Tag: Employment

Dear Hiring Manager: All the Disability-Related Skills I Can’t Put on My Resume

Not all of the students collegiate disability service providers work with will be as gutsy, or articulate about their disability as Sarah Blahovec, but they can learn something from her.

Sarah was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 15. She graduated from college summa cum laude and has had difficulty finding a job. As an individual with a disability, she has acquired unique skills, including the ability to manage multiple doctors’ appointments, understand complicated treatment information, clearly communicate, and multitask.

Sarah wrote a “Dear Hiring Manager” cover letter that included all of her disability-related skills that she felt did not fit in her resume. She notes that many employers and human resource professionals see her disability and become doubtful of her strengths, skills, and efficiency. But Sarah is not her disability. It is a part of her that has enabled her to acquire a marketable set of skills.

The full story can be found at, Dear Hiring Manager: All the Disability-Related Skills I Can’t Put on My Resume, The Blog, Feb. 24, 2015, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-blahovec/dear-hiring-manager-all-the-disability-related-skills-i-cant-put-on-my-resume_b_6732922.html)

One of the Hardest Things in America is for a Person with a Disability to Get a Job

The job numbers for the disabled haven’t budged much since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Despite federal efforts to increase employment of the disabled, long-standing prejudicial attitudes need to be addressed to boost jobs, according  Jeff Rosen of the National Council on Disability’s Jeff Rosen.

Not much progress in last couple decades getting more people with disabilities into workforce

Census: Workers with Disabilities Have Significant Income Gap

The income gap for workers with disabilities is significant as shown by these Census Bureau figures.

  • People with disabilities are three times less likely to be employed and, when they are working, they’re earning 75 cents for each dollar others are paid.
  • Between 2008 and 2010, individuals with disabilities accounted for 6 percent of the workforce, according to data released this week from the U.S. Census.
  • Such workers were most often employed in service and administrative support roles. Positions as janitors or building cleaners, cashiers, dishwashers and in retail sales were among the most common cited.
  • For their labor, more than half of workers with disabilities earned less than $25,000 annually, the Census found.

“Even within the largest occupations, employed workers with disabilities, on average, earned less than similarly employed workers without disabilities,” said Jennifer Cheeseman Day, the assistant chief for employment characteristics at the Census Bureau.

To read the full piece visit: Disability Scoop