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Dream Big Parent Roundtable: How To Get Accommodations In College
Last Wednesday** of the month during academic year | 6:30 pm CT | Virtual on Zoom
To keep our families informed about transition topics and trends, Dream Big hosts roundtables for parents throughout the academic year. This space brings parents together to answer questions and share their personal experiences of success, barriers, and everything in between that exists navigating the world with their kids with disabilities.
We host community partners or parents of Dream Big alumni to share resources, insights, and expertise. The FREE Parent Roundtables are currently held virtually on the Zoom platform.
Fall 2024 Schedule
- September 25: IEPs and Advocacy
- October 23: Post-Secondary Education Options
- November 21**: How To: Getting Accommodations in College
**NOTE: This is the third Thursday due to Thanksgiving the following week.
Dream Big Peer Hangouts Fall 2024
Third Wednesday of the month | 5pm CT | Virtual on Zoom
Connect with other teens who are navigating what it means to be a young adult with a disability, play games, and learn about resources that will help you become a successful, independent disabled adult.
Fall 2024 Schedule
- September 18: Back-To-School Hangout
- October 16: Voting Rights
- November 20: Independent Living
Dream Big Peer Hangouts are open to disabled students in middle school and high school who plan to go on to college, trade, or tech school.
Dream Big Career Club November 2024
First Wednesday of the month | 5pm CT | Virtual on Zoom
November is Entrepreneurship
On Wednesday, November 6 at 5:00pm CT on Zoom, join us for a live panel with professionals who work for themselves and learn more about how they got to this point in their careers and what it’s like to be your own boss and own a business.
Career Club is now open to disabled students in middle school, high school, and college, and trade/tech school interested in learning about potential career paths.
Self-ID Campaigns: What, Why, & How
Every organization should run voluntary self-ID campaigns. They should be run regularly, and the organization should report their results.
What even is a voluntary self-ID campaign?
Say you’re a member of some historically underrepresented group: maybe the LBGTQ community or you’re a woman or have a disability. If there aren’t many employees or leaders at your company that share your experience, there is a direct impact on your work performance and for your company as a whole. On an individual level, wouldn’t you feel more engaged at work if you didn’t feel like the only one? Wouldn’t you be more likely to stay at an organization where you feel like a valued team member instead of an outlier?
On the company’s end, they are missing out on valuable talent in communities that make up a huge part of the labor force. Barriers to particular groups of workers getting hired and succeeding at an organization need data to be revealed and removed.
This is what self-ID campaigns help do. It is a process of asking employees to confidentially volunteer their own demographic data to help the organization measure and evaluate the diversity of their workforce.
Employees with a wide range of lived experience add value in many ways, and can have legal implications when it comes to disability.
When are self-ID campaigns legally required?
Section 503 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act says that federal government contractors and subcontractors cannot discriminate against people with disabilities in employment. But passive nondiscrimination rules were not impacting the sky-high unemployment rate for disabled workers. In 2014 the federal government updated and expanded this section to require all federal contractors and subcontractors to create affirmative action programs to hire, retain, and promote people with disabilities with the goal that 7% of employees at all job levels will be people with disabilities.
The government requires contractors to report regularly on the number of employees with disabilities in their company. Companies must use a standardized self-ID form. Filling out the form must be voluntary, and the form must be stored in a separate, confidential file. The form cannot be seen by anyone making hiring decisions, and employers can only use the form to report their total numbers of disabled employees.
Employers can ask their employees to voluntarily self-ID at any time. One of the most effective ways for an employer to stay on top of their disability inclusion goals is to run annual self-ID campaigns. Self-ID campaigns are like advertisement campaign with the goal of getting as many employees as possible, disabled and nondisabled, to fill out the self-ID form. Employers may do this through email blasts, newsletter articles, videos, posters, flyers, and more.
Can employers who aren’t contractors ask employees to self-ID?
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) allows non-contractors to invite employees to self-ID as long as the employer can show they are using the information to help people with disabilities. This can include things like launching an affirmative action campaign and measuring progress on meeting disability hiring goals.
If a non-contractor decides to invite employees to self-ID, they must follow all regulations under section 503. This is also a smart thing to do as the 503 regulations were written not to conflict with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
What do self-ID rates tell us?
Self-ID rates tell us a lot about how people with disabilities are doing.
In 2023, the Department of Labor reported the employment rate for people with disabilities was 22.5%. That same year, Disability:IN found the national voluntary self-ID rate was just 4.5%. This tells us two things:
- People with disabilities are still underrepresented in the workforce.
- Those who are in the workforce don’t self-identify.
There are a number of reasons why people with disabilities don’t self-ID. Many have experienced negative attitudes at work and fear being fired or not hired if they self-ID. Lack of education about disability means most people don’t know what a disability is and whether or not they count as disabled.
