The opening plenary session of the 2004 Bridges to Employment conference created an opportunity to take stock of where disabled Latinos fit in the Disability Rights Movement, where we are going, and how employment fits into our future.

Latinos with disabilities are perhaps the most un- and underemployed of all minority groups, with an unemployment rate estimated as high as 90%. Plenary speaker Carmen Walker of the US Department of Homeland Security said that in spite of the fact that current estimates put the Latino population in the US at 20%, only about 1% of those self-identified as having a disability. "Clearly, there is a missed opportunity," said Walker, "since we know that about 19% of the population at large experiences disability."

Marca Bristo, President and CEO of Access Living - a Chicago-based Center for Independent Living - provided historical context. She recounted the pride and hope felt within the disability community when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in 1990 by then President H.W. Bush as he declared the law would "let that shameful wall of exclusion come tumbling down."

Bristo pointed out the many ways in which the wall truly has begun to crumble -- Spalding High School in Chicago, for example, once reserved only for students with disabilities, is closing. Institutions are closing, and their residents moving into community settings.

So why then, when we look at employment, is the wall not crumbling ? Bristo said the unemployment rate of all people with disabilities hovers at or near 70%, remaining virtually unchanged since the passage of the ADA 14 years ago. Jobseekers who are both Latina and disabled are in a group with an unemployment rate of 90%.

Robert Kilbury, Director of the Division of Rehabilitation Services in Illinois, pointed out that Latinos make up only 5% of Illinois' Vocational Rehabilitation clients today despite the fact that Latinos make up 12.3% of the total state population. He acknowledged the efforts of the State's Office of Hispanic and Latino Outreach, citing their contribution to increasing the number of Latinos with disabilities who got competitive jobs last year by 100%. He tempered that comment by adding, "we still need to do a lot more."

Bristo said it is up to the disability community to recognize the employment rate of people with disabilities as the national disgrace that it is. She commented, "If our legislators opened the paper and read that the national unemployment rate for African American men was 70%, they wouldn't stand for it, so we shouldn't allow them to accept it for people with disabilities."

Rene Luna of Access Living said he was satisfied that the Latino and disability communities came together with government agencies, service providers, not-for-profit organizations and businesses to address the high unemployment rate of Latinos with disabilities.

Like Luna, David Hanson, Commissioner of the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, believes that it is only through forming such partnerships that the economic and employment status of Latinos with disabilities will improve. He cited this philosophy as the strategy behind the creation of the first ever task force on employment of people with disabilities in Chicago that was established 2002. "The task force," he said, "is working to find ways to remove barriers to employment for people with disabilities, including the formation of programs that help open the doors to government contracts for disabled business owners."

So where are the jobs? According to Carmen Walker, the US Department of Homeland Security is the place to be. She said Secretary Tom Ridge has plans to make the federal government the biggest employer of people with disabilities. Walker pointed out that since the Department of Homeland Security was created out of a merger of all or part of 22 prior agencies, there is a need for people with a wide range of skills and abilities. She said no matter what an individual's interest or background, the Department probably has something for them.

For those who'd rather start their own business, Troy Justesen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education, pointed out that one of the greatest trends in employment of people with disabilities is self-employment. Flexible programs within the Small Business Administration (SBA), assistance from vocational rehabilitation and other agencies can help make that dream a reality for the disabled entrepreneur.

A key theme throughout the plenary session was the need for the disability community to get out and vote - especially during Presidential election years. Justesen said, "if we don't vote, we have no voice." He encouraged everyone not only to exercise their own power in the voting booth, but to get their brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins to do the same.

printer friendly format