This article recaps a recent installment of a webinar series celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To view the program, please click here.
By Mary Elizabeth Robertson, The Council of State Governments
The Council of State Governments (CSG) continued its celebration of 30 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with its second installment of the State Exchange on Employment and Disability Learning Lab. The workshop entitled, “States as a Model Employer,” featured Nadia Mossburg, senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment, moderating a discussion between Maryland Secretary of Disabilities Carol Beatty, Pennsylvania state Rep. Dan Miller and Minnesota Minority Whip Sen. John Hoffman.
The conversation centered around the progress states make in providing disability services.
“What works in one state might also work in another,” Mossburg said. “That’s the thinking behind the State Exchange on Employment and Disability.”
Inclusion in the workforce is still an area where more work needs to be done.
“The disability community represents a very broad range of individuals,” Beatty said, pointing to tools her agency is working toward to help connect students headed into the workforce.
In Pennsylvania, plans are in motion to integrate disabled workers into the workforce.
“SEED and CSG are fantastic partners,” Miller said. “How can you get people into these opportunities to get them to succeed?”
Miller listed several opportunities in Pennsylvania for the disabled community to find gainful employment.
“In everything the state does, that the lives and opportunities of their citizens with disabilities are included in the planning and execution from top to bottom,” Miller said.
Hoffman’s state of Minnesota is an Employment First state, a feat accomplished by bipartisanship.
“Collaboration mattered,” Hoffman said. “Minnesota did that in 2014. Governor Dayton initiated an executive order calling upon state agencies to hire people with disabilities.”
Since then, Gov. Walz re-established that executive order.
“We can get beyond the politics in life and make sure we are doing the right thing,” he said.