Employers also don’t gather or report on their disability data very often. Because the federal government only requires contractors to report their disability data every five years, most employers don’t run annual self-ID campaigns. Only 24% of surveyed employers include disability data in their annual diversity reports. The lack of regular communication from employers about their disability numbers reinforces the idea that employers don’t consider disability a part of their diversity efforts.
This makes self-ID rates not just a measure of how many people with disabilities are in the workforce but also a measure of how much employers care about their disabled talent. Research from Global Disability Inclusion and Mercer that shows people with disabilities are among the least engaged at work of any traditionally marginalized group. After all, if the employer doesn’t care about their disabled talent, why should the talent care about their employer?
Why everyone should want more self-ID campaigns.
We’ve shown how valuable self-ID rates are to anyone who cares about people with disabilities. (And any person can become disabled at any time, including you.)
Higher self-ID rates will show more people know about disability, more people with disabilities are in the workforce, more people with disabilities are comfortable at work, and more employers care about the wellbeing of disabled employees.
If your employer isn’t currently tracking self-ID rates, you should advocate for them to do so, and if your employer invites you to fill out the self-ID form, you should do so whether or not you have a disability.
Your next step: How to run a successful self-ID campaign.
At Starkloff Disability Institute, we have decades of experience connecting with disabled talent. As people with disabilities, we understand the anxiety and confusion people with disabilities have about self-identification. We’ve seen how little people with disabilities and those that employ them understand about disability and the ADA, and we know how to communicate with the disability community.
Our consultants bring this knowledge and experience to your company. We go beyond checking a box and aim for long-term, sustainable success by removing systemic barriers, changing attitudes, and building an environment where everyone can bring their full selves to work. Only in such an environment will your self-ID rates improve.
To learn more about how companies can run effective self-ID campaigns, join us on September 26th at our Starkloff Disability Employment Summit. We will also cover topics including recruiting and keeping disabled talent, creating effective workplace accommodations teams, universal design, and more.
Advancements 24Q3 Series: Effective Business Communication
Leadership skills empowering you to do well at work and in life. Register at the link. See you there!
Session 2: Friday, August 16 at Noon CT (Zoom)
Presenting: Effectively Engage Your Audience
with Jeff Parker, MBA, MA, CDR and Scott Pieber | CenteneWhether you are talking to one or one hundred, how you present is as important as what you have to say. Learn skills to successfully engage your audience, including active listening and adept verbal and written expression for diverse audiences.
Session 3: Friday, September, 20 at Noon CT (Zoom)
The Watercooler
Facilitated peer discussion to put your new skills into action and build your network of disabled professional peers.Session 1 happened Friday, July 19
Amplifying Communication Through Human-Centered Design
with Christopher Gaines, MSM | Human Factors EngineerEngaging people means shifting from communicating to speak to communicating to listen.
Effective verbal and written communication and the design thinking process enhance this engagement. Incorporating human factors in communication ensures presentations resonate personally and memorably.Advancements is a professional development workshop series for disabled talent ready to take their careers to the next level.
This program is offered at no cost to participants thanks to the generous support of our funding partners to help disabled people thrive.
Registration is required.ADA Anniversary at the MO History Museum
The Americans with Disabilities Act: Advancements, Challenges, and the Path Forward
Thirty-four years after being signed into the law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) continues to protect the rights of people with disabilities.
Join us for a panel discussion, performances, and resource tables that reflect on the achievements and advancements made since ADA’s enactment, explore its profound impact on the lives of individuals with disabilities, and address ongoing challenges and areas for improvement in ensuring equal rights and accessibility.
Moderated by Dr. Thy Huskey, Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in the Division of Neurorehabilitation, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, and a faculty member in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided by DEAF Inc.
Find event details at https://mohistory.org/events/the-american-with-disabilities-act-advancements-challenges-and-the-path-forward-07-23-2024
ADA Celebration Day 2024
Rev. Harold Wilke: Disability Rights and the “Breaking of Chains”
Rev. Harold H. Wilke (1914 – 2003) was the minister who gave an invocation at the White House signing of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) with President George H.W. Bush. Wilke was born without arms on a farm in Washington, Missouri, and had to fight discrimination in school, in religious institutions, and in society throughout his life. Without his efforts and that of our disability rights ancestors, there would be no ADA. Read the event flyer for more details.
Featured Panelists:
- Philip Dietch, formerly on the Advisory Board for Rev. Wilke’s 1978 “Independence Festival” in Washington, D.C.
- Lori Becker, CEO at Starkloff Disability Institute
- DeMarco Davidson, Executive Director, Metropolitan Congregations United
Date: Friday, July 26, 2024
Time: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm CT
In-person: Chapel at Eden Theological Seminary, 475 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, MO 6311
Pre-event refreshments will begin at 9:15 am. Please register for this free event to help our hosts plan for hospitality.Zoom: Register for link.
Registration requested for this free event at https://paraquad.org/public-policy-advocacy
