On July 26, 1990, when former President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act into law, it was heralded as the beginning of a new era of improved access and employment for people with disabilities.
As the nation celebrates this landmark civil-rights legislation impacting an estimated 56 million Americans, or 19 percent of the U.S. population, the progress of people with disabilities in the workplace remains a challenge. With new laws impacting employers and a growing realization in corporate America of the need to hire more skilled workers, disability advocates are cautiously optimistic.
“When you ask the employers what their greatest challenge in hiring people with disabilities is, they say a lack of qualified candidates,” says Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability (NOD). “Clearly there is a mismatch. What you have is companies very unfamiliar with the very system that is sourcing candidates But at this point, I really do see a momentum beginning to build. Companies are beginning to recognize the bottom-line benefits.”
