Presidential Candidates' Forum to Address 40 Million Voters with Disabilties
Goodwill® Urges Candidates to Consider the Needs of Workers with Disabilities
July 25, 2008
Rockville, MD – Goodwill Industries International® is urging Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to support greater equality, access and opportunity for American workers with disabilities. McCain and Obama – the latter of who will be represented by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) – are expected to present their plans for national disability policy July 26 at the National Forum on Disability Issues in Columbus, OH.
Reports estimate that 70 percent of people with disabilities who want to work are unemployed.
“Long-term employment and career advancement is a challenge for many people with disabilities,” says Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International®. “Our nation can and should do more to help this valuable workforce find and keep good jobs and move up the career ladder.”
The national disability forum coincides with the 18th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and introduces the candidates to newly eligible voters with disabilities who were born in 1990, the year the ADA became law. News anchor and journalist Judy Woodruff, of PBS’ "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," will serve as the moderator of the non-partisan forum, and Goodwill is one of its host sponsors.
Last year alone, nearly 170,000 people with physical or mental disabilities benefited from Goodwill job training and support programs.
“Despite advances made since the passage of the ADA, there are still not enough jobs for workers with disabilities, or incentives for employers to hire them,” Gibbons says. “We hope that our next President will acknowledge the employment needs of this growing voting block.”
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