The United States should expect substantial changes to its disability employment statistics in the near future, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, announced on July 26, the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I believe our country is on the verge of major progress on the issue of disability employment,” he wrote in a letter to President Obama introducing his new report, Unfinished Business: Making Employment of People with Disabilities a National Priority. Improvement is on the way because a new generation — one that sees disability as a natural part of the human experience and does not carry the fears, myths and stereotypes of earlier generations — is entering the workforce, Harkin said. Additionally, thousands of soldiers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with disabilities and they don’t want their impairments to prevent them from having a career, he explained.
Harkin, who introduced the original ADA and its 2008 amendments, proposed that the United States aim to increase the size of the disability labor force by 1 million workers during the next three years. Said the senator, “If all of us — members of Congress, business leaders, employers and people with disabilities — work together, I believe that we can meet the goal of 1 million new workers with disabilities — and ensure that all individuals with disabilities have real opportunities for employment that meet their goals, interests, and high expectations.”
Other members of Congress honored the law’s anniversary by approving the United Nations’ Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The treaty was signed by Obama three years ago on ADA’s 19th anniversary and he urged the Senate to give it “swift consideration.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a markup session and approved the convention 13 to 6. It will now be considered for ratification by the full Senate. At press time, 153 countries had signed the treaty; 118 had ratified it.
For additional information about leave and disability, see Thompson’s employment law library including the ADA Compliance Guide.