukee, WI
Center for the Partially Sighted, Los Angeles, CA
Center for the Visually Impaired, Atlanta, GA
Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Utica, NY
Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Cincinnati OH
Cleveland Sight Center, Cleveland, OH
Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Cincinnati, OH
Community Services for the Blind and Partially Sighted, Seattle, WA
Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments, Richmond Heights, MO
Earle Baum Center of the Blind, Santa Rosa, CA
Florida Association of Agencies Serving the Blind, Tallahassee, FL
Florida Lions Conklin Center for the Blind, Daytona Beach, FL
Foundation for Blind Children, Phoenix, AZ
Georgia Council of the Blind, Athens, GA
GettingHired.com, Bedminster, NJ
Greater New York Council of the Blind, New York, NY
Guide Dogs for the Blind, San Rafael, CA
Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Yorktown Heights, NY
Hadley School for the Blind, Winnetka, IL
Hampton Roads Blinded Veterans, Hampton, VA
Hatlen Center for the Blind, San Pablo, CA
Hawaii Center for Independent Living, Hilo, HI
Helen Keller National Center, National Headquarters, Sands Point, NY
Helen Keller Services for the Blind, Brooklyn NY
Hollinger Consulting, St. Charles, MO
HumanWare, U.S. Headquarters, Concord, CA
Illinois Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, Naperville, IL
Illinois Council of the Blind, Springfield, IL
Independence for the Blind of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
International Association of Audio Information Services, Detroit, MI
Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, Vinton, IA
Iowa Statewide System for Vision Services, Vinton IA
Iris Network, Portland, ME
Junior Blind of America, Los Angeles, CA
Leader Dogs for the Blind, Rochester, MI
Lighthouse Central Florida, Orlando, FL
LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, San Francisco, CA
Lighthouse for the Blind of Houston, Houston, TX
Lighthouse for the Blind, Seattle, WA
Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired, Brooksville, FL
Lighthouse International, New York, NY
Lighthouse of Broward, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Lighthouse of Pinellas, Largo, FL
Lions Clubs International, International Headquarters, Oak Brook, IL
Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, Baton Rouge, LA
MAB Community Services, Worcester, MA
MaryAnn Keverline Walls Low Vision Center, Southern California College of Optometry, Fullerton, CA
Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Miami, FL
Michigan Statewide Independent Living Council, Lansing, MI
Montgomery County Association for the Blind, North Wales PA
National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving People with Blindness or Visual Impairment, National Headquarters, Middleburg Hts., OH
National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, National HQ, Watertown MA
National Association of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs, National Headquarters, Midland, MI
National Coalition on Deaf-Blindness, National Headquarters, Watertown, MA
National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts, Holbrook, MA
National Industries for the Blind, National Headquarters, Alexandria, VA
National Senior Citizens Law Center, Oakland, CA
New Jersey Foundation for the Blind, Denville, NJ
North Dakota Vision Services/School for the Blind, Grand Forks, ND
Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization, Mt. Prospect, IL
Oklahoma League for the Blind, Oklahoma City, OK
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services, Quilcene, WA
Pennsylvania Council of the Blind, Harrisburg, PA
Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA
San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind, San Antonio, TX
Susquehanna Foundation for the Blind, Lancaster, PA
The New York Institute for Special Education, Bronx, NY
The Seeing Eye, Morristown, NJ
Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, Staunton, VA
Vision & Vocational Services, Columbus OH
Vision Consultants of West Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI
Vision Loss Resources, Minneapolis, MN
VisionServe Alliance, National Headquarters, St. Louis, MO
VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, New York, NY
Vista Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired, Palo Alto, CA
Visually Impaired Persons of Southwest Florida, North Fort Myers, FL
Westchester Council of the Blind, Mt. Kisco, NY

Eleven More Employers Partner with Gettinghired.com to Fill More than 2,000 New Job Openings

BusyBee — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:37:00 GMT

At Gettinghired.com we are celebrating the arrival of 11 new employer partners. When they all come on board in early June, job seekers with disabilities can look forward to accessing more than 2,000 additional job openings. The list of new Gettinghired.com employers include Microsoft, Panasonic, The ServiceMaster Company, Pepsi, Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago, Western Illinois University, Duff & Phelps, Boehringer-Ingelheim Corporation, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Abilicorp, and Delta Dental. Try these links to view their jobs as they come onboard, set job alerts for those that are still ramping up and be the first to apply!

