Getting the Word Out About Mental Disabilities

Myths And Stereotypes About Mental Disabilities Greatest Barrier To Employment
(U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
March 16, 2011
Excerpt from Inclusion Daily Express
WASHINGTON, DC– [Excerpt] The greatest barrier to employment for people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities are employers’ myths and fears about their condition, not the disabilities themselves, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission learned at a hearing held today. The hearing focused on a group whose rate of unemployment and underemployment far exceeds the national average.

“We want job seekers, workers, and employers to understand the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and be well equipped to comply with them,” said EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien. “Today’s Commission meeting provided an important opportunity to dispel myths and learn about effective ways to dismantle barriers to employment for people with disabilities.”

Sharon Lewis, Commissioner of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health And Human Services, underscored the need to dismantle barriers for people with intellectual disabilities, noting that “the proportion of the population of people with disabilities who are employed is estimated to be 17 percent, compared to 63 percent for people without disabilities.”

As Ruby Moore, Executive Director of the Georgia Advocacy Office, the designated Protection and Advocacy System for People with Disabilities in Georgia, told the Commission, “one of the biggest obstacles to employment is consciously and unconsciously-held beliefs about people with psychiatric, cognitive or intellectual disabilities.”

She further testified that most of the accommodations individuals with mental disabilities require can be provided in a well-managed, flexible workplace often without any out-of-pocket costs to the employer. She stated that these flexibilities have the effect of aiding all employees, not just those with disabilities.

Entire article:
Myths and Stereotypes About Mental Disabilities Greatest Barrier to Employment
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-15-11c.cfm
Related:
Meeting of March 15, 2011 – Employment of People with Mental Disabilities
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/meetings/3-15-11/index.cfm