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Facts About Disabilities and Employment
in the United States |
Disabled people often struggle to access
the competitive employment that allows them to achieve the personal and economic
self-sufficiency of the American dream, and Americans with severe disabilities
face even greater challenges. |
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More than 56 million Americans have
one or more disabilities. |
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Of the disabled population, 18.6%,
or approximately 10.4 million, are working age adults. |
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According to the U.S. Department
of Labor, while 82.1% of working age, non-disabled adults are employed, only
52.3% of working age disabled people are employed. |
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More than 9.4 million Americans
are considered severely disabled, which means they have a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities with
respect to employment (e.g., mobility, communication, self-care, self-direction,
work tolerance or work skills). |
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Of Americans with a severe disability,
the U.S. Department of Labor reports that only 26.1% are employed. |
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The ONE PERCENT COALITION, a new group
committed to helping at least one percent of severely disabled Americans
(94,000 people) find competitive employment, supports S. 1570, the Employer
Work Incentive Act for Individuals with Severe Disabilities". This new
bi-partisan legislation, co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS)
and U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), provides a meaningful incentive program
requiring government agencies and contractors to create a procurement advantage
for federal contractors and subcontractors that competitively employ significant
numbers of severely disabled Americans. Through this legislative effort,
the ONE PERCENT COALITION is working to ensure that severely disabled people
have greater access to competitive employment.
For more information on the ONE PERCENT
COALITION, please contact John D. Kemp at (202) 466-6550. |
1501 M Street, NW, 7th
Floor, Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 466-6550
Fax: (202) 785-1756 |
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