We congratulate them all for making their commitment to their communities a tangible reality. These employers understand that the frequently untapped pool of people with disabilities offers them the opportunity to hire qualified, motivated, productive, and reliable employees while, at the same time, they enhance their reputations for affirmative action, workplace diversity, and positive community involvement.

A recent study conducted by the University of Massachusetts at Boston confirms that companies who hire people with disabilities achieve a higher placement in the public's collective esteem than employers who either may not hire people with disabilities or don't bring attention to their hiring policies with respect to people with disabilities. Among surveyed consumers: 92 percent felt more favorable toward companies that hire people with disabilities; 87 percent said they would give their business to companies that hire people with disabilities; the employment of people with disabilities ranked third as an indicator of a company's commitment to social justice; and

98 percent of respondents who had been served by a worker with a disability reported that they were "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the service they received. According to Working Together, a group of businesses in Maine who collaborate to meet their goal of hiring more people with disabilities, and who reported the results of the UMASS Study referenced above, there are real, bottom-line benefits for companies who look to the often untapped resource of job seekers with disabilities to fill staffing vacancies. These include:

Increased Market Share: According to recent census data, nearly one in five Americans has a disability. This population has a total annual income in excess of a trillion dollars, and a discretionary income estimated at $200 billion. People with disabilities prefer businesses that are sensitive to their needs and that represent their population, and companies have found that it makes good business sense to have a workforce that is representative of the communities they serve. According to research conducted by Simmons Market Research Bureau, 48 percent of people with disabilities are the principle shoppers for their families. They have influence over not only their own spending decisions, but those made by other family members as well.

A Highly Productive Workforce: A 35-year-long study conducted by Dupont indicated that employees with disabilities consistently perform as well, if not better, than their non-disabled colleagues. Study results included these intriguing statistics: 86 percent of workers with disabilities are rated "average" or "above average" for attendance; 90 percent of workers with disabilities are rated "average" or "above average" for performance; 97 percent of workers with disabilities are rated "average" or "above average" for safety.

Lower Staff Turnover: Employers have found that they can significantly reduce turnover costs when they hire people with disabilities, who generally have a lower attrition rate than employees without disabilities. According to a survey conducted by the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), 96 percent of employers reported they saved money by hiring or retraining people with disabilities and by making necessary job accommodations. Fifteen percent of employers reported savings of up to $5000, while 20 percent said they had saved between $20,001 and $50,000 in employee replacement costs after hiring or retraining people with disabilities. According to the Job Accommodation Network, For every dollar spent on making an accommodation for an employee with a disability companies received $34.58 in benefits.

Workplace Diversity: According to a 1994, Federal Glass Ceiling Commission study, organizations that excel at making the most of their employees' diversity achieve better financial performance in the long run compared to organizations that do not treat diversity as an opportunity.

We congratulate our new employer partners for deciding to take advantage of all these benefits associated with hiring people with disabilities, and all of our job seekers who will, undoubtedly, find the kinds of jobs they are looking for through GettingHired.com's partnerships with the employers who have joined our online community.

If you are one of our job seekers at Gettinghired.com, remember that completing your online profile is the prerequisite for being matched with the jobs available with these and other Gettinghired.com employer partners, so if you haven't completed the profile yet, now is the time to get that done. To all of our job seekers and our employer partners, do let us know about your successes finding work, and finding just the right workers to meet your companies' needs. At Gettinghired.com, we are proud of offering a service and a community that facilitate matching job seekers with such a variety of impressive skills and talents with employers who need to hire motivated and talented workers to meet their staffing needs now, and in the future.

Featured Education Partner: The University of Rhode Island

BusyBee — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:19:00 GMT

A Profile of the Career Center at the University of Rhode Island

The Career Center at the University of Rhode Island, could serve as a model worth emulating at universities and colleges across the nation. Via their on-campus walk-in center, students can access a full range of career development services every weekday by appointment. A staff of professionals assists students with all aspects of career development, including career assessment, career counseling, skills development, resume writing, gaining experience with interviewing and connecting with employers. An early partner with GettingHired, the on-campus center recognizes the effectiveness of our online tools for assisting students with disabilities to achieve their career goals, and to connect with real employers who offer immediate employment at real jobs.

