Barriers To Employment Of People With Disabilities example essay topic

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act ('ADA') has proven unsuccessful in its goal of empowering people with disabilities to enter the workforce. Although 19.4% of the population have some disability, 1 they constitute only 4.3% of the workforce. 2 The group's unemployment rate stands at almost 17%, nearly three times the national average. 3 A survey for the National Organization on Disabilities found that current levels of employment of people with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 64 have actually dropped two percentage points since 1986, four years before the civil rights legislation was passed.

4 The Social Security Administration has additionally reported a decline since 1990 in the percentage of disabled Americans who are working while receiving Supplemental Security Income ('SSI'). 5 Several factors account for these high levels of unemployment. Health insurance is perhaps the most significant. Disabled people receiving SSI or Social Security Disability Income ('SSDI') lose their federal health insurance if they earn more than $500 per month in income for nine months, a powerful incentive not to work. 6 In turn, employers are wary of hiring people with disabilities for fear of driving up insurance premiums for their businesses.

Secondly, a further disincentive to work exists in wages, where recipients of SSI or SSDI often earn more by not working. This is particularly true among the severely disabled, where most work available will pay only slightly more than minimum wage. 7 Thirdly, ADA has yet to be properly enforced. Eight federal agencies are currently involved in the investigation of varied complaints, 8 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ('EEOC') lags ten months in its investigations of complaints.

9 A visually impaired job hunter wrote in the New York Times that when he tried to file a complaint with EEOC, 'I was told that my complaint would be kept on record and if a number of such complaints for the same employer accumulated, 'action would be taken. ' '10 An additional factor in the high levels of unemployment among people with disabilities is business's lack of knowledge about ADA and the cost of meeting its provisions. Most disabled workers do not need any special accommodations, 11 and only 22% of accommodations cost more than $1000. Sixty-seven percent of accommodations cost $500 or less. 12 Furthermore, making new construction fully accessible increases costs by no more than one percent.

13 Finally, employer prejudice and stereotypes about the disabled affect their employment. Myths persist that those with disabilities have lower attendance rates and safety records and are less capable of performing their jobs than their non disabled counterparts, although studies have shown that disabled employees achieve similar levels of excellence in each of these categories. 14 To eradicate these barriers to employment of people with disabilities, I propose that the following steps be taken: (1) Allow SSDI recipients to keep their Medicare insurance by paying premiums based on their income. 15 Furthermore, amend current law so that employers who now must offer the company policy to all employees (including those with disabilities) can be exempted from offering that policy to employees with disabilities who have the opportunity to receive insurance through this phased premium plan. (2) Make the phasing process steeper for SSI recipients who also work. Currently, recipients lose $1 of benefits for every $2 they earn in wages, but this phasing has proven inadequate since many recipients can still earn more by not working.

16 This disincentive to work can be corrected, perhaps by implementing a reduction of $1 in benefits for every $4 in wages. (3) Next, end duplication of government programs by consolidating enforcement of ADA into a single agency that is adequately funded. No American can be expected to respect a law that routinely requires ten months just to begin its enforcement. (4) Finally, increase education efforts to effect real change in the long term.

Only by using the bully pulpit of the White House to vigorously support Equal opportunity for people with disabilities, by providing statistics on the low cost of accommodations to employers, and by encouraging dialog between people with disabilities and non disabled people can we move towards the American goal of a more competent and diverse workforce. 'Law only defines public policy, it does not assure its acceptance of practice. ' 17 Several obstacles await this plan of action. Allowing public assistance recipients to keep more of their benefits while going to work will likely increase the cost of these entitlement programs in the short run, at a time when Congress is intent upon cutting those costs. Furthermore, a backlash against public assistance programs of any kind appears to have gathered steam in recent months as the budget deficit continues. Prejudice against and ignorance about the disabled underlies all this.

Implementing these phased withdrawal plans for SSI and SSDI recipients will ultimately lower these programs' costs as more people with disabilities work. High levels of unemployment among people with disabilities now cost the American people $200 billion per year in public and private assistance, and an additional $100 billion in lost taxes and wages. 18 Furthermore, consolidation of ADA enforcement into one agency fits the growing trend to down-size government, while simultaneously providing a more reasonable bureaucratic structure for executing the law. Finally, education of employers and the public at large can reduce ignorance about the needs and capabilities of the disabled and can effectively pave the way for their further integration into the workforce.

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