Competitive, integrated employment (CIE) – working in the community, alongside people with and without disabilities, at competitive wages – offers a direct pathway to greater independence and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities. CIE is increasingly becoming the expectation across the country.

ACL is committed to expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities. In addition to funding programs that provide direct employment support services to people with disabilities and advocating for policies and practices that prioritize and support CIE as a key element of community living, ACL also is investing in research to increase knowledge about the benefits of employment of people with disabilities – both for the individual and for the employer – and to increase the availability of effective interventions to support employment. 

Last week, as the country celebrated the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Disability Pride Month, ACL's National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is released a new issue brief summarizing the research supporting CIE.

Four voters with disabilities recently filed a lawsuit against a federal court. The lawsuit asks the court to ensure that voters can get assistance returning their ballot. This comes after the Supreme Court ruled that unsupervised drop boxes are illegal. However, the Court did not clarity whether voters could get assistance returning ballots by mail. 

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To mark the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Biden-Harris Administration released a fact sheet. It details several different topics such as civil rights, education, voting, employment, and healthcare. This provides some interesting statistics. 

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics says people with disabilities are unemployed at more than double the rate of people without disabilities.  On the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we learn about the state of protections and where progress is still needed.

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The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation helps people with disabilities and health conditions find and maintain employment. Even after an life-changing medical diagnosis, a farmer in Price County was able to get back to doing what he loves. The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation helped get him the accommodations and technology he needed so that he could continue farming. 

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The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released a report on a study done on how unwinding public health emergency policies are affecting people with disabilities. A survey was done in all 50 states and the main issues brought up were enrollee confusion and staffing shortage. This report includes lots of interesting statistics. 

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More than half of U.S. states did not support direct care workers with hazard pay or paid sick leave policies during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study from the New York-based direct care worker advocacy organization PHI revealed.  Researchers with PHI also advocated for the need to develop a national compensation strategy for direct care workers that creates a “livable, competitive wage” for this workforce.

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The pandemic only made the caregiver shortage worse. Family caregivers are forced to sacrifice their ambitions to take care of loved ones. This has taken a major toll on people. Older adults are having to take care of their parents. Facilities that provide some relief are closing because they can't find enough workers. Experts say unfortunately there's no end in sight. 

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