The Career Center sponsors a variety of workshops, presentations, panels, and networking events with alumni and employers throughout the year to provide career awareness and education to students.

Some of the workshops include: Internships Explained, Resume and Cover Letter, Senior Job Search, Preparing for Graduate School, and Effective Interviewing.

In addition, on-campus job postings are announced and disseminated through the Career Services office via the campus computer network.

Each year, the Career Center posts at least 8000 career and internship opportunities for university students, graduate students and alumni via a web-based career management program residing on the Career Services web site. Opportunities are state, regional, national and international in scope.

Congratulations to the Career Center at the University of Rhode Island for providing an array of career development services that benefit university students and alumni, including students with disabilities, and for their effective partnership with GettingHired.com where job seekers with disabilities can access an array of career development services and social networking opportunities that lead to real jobs and achievement of the career goals that led them to pursue a university education in the first place. .

If you are a student or alumnus from the University of Rhode Island, contact the Career Center at: 228 Roosevelt Hall, 90 Lower College Road, Kingston, RI 02881.

Call them at: 401.874.2311, or Fax at: 401.874.5525. E-mail: career@etal.uri.edu

Featured Advocacy Organization: Easter Seals

BusyBee — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:14:00 GMT

The Right to Live a Normal Life: An interview with Carol A. Salter, Assistant Vice President for Workforce Development and National Director( of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) at Easter Seals

By Penny Reeder

I want to thank Carol A. Salter for so graciously agreeing to answer my barrage of questions about Easter Seals and the important work that the organization does on behalf of people with disabilities. Although we were separated in time and space, while Carol was attending a conference and then flying on to the west coast and I was working from the opposite side of the country, we managed to develop a multi-week, bi-coastal e-mail friendship with the assistance of computers and Blackberries. It is obvious that Gettinghired, and all of us who cope with our own or family members' disabilities are better off, by far, because of the commitment of people like Carol, and Easter Seals, Inc., to giving people with disabilities the right to live a normal life.

Q: What would you like for our readers, who will be people with disabilities, employers, and other organizations who provide services and advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, to know about Easter Seals.

A: Easter Seals, Inc. provides training and employment services to individuals with disabilities at more than 45 affiliate sites in the United States. We work in conjunction with other agencies to collaboratively serve individuals who are seeking employment. One service that we provide is a personalized assessment of skills and interests to best match each job seeker with job openings in his or her community. We also work closely with employers by pre-screening potential job candidates so we can make the best possible recommendation for each job opening. Easter Seals providers also offer job retention services, such as job coaching, mentorship, and follow-up services to ensure successful job matches for both the employer and the employee.

Q: I spent some time on your web site where I learned that Easter Seals is currently focusing on autism. There truly does seem to be an epidemic of new autism diagnoses. Can you highlight some of the findings from Easter Seals' recent ground-breaking report on autism, and can you talk about some of the specific programs that you sponsor which are helpful to people with autism and their families?

A: One of the most striking findings from the Easter Seals "Living with Autism Study" was that only 24 percent of teenagers with autism have looked for employment, compared to 76 percent of typically developing teenagers, many of whom are already engaged in paid work long before they leave high school. Teenagers with autism are not even looking for work. Easter Seals provides many secondary transition support programs for high school aged students. These programs are intended to support a successful transition for individuals with disabilities exiting the public school entitlement programs. The transition programs have a strong emphasis on employment. High school students who are already employed when they exit school are much more likely to maintain employment than kids who exit high school without a job. Easter Seals works to support these transitioning students to exit their high school years with the greatest opportunity for success in adulthood.

Easter Seals also provides opportunities for individuals with autism to develop those social and communication skills that are so important for success in adult life. The Easter Seals' "Living with Autism Study" clearly stated that a major concern is the social skills of children with autism. Only 17percent of parents of children with autism felt that their children would have friends in the community. With effective instruction and intervention, individuals with autism can learn social skills that lead to friendship and success in a work environment. Easter Seals provides effective intervention.

Q: I knew Easter Seals two decades ago when one of our children was experiencing a speech and language delay. He attended an Easter Seals preschool program, where he absolutely blossomed. Does Easter Seals still sponsor programs for children with hearing and speech and language difficulties?

