OPM Hosts Disability Employment Training Workshop

The disability employment training workshop gave agencies the information and resources they need to develop strong plans for hiring more individuals with disabilities

Washington, DC – On Tuesday, October 26, 2010, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hosted a Disability Employment Training. This event was open to all Federal employees and discussed the hiring of individuals with disabilities and how to meet the goals outlined in President Obama’s Executive Order (E.O.) 13548. Topics discussed at this training included an overview of the E.O., how to effectively use the Schedule A hiring authority, reasonable accommodation guidance, the disability register, and improving return to work outcomes.

“The U.S. Government should be a model employer of persons with disabilities,” said U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry. “I am committed to a diverse and talented workforce, and that includes improving the Federal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.”

E.O. 13548 was issued on July 26, 2010 and mandated that OPM work with the Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Office of Management and Budget to design model recruitment and hiring strategies so that agencies may increase the number of individuals with disabilities they employ. Each agency must create its own plan for increasing opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The E.O. also encourages the increased use of the Schedule A excepted service hiring authority for persons with disabilities as well as internships, fellowships, and training and mentoring programs.

Individuals with disabilities currently make up just over five percent of the Federal workforce and individuals with targeted disabilities make up less than one percent of the Federal workforce. Through efforts like today’s training, the Federal Government is committed to increasing employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

“This is a win-win for everyone,” said OPM Deputy Director Christine Griffin. “Employment opportunities are increased for people with disabilities and the Federal government hires highly talented and skilled individuals.”

Top 10 Ways Hiring Disabled Workers Can Motivate All

Inspiring and motivating your team involves more than one-on-one giving and rewarding tangible forms of recognition. It is also about making a difference and giving back in ways that have meaning for your workforce and customers. You can reinvent your corporate culture by living the beliefs and values that are common to the community in which your company is present.

The harsh reality is one out of five Americans lives with a disability, and 70 percent of Americans with disabilities are unemployed. Consider the following 10 points, sparked from my conversation with Robert Stack, chief executive of Community Options, Inc., www.comop.org, on how we can be more inclusive of disabled Americans in the workplace.


1. Americans with disabilities represent an untapped resource. They want to be working no matter their disabilities—whether it’s blindness, hearing impairment, a muscular ailment, autism, etc. Consider a physically or mentally challenged person as your next hire because he or she may provide a unique talent and ability that makes a difference in your organization.

2. Reap hidden ROI. Tapping individuals with special needs for employment will become a visible marker and spill over into attracting clients that similarly care about and respect all individuals.

3. Hiring challenged individuals motivates and impacts all employees. Many people have family members or friends with some form of disability, or knows someone who has a loved one with a disability. Being a disabled-worker-friendly company will thus increase loyalty and morale across the entire company.

4. Raises brand awareness. While you should never do it for publicity reasons, hiring people with special needs, and offering training and development to cultivate their growth, is a positive and inclusive way to enhance your corporate brand similar to other corporate social responsibility initiatives.

5. Improve customer awareness. Having individuals with disabilities aboard your company increases awareness of the typical physical challenges they experience and might help you innovate new solutions for products and services.

6. Break stereotypes. Companies that make the step in hiring people with disabilities help team members understand workplace and personal differences, appreciate their blessings, and let go of incorrect and negative perceptions.

7. Find the perfect employee for the job. Many disabled workers are gifted with talents that will actually lend themselves to existing positions in your company. Asperger syndrome is an autism disorder that gives some people incredible ability to process details, which is an excellent trait for computer programmers, social media posting and monitoring, and researchers, etc.

8. Find the perfect job for the employee. Robert Stack shared a poignant story of an autistic person who was unable to read but was eager to work. He was the perfect candidate for shredding confidential papers when a company was challenged in finding someone who met the strict requirements for the job.

9. Elevate workplace principles. By allowing such individuals to be a part of your workplace, you are going to learn and demonstrate caring, kindness, greater courtesy, and respect, and make your company a friendlier and more service-oriented organization with which to do business.

10. Begin your outreach. Finding talented and skilled people with disabilities for your organization is a process. Robert Stack invites companies to get more information at its Web site, www.comop.org.

Incentive columnist Roy Saunderson is author of Giving the Recognition Way and president of the Recognition Management Institute, www.realrecognition.com, which consults companies on improving employee motivation that leads to increased productivity and profit. He can be reached at roysaunderson@realrecognition.com. Also, tune in every Tuesday to his radio show, Real Recognition Radio.

Obama Signs Rosa's Law

(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama on Tuesday signed legislation, called Rosa's Law, requiring the federal government to use the term “intellectual disability” instead of “mental retardation” and “individual with an intellectual disability” instead of “mentally retarded” in health, education, and labor policy.

Rosa’s Law is named for Rosa Marcellino, a young Maryland girl with an intellectual disability whose brother Nick convinced his state legislature to change the official phrase to "individual with an intellectual disability."

