Last June a job fair took place at Chicago's Navy Pier. Representatives from over 30 companies and organizations were in attendance, shaking hands and accepting resumes. The four-hour event that attracted recruiters from all over Chicago had been publicized on television and radio at least six weeks prior to the day of the event. As a result, the festival hall was packed with people of a variety of ages, backgrounds and experiences. It literally seemed that everyone from all walks of life were there…everyone except Latinos with visible disabilities.

I went to the job fair with the intentions of not only finding employment for myself but also to interview attendees who happened to be in wheelchairs, use crutches, walkers, scooters or any other noticeable device or characteristic that would make then stand out as representatives of the so called "disability community."  Unfortunately, I found nobody who matched the description.

My sense of loneliness seemed too incomprehensible to believe. I could understand if, for example, the location of the job fair was physically inaccessible; if there was an admission fee or if it was specifically stated during all of the promotional announcements that only the able-bodied could attend. Those would be legitimate reasons as to why nobody with visible impairments showed, even if the latter is not likely to happen. Language barriers and educational level would not have been adequate excuses for not attending this particular fair either.

About one year ago, I went to Navy Pier for another job fair. This job fair was geared toward people with disabilities. A total of twenty recruiters were available. Out of those twenty, only nine were from Chicago. Of those nine, the only types of employment to be found were part-time receptionist work and vocational training services. The rest of the recruiters expected the patrons to move out of state and most of those jobs were in the field of information and technology.

Few Jobs at the Job Fairs
Most attendees complained that there were not enough jobs that they could apply for in the city. Indeed, every job fair I've attended over the past four years that was "disability-geared" has ended with the same result – the lack of a wide variety of vocational opportunities that are appropriate and close by.

It is possible that past experience has left many Latinos with disabilities feeling discouraged about the effectiveness and usefulness of job fairs. This particular fair though, should have been different. Job choices were in abundance. Employers were not expecting to speak exclusively with "the disabled," they were expecting to speak with "the qualified" – able-bodied or not.

I believe the lack of recruiters at "disability-focused" job fairs has to do in part with the word "disability" and all of the negativity associated with it. People's perceptions of disability are negative. Employers, for the most part, are very fearful of hiring someone with a disability for a variety of reasons and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has, in many cases, only added to their fears. This is because they are now afraid of being sued or having to pay for expensive accommodations. Of course, neither concern should become a reality unless there is a legitimate reason. At any rate, given the circumstances it is understandable why an employer might hesitate to participate in a "disability- focused" job fair.

Exposure and Representation
The best way to change people's perceptions about disability is to expose them to someone with a disability, or better yet, more than one person with a disability. And this, my fellow Latinos, is where we come in.

There are no vocational counselors, job coaches or job specialists who represent us better than we do. And, most importantly, there is no law that will protect us sufficiently if we do not prove to be worthy of those laws.

Hermanitos, we must remember that life is like a wheelchair, if we expect to get anywhere we must keep pushing, no matter how rough our road or how steep our push to success.

We must show our faces. We must not be afraid to showcase our talents and promote ourselves. Most of all we must never get discouraged or let them see us discouraged. We must attend each and every event that presents an opportunity for employment. By showing up and representing we demonstrate that we are productive members of society and we are not going to go away.

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