A: Easter Seals continues to provide rehabilitation services to children, including speech-language pathology and audiology services. These services are provided in a number of different environments including in families' homes, in inclusive child development centers and in out-patient rehabilitation clinics, as well as in schools. In fact, Easter Seals operates the nation's largest network of inclusive child development centers and serves over 37,000 children per year through early intervention services, which work to identify children with disabilities at the earliest possible age.

Q: How many employment training programs does Easter Seals sponsor, i.e., where are they? And, how can people with disabilities take advantage of the employment and training programs you offer? Does a person with a disability need to go through a state agency to access Easter Seals employment services?

A: There are over 43 locations in the United States which can be located through our public web site: http://www.easterseals.com by entering your zip code into our service locator. Most of our locations are funded through the state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, however some have other sources of funding that allow them to work independent of those agencies. Individuals with disabilities who are interested in working through one of our local sites may call the contact number listed on the web site and inquire about the services provided at that site.

Q: I found Easter Seals' history to be so interesting. Your web site outlines the organization's founding, and the creation of the very first Easter seal. At that time, Easter Seals described the needs of people with disabilities like this: "Those served by the charity ask simply for the right to live a normal life." Do you think that the needs of people with disabilities have changed since the Charity came into existence? Are the needs of people with disabilities more complex today than they were in the 1940s?

A: Society's willingness to recognize and meet the needs of individuals with disabilities has certainly changed since the 1940s, however the basic needs of the individuals have not changed. We want to provide individuals with the basic tools to succeed in today's job market, enabling them to have family-wage job opportunities, leading to independence and choice.

Q: Is the recession affecting Easter Seals' ability to keep its centers open, to employ staff, or to provide the services which people with disabilities and their families have come to depend upon?

A: As with all agencies, non-profit or for-profit, in the U.S., we have seen some of our centers go through some tough times due to the recession. Our donations have decreased in the past few years, however we have not seen any of our centers close. There have been some cases of down-sizing of staff, hiring freezes, and additional job duties added to the regular workforce.

Q: I am interested in your operation "Employ Veterans." Is that a partnership with the Department of Veterans' Affairs and how would a returning vet take advantage of the rehabilitation and employment services that Easter Seals is providing? Are there any aspects of this program that make Easter Seals' range of services especially effective or unique?

A: Operation Employ Veterans (OEV) is a year-long program that supports the McCormick Foundation's Operation Healing Freedom campaign and is currently being offered throughout the Chicagoland area. This training provides employers education on effective methods to recruit, employ, and retain wounded veterans. The training modules are a product of identified employer needs and veteran challenges resulting from several focus group meetings that include representation from corporate employers, the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Illinois Employment Services, and groups of veterans. Veterans with disabilities who are facing challenges in the Chicagoland area, as well as employers seeking to hire veterans with disabilities, are encouraged to contact Easter Seals at 1-866-423-4981 to identify available public and private resources they may be able to utilize. A unique aspect of the early success of the OEV program is that Easter Seals is able to leverage other programs, such as Community OneSource^TM, which not only provides veterans with employment resources but also helps connect them with other community services and supports, including benefits, housing, childcare, transportation, health care, respite, recreation, mental health and financial counseling-through individualized system and service navigation and personalized follow-up.

Q: What do you see as the biggest obstacle Easter Seals has to overcome in order to find jobs for people with disabilities?

A: The biggest obstacle that Easter Seals encounters, when assisting individuals who are seeking employment, is employer attitudes. There are stereotypes of this population that result in employers' believing that their health costs will increase, productivity will decrease and most of all; it will cost too much to make "accommodations" of work stations to be able to employ individuals with need of these services. In truth, over 80percent of all accommodations cost under $500, health costs do not increase, and an appropriate job match will assure adequate productivity.

Q: And, finally, do you believe Easter Seals' ability to help people with disabilities to find jobs has improved, or become more difficult, or stayed essentially the same in light of the new administration in Washington? If you think the changes that have come about as a result of the Obama Administration have made it easier for Easter Seals to provide services, or to advocate effectively on behalf of people with disabilities, can you point to any specific changes that have come about because of the Obama Administration's programs or policies?