"We're not allowed to use the words at my house, it would be just like saying a curse word," said Nick in testimony to Maryland legislators. "We're also not allowed to use other words that are hurtful to minorities or people who are different."

The change will be not be immediate, but instead will be made gradually over the next several years.

An Exhibit Full of Hope

Whenever you see Steven, you’ll see him carrying paper and a pencil. Steven
remembers watching his father paint a picture of a wagon. The wagon was green and white. He states that his father was a cool Vincent Van Gogh. Steven says, “my art work keeps me out of trouble and makes me feel good.” Specifically, Steven likes working with colored pencils and he enjoys drawing monsters, holiday pictures, and cars. Steven likes writing on the back of his pictures “The End” when he is finished.

Steven is a man supported by Community Options in his home in Southern New Jersey. For years, Steven lived at the New Lisbon Developmental Center. Community Options was able to successfully move Steven into his own home in the community.

In honor of his work, there will be an exhibit held at the Moorestown Daily Plan It on October 27, 2010 at Noon and all are welcome to attend.

If you are interested in seeing Steven's work, please attend his Exhibit on October 27, 2010. For more information, please call the Moorestown Daily Plan It at 609-265-7749.

Women with Disabilities, Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Aided through Funds by the U.S. Department of Justice

Community Options, Inc. a national nonprofit organization that has been developing homes and employment for people with disabilities since 1989, recently became funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women to educate and advocate for women with disabilities who are survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

NAVAAS (Never a Victim, Always a Survivor) will begin working immediately to outreach to state-run institutions and facilities to start the education process about the program and all that it will offer. In partnership with The Genesis House, Community Options will also work to reexamine policies and procedures that will benefit women with disabilities, provide appropriate services and referrals and collaborate and create risk-reduction training and educational outreach to women with disabilities.

The grant will primarily be carried out in Cookeville, Tennessee and will work closely with The Clover Bottom Developmental Center, an 87-year old facility that was originally established to house “feeble-minded persons.”

As many as 83% of women with disabilities are survivors of domestic violence or
sexual assault according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. People with disabilities were victims of 47,000 rapes in 2006 and the rate of violent crime
against people with disabilities was 1.5 times higher than for those without disabilities. People with disabilities are more than two times more likely to be sexually assaulted and women with a cognitive disability were more likely to be victimized than women with other types of disabilities.

NAVAAS can provide personnel training, technical assistance, advocacy, interventions, educational presentations, referrals, support groups and assistance with strategic planning.

“Being awarded this grant to assist women with disabilities who are survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault is vital to our work as we continue to emancipate women with disabilities from institutions,” says Robert Stack, President and CEO of Community Options. “At the alarming rates that violence occurs against women with disabilities only proves how the work of this grant will transform the lives of so many women.”

For more information about NAVAAS, please contact Robin Gray, Executive Director of Community Options of Cookeville at 931-372-0955 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              931-372-0955      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or robin.gray@comop.org.

National Disability Advocate Authors Book on The Facts of Life

Community Options, Inc. a national nonprofit organization that has been developing homes and employment for people with disabilities since 1989 recently held its annual iMatter Conference at the W Hotel in Dallas. The organization had the pleasure of having Leslie Walker-Hirsch as a presenter.

Leslie Walker-Hirsch is an educational consultant who specializes in social and sexual development for individuals with intellectual disabilities. She is an advocate, lecturer and the co-creator of the CIRCLES curriculum series, a multi-media teaching series for improving social competence and judgment that is designed especially to address the learning styles of youth and adults with cognitive disabilities. The CIRCLES series is in its fifth iteration.

Her book, The Facts of Life…and More, released in 2007, is currently available from Paul H. Brookes, Baltimore, MD or from your retail bookseller. This book was voted “Winner Best Special Needs Titles” by Exceptional Parent Magazine in 2007.

Her other publications include: Down Syndrome: Visions for the 21st Century,
Chapter 22 “Building Relationships/Social and Sexual Development”, A Guide to
Consent, Chapter 4 “Consent to Sexual Activity”, as well as many articles in journals
and newsletters.

She is the founder, former and current chairperson of the American Association on
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), formerly American Association
on Mental Retardation (AAMR), Special Interest Group on Social and Sexual Concerns, former President of the General Division and Fellow in the AAIDD formerly AAMR), member of the National Clinical Advisory Board of the National Down Syndrome Society, serves on the Proctor and Gamble panel of experts for the 8th
grade and is a member of the Board of Directors of Alta Mira Specialized Family
Services. She has trained professionals in her unique strategies across the US and
internationally. She teaches in the Graduate College of Education at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM.

Leslie Walker-Hirsch has a Master’s Degree in Special Education and Administration.
She consults to schools, agencies and states to assist individuals with intellectual
disabilities, their families and the professionals who support them on issues related to developing social competence and sexual safety.

For more information, please visit www.lesliewalker-hirsch.com.