Lauren Scrivo of Kessler Foundation Publishes Op-ed on NJ.com to Comment on the ADA and Employment for People with Disabilities
Scrivo shares her experience growing up with a disability and struggling to find employment
Lauren Scrivo, communications specialist at Kessler Foundation, was born with a form of muscular dystrophy. In a wheelchair and on a ventilator, she started kindergarten in the September following the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). July 26, 2014 commemorates the 24th anniversary of the ADA. In “Why More People with Disabilities Aren’t Working,” Scrivo cites that while the ADA removed the physical barriers to employment, the attitudinal barriers of employers remains the biggest obstacle to employment.
Scrivo details growing up in the age of the ADA, discrimination she faced when trying to find employment, ad how she overcame challenges to find her current position at the Foundation. She calls upon society to get to know people with disabilities, recognize their abilities, and recognize their own misconceptions.
“While I enjoy my success, I think of the 80 percent of Americans with disabilities who are not working,” Scrivo writes. “As we honor the 24th anniversary of the signing of the ADA, we celebrate the passage of guidelines that removed most of the physical barriers to equality and integration. The document gave us the tools, but it's up to us to remove the attitudinal roadblocks that prevent employers from hiring a job seeker with a disability. As a nation, it's up to us to put meaning behind the written words.”
Read more:
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/07/post_32.html
Photo credit:
Lynn Lang Photography
