"Disability Employment Effort Gets Boost"

An article by the website disabilityscoop.com was posted last month titled "Disability Employment Effort Gets Boost." This article outlines the new funding program by the U.S. Department of Labor that gives $20 million to states that implement a program to help people with disabilities find employment. People with disabilities have been found to be more loyal, dependable, and productive than their non-disabled colleagues.

Here is the article from DisabilityScoop.com:

"More than $20 million is headed to states to expand a program designed to help people with disabilities gain a foothold in the workplace.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Labor said the new funding announced this week will establish the so-called “Disability Employment Initiative” in seven new states — Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Rhode Island.

The federal program — which is already in place in 16 states — offers grants to enhance training and educational opportunities for youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed or receiving Social Security benefits.

With the funding, states are encouraged to increase collaboration among multiple programs including vocational rehabilitation, developmental disability agencies and independent living centers in order to help ensure the best outcomes for those with disabilities seeking employment.

“Everyone should have the opportunity to contribute to today’s workforce,” said Kathy Martinez, assistant secretary of labor for disability employment policy. “Enhancing the workforce system’s ability to provide effective coordinated and collaborative service delivery will help to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the employment training and supports they need to achieve self-sufficiency.”

Each of the seven states added to the program will receive between $1.8 million and $4.8 million."

For more information on our T.R.A.D.E. Program which helps increase the chances of employability, visit our website at:

http://empowertech.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=105

EmpowerTech Students and the Shuttle

Hello Friends,

I know that we all love Fridays…especially this past Friday. It was not an ordinary TGIF by any means here at the center nor for miles around. The youngest space shuttle in the fleet, that logged 123 million miles was at a standstill, well parked actually in the parking lot close to ours. Eric Larsen, our TRADE director decided to change up the day’s lesson plan and have the students use the internet to find “fun facts” about the Shuttle (hence how I know some of details). Once their searches were complete they used the information to create word documents or flyers using pictures or graphs.

One very inspired student, Patrick (scene below in glasses) decided to create a press release. These are his words: “The streets around LAX were full of traffic today. Seeing the space shuttle up close and in person during its trip through Los Angeles was quite the experience. After all, it’s the only orbiter to be paraded through the city en route to its final resting place at the California Science Center. NASA’s shuttle program has come to an end, but a fitting end”.

Here at EmpowerTech we don’t often take our students on a field trip, in fact in our 27 years this was probably our 3rd one. As we all know this wasn’t your run of the mill field trip this was history and our students were able to witness the making of it. They don’t often show emotions, rarely if ever do they verbalize excitement or awe. But on Friday, October 12 as they stood in front of the shuttle Endeavor to capture their place in history through a picture they smiled.

My sincerest thank you to HB Drollinger, the shuttle was parked on one of their properties.

http://empowertech.org/

How Technology Can Help People with Disabilities

At EmpowerTech, our mission is to educate, train, support, and empower people with physical and developmental disabilities through assistive technology (AT). Our TRADE Program's main goal is to instruct people with disabilities how to use technology and empower them to help find employment. We have found a great article that demonstrates just how beneficial technology can be for people with disabilities.

SPEEDING UP WORK FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

"With technology, people with disabilities, many who are unemployed or under-employed, can now take a job and be highly productive. After all, this group is an incredible adopter of technology because they depend on it for their livelihood...

All of this is positive for the future of work because people with disabilities add tremendous value to the workplace. People with disabilities are creative problem-solvers and technology adopters with fresh perspectives that organizations need.

Hiring people with disabilities enhances employee retention and engagement, as there are many job candidates with or without disabilities who want to work in holistically-diverse and socially conscious environments. We've found they have low rates of absenteeism and turnover, which reduces a company's recruitment and retention costs.

Hiring the disabled helps companies develop new products and services, expanding their customer base, which is increasingly filled with older people starting to encounter disability. All of this bodes well for the modern-day workplace.

I've said it before: If you want someone who thinks outside the box, hire someone who lives outside the box. So let "work speed up" begin for people with disabilities. With new technologies on the horizon, we can tap this underused talent pool and move our notion of how and where we work solidly into the 21st century."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19588052

Here is a link to our TRADE Program for more information:

http://empowertech.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101&Itemid=105