For over 75 years, we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) each October. This year’s theme for 2024 is “Access to Good Jobs for All.” NDEAM is a great time for employers to recognize the value of workers with disabilities and consider how to build a more disability-inclusive workplace.
DirectEmployers Association and the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability (YTI) at Cornell University have partnered for over 10 years to increase understanding of how employers are working to recruit, hire, and build more inclusive workplaces for employees with disabilities.
Housed in the Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR School), YTI conducts a unique combination of research and outreach, with a mission of advancing the inclusion and full participation of people with disabilities in workplaces and communities. Several of our workplace-focused projects may be of interest to DirectEmployers Members, including our work through the Northeast ADA Center.
For over 30 years, the Northeast ADA Center has provided training and information about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our goal is to educate and empower employers, businesses, individuals with disabilities, and others, to increase their knowledge of the ADA and to support inclusion of disabled people in all aspects of community life.
Anyone is welcome to call 1-800-949-4232 or email northeastada@cornell.edu to ask ADA-related questions. Our team will find the answer or refer you to the best source.
At YTI and the Northeast ADA Center, we conduct research to understand and inform policy and practice on pressing issues for our constituents. As part of Cornell’s ILR School, we are particularly interested in exploring issues related to employment. Right now, we are conducting a study on flexible workplace policies and practices.
Flexibility can be an important aspect of “good jobs” for people with disabilities. We would love to talk with you about your approaches to flexible work. To learn more about the study please visit https://northeastada.org/workplace-study or use this form to sign up. We will be using what we learn from the study to create practical resources for employers like you!
We look forward to your participation in the flexible workplace study, and we invite you to join us next month for a webinar about how the Northeast ADA Center can benefit DirectEmployers Members, on Thursday, November 21st from 2pm-3pm EST. Register now!
About the Authors
Sarah von Schrader
joined the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, ILR School at Cornell University as a Research Associate in June 2009, and now serves as the Director of Research and Program Evaluation at the Yang-Tan Institute (YTI). Sarah’s research focuses on employer practices related to employer success in recruiting, hiring, and advancing people with disabilities.
LaWanda Cook
joined the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, ILR School at Cornell University in July 2010. She has extensive experience in vocational counseling, personnel management, and program development within non-profit organizations. Her scholarship explores the well-being and the inclusion of multiply marginalized people with disabilities in work and leisure settings.
