For someone who has been dealing with the frustration of unemployment for months or years, policy may seem like a very distant thing that has little to do with their real, everyday lives. Who cares what some abstract statement somewhere says about employment when you're dealing, today, with the despair of being turned down, yet again, for a job? But Dr. Roy Grizzard, who was nominated by President George Bush to be the first Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy in 2002, would probably disagree. For the past year, Grizzard has been advising the Secretary of Labor on issues related to the employment of people with disabilities.

"People with disabilities encounter barriers when looking for jobs," Grizzard told Proyecto Visión conference participants in Manhattan during his plenary presentation. "We want to tear down those barriers." He is hoping that the new Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) can help by creating and implementing creative policies that provide practical solutions. Grizzard himself has retinitis pigmentosa. Before being appointed to his current post, he worked on the front lines of the unemployment problem when he provided vocational rehabilitation services for six years as Commissioner for the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired. He told Proyecto Visión staff in the audience, "Your work made it easier for me to help people with disabilities in Virginia find jobs and go to college."

The Statistics

"I know it's like preaching to the choir because you already know these issues," said Grizzard, "but 70 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, maybe even more depending on where, or which town. The Bureau of Labor is working with us to count how many people with disabilities are unemployed. Is it 70 percent? Maybe more, maybe less. Who are they? Old men and women? Certain ethnic groups? We know there are many people with disabilities in the United States who don't have jobs." Grizzard knows how demoralizing that can be. "The first time we meet, we ask, 'What do you do for a living,'" Grizzard points out. People with disabilities deserve to be able give a response to that question, he says. "We need to include all disabilities and all communities in the United States," he emphasized.

Innovative Programs, Innovative Solutions

To date, ODEP has provided approximately $37 million dollars in funding for various pilot projects designed to increase employment for adults and youth with disabilities, Grizzard told conference participants. Some of these programs have been established in areas with high Latino populations such as San Diego and New York City. "We feel if you start local, it will spread," said Grizzard. If a program works well, "Then we can copy it and spread it all over the United States, then people with disabilities can find jobs all over."

Phone- and Web-Based Resources

Grizzard informed conference participants that ODEP also provides technical assistance and information referral to employers, people with disabilities, and other people through two contract services. One, called the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), is a toll-free phone service and a web-based resource for employers, employees, and job candidates with disabilities who need information on making accommodations in the workplace or information on federal tax benefits that are available to companies that employ people with disabilities. People can call 1-800-526-7234 with either voice or TTY from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday through Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday. One feature of this hotline, said Grizzard, is that callers talk with a live person without having to navigate a phone tree. Employers and employees can get information in English or Spanish at http://www.jan.wvu.edu.

Another program available through ODEP is the Employer Assistance Referral Network (EARN), which, like JAN, is both a national toll-free phone service and a web-based resource. EARN helps to match employers who have job openings with local service providers who have job-ready clients with disabilities. The web site addresses some of the common concerns that employers have, such as, "Are employees with disabilities typically absent more often than employees without disabilities?" (The answer, of course, is no; indeed, employees with disabilities frequently have a strong work ethic.) The toll free number can be reached, with either voice or TTY, at 1-866-EARN-NOW (1-866-327-6669) from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST, or by fax at 1-703-310-0127, or by e-mail at earn@earnworks.com. The EARN web site is at http://www.earnworks.com. In addition to JAN and EARN, a more comprehensive web site at http://DisabilityInfo.gov includes information on a wide range of topics including employment issues, job accommodations, state and regional assistance programs, assistive technology, Medicaid and Medicare insurance programs, and emergency preparedness.

The Importance of Employing Workers with Disabilities

Latinos with disabilities deserve employment just as much as everyone else. After the conference, Grizzard explained why he traveled from Washington, D.C., to Manhattan to deliver his plenary presentation: "With the increasing Latino population, many of whom have significant disabilities, I felt it was important to communicate that the Office of Disability Employment Policy supports the employment of all Americans with disabilities. This message is important enough to be delivered in person."

But employing people with disabilities doesn't just help the consumers themselves, or the economy as a whole-it benefits employers and their businesses, Grizzard said. "I tell all companies in the United States, 'If you hire a person with disabilities, it's not to feel good and brag about it at cocktail parties because that person will be a good worker and will help you meet the bottom line and increase your production quota-the same reason you hire everyone else.'"

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