Truman Scholarship Candidate :: essays research papers

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") has proven unsuccessful in its goal of empowering populate with disabilities to enter the workforce. Although 19.4% of the population have some disability,1 they constitute exclusively 4.3% of the workforce.2 The groups unemployment rate stands at almost 17%, nearly three times the national average.3 A survey for the National Organization on Disabilities found that authentic levels of employment of plurality 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 mixer Security Administration has additionally reported a decline since 1990 in the percentage of disabled Americans who are working while receiving Supplemental Security Income ("SSI").5several(prenominal) factors account for these high levels of unemployment. Health insurance is perhaps the most significant. Disabled people receiving SSI or So cial Security Disability Income ("SSDI") lose their federal wellness 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.7Thirdly, ADA has yet to be properly enforced. Eight federal agencies are currently involved in the investigation of varied thrills,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 numbe r of such complaints for the same employer accumulated, action would be taken."10An additional factor in the high levels of unemployment among people with disabilities is businesss 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.13Finally, 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 receptive of performing their jobs than their nondisabled counterparts, although studies have shown that disabled employees achieve similar levels of excellence in each of these categories.