"Disability Mentoring Day" To Help Increase Employment Of People With Disabilities
October 1, 2001FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrew J. Imparato
President and CEO
202/457-0046 v/ttyWASHINGTON - The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) will commemorate National Disability Employment Awareness Month by hosting "Disability Mentoring Day: Career Development for the 21st Century" on October 24, 2001. Disability Mentoring Day will give students with disabilities an opportunity to learn about employment and to meet one-on-one with volunteer mentors who can offer insight and advice about career paths.
"Economic empowerment is at the heart of disability rights," says Andrew J. Imparato, President and CEO of AAPD. "Millions of talented and qualified people with disabilities face unemployment. Until they gain access to meaningful career opportunities they cannot truly become full participating members of our society. Nor can they live the American dream. Disability Mentoring Day provides an excellent opportunity for students with disabilities to make connections that can provide a competitive edge about how to successfully join the workforce and contribute to our nation's economic growth."
Disability Mentoring Day began in 1999 as a White House effort to help boost the employment of people with disabilities. It is patterned after other mentoring and job shadow activities, such as the national Groundhog Job Shadow Day and Take Your Child To Work Day. Last year Disability Mentoring Day events were hosted in 14 states and in Washington, DC, with the participation of 17 federal agencies and more than two dozen national businesses.
This year, Disability Mentoring Day will extend across the country through volunteer Local Coordinators, who will galvanize community interest, recruit mentors and students, and plan activities such as one-on-one mentoring and group events. To date, there are more than 50 Local Coordinators representing 29 states plus Washington, D.C.
AAPD is supported by a growing list of national sponsors that have enabled AAPD to coordinate the event nationwide. A centerpiece of that coordination is the provision of resource materials and technical assistance to Local Coordinators for planning the local events. The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy and the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities are the event's National Public Sponsors. AOL Time Warner; Booz Allen & Hamilton; Cingular Wireless; Citigroup Corporate & Investment Bank; Compaq Computer Corporation; Darden Restaurants and its operating companies, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones; Hewlett-Packard; Independence Technology, a Johnson & Johnson Company; Microsoft Corporation; Monster.com; Pitney Bowes; SmartForce; and Verizon are the National Corporate Sponsors.
"We applaud U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities for sponsoring this effort as a complement to President Bush's New Freedom Initiative," says Imparato. "And we applaud our 13 National Corporate Sponsors for making this a truly public-private partnership and helping to tackle the long-standing problem of widespread unemployment among people with disabilities."
AAPD encourages employers, educators, students with disabilities, parents, and disability advocates to get involved in Disability Mentoring Day. To find out if activities are already being planned in your community, consult the list of Local Coordinators available on AAPD's website, www.aapd-dc.org, or call AAPD at 800-840-8844. If your community is not already involved, there's still time! AAPD has a Local Coordinator Toolkit to help. You can start small to lay a foundation for next year or even plan activities for a later day this fall. Making a difference in students lives is what counts. Next year, Disability Mentoring Day will take place on October 16, and thereafter on the third Wednesday of every October.
The American Association of People with Disabilities is a national membership organization dedicated to promoting the economic and political empowerment of all people with disabilities; educating businesses and the general public about disability issues; and providing membership benefits, such as financial services and product discounts. AAPD was founded in 1995 by a group of cross-disability leaders to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities -- including their family, friends, and supporters -- and be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act -- equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.