A: The Obama Administration has placed a great deal of emphasis on domestic policy issues and how those areas connect with our nation's economic recovery. Its' call for investment in the environment, health care and education sectors of our economy is intended to turn our economic direction around, which should help all workers - including workers with disabilities. The investment in job training programs such as vocational rehabilitation, community colleges and One Stops through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has already had a huge impact on people with disabilities by providing much needed resources to programs that have suffered cuts over the past few years. These investments mean more people getting more services - resulting in more people getting hired and going to work. President Obama stated in March that improving the employment situation for people with disabilities would be a top priority for his Department of Labor, a commitment we are very pleased to see. It's still early in this term, but the interest in helping people with disabilities move more easily into the workforce is certainly there.

Welcome to 'The BUZZ' Monthly

BusyBee — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:03:00 GMT

Welcome to "The BUZZZ". At Gettinghired.com, we have noticed that all the people, businesses and organizations in our community are busier than ever, so we have created this monthly newsletter to let everyone know what's going on in all of our virtual neighborhoods. At Gettinghired.com, employers are seeking qualified applicants to meet their staffing needs, while people with disabilities are looking for work and finding ways to increase their skills and improve their lives, while advocacy organizations are working hard to better the odds for their clients and consumers, and universities are preparing to send the current class of graduating seniors out into the real world. Phew! Lots of things are happening, and there's a buzz of excitement about every one of them. You can see why we need a newsletter, to keep everyone informed!

Here at Gettinghired.com, there's a real buzz of excitement about all the employers who continue to come onboard in astonishing numbers. We are proud to know and work closely with every single one of our employer partners who have subscribed at Gettinghired.com, companies like CIGNA, Wells Fargo, Sears, Kmart, Chubb Insurance, Merck, WellPoint, and so many others. We are excited about the 15,000-plus job opportunities available on our web site and we want to share our enthusiasm about matching good people with good jobs in great companies, with everyone in our online community. We know that, for our employers, a commitment to corporate social responsibility and diversity is more tangible than simply adopting high-minded slogans or bringing out tried and true platitudes once a year during Disability Employment Awareness Month events. Companies who register with Gettinghired.com have a social consciousness and a business interest that converge in the sure knowledge that hiring qualified people with disabilities enriches their business lives and brings a level of talent and commitment to their workforce that cannot be achieved by tapping into any other available talent pool!

If you've been having trouble figuring out which new employers have been joining our community, or who's hiring whom to do what, then check out "The BUZZZ" each month as we will list the five most actively hiring employers and choose a company to feature in each upcoming issue. Next month's "BUZZZ" will carry an in-depth profile of a featured Employer of the Month. Like you, we want to learn more about the strategies that employers adopt to bring diversity to their companies. We want to know about training programs that help make people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, with a variety of interests and skills, feel comfortable with one another. We want to hear about success stories and team building strategies, future directions, anticipated staffing needs, and innovative approaches to creating truly inclusive work environments. If you are one of our Gettinghired.com employers, we look forward to getting to know you better, and to letting our job seekers, service providers, university subscribers, and mentors learn about you too.

Each day, more and more job seekers register with Gettinghired.com. They're busy creating and updating their profiles, constructing resumes, practicing their interviewing skills, seeking and sharing advice, and taking advantage of our accessible social network to meet other people with disabilities, and share their triumphs, their experiences and their concerns with one another in our online discussion forums and blogs. There are job boards to scan, applications to complete, articles to read, mentors to find, campus programs to explore, and all manner of ways to network and look for meaningful work. If you were too busy yourself to check in on our discussion forums last month, or to read every single word of every single blog, you can rely on "The BUZZZ" to keep you up to date. We'll recap the hottest discussion topics in our forums and rerun the five most visited blogs each month in "The BUZZZ". We'll introduce you to our advocacy partners, and we will profile a different organization each month. Check out our interview with Carol A. Salter, Assistant Vice President for Workforce Development and National Director (of the Senior Community Service Employment Program at Easter Seals, Inc., this month. And, learn about the exciting approach to job development and career education that the University of Rhode Island has developed, in this month's issue, as well.

Here in the Gettinghired.com online community we believe in networking and promoting an environment where all our residents and visitors can learn from one another and speak freely about the issues that matter to us all. We are excited about sharing "The BUZZZ" with all of you, and we welcome your feedback and look forward to buzzing into your online consciousness again, in coming months.