Extraordinary efforts have been made to improve job opportunities for people with disabilities. Yet, their unemployment rate remains dishearteningly high. Two to three times higher than people without disabilities.
The number of people needing employment support services continues to increase, at a time when government funding is threatened, leaving tens of thousands of potential workers stuck on the unemployment rolls.
Wide spread misconceptions and stereotypes of people with disabilities continue to stand in the way of community employment and full integration.
Fortunately, new and promising ideas are being tried with great success to place workers with disabilities, convince more employers of the value of hiring individuals with disabilities, and secure more help from government to make these moves possible.
When organizations that serve people with disabilities work together, we speak with one, powerful voice to encourage these positive changes.
We can also learn from each other about the best ways to make our organizations thrive and serve people with disabilities as effectively as possible.
There is so much to be gained when we join together. And that is why we are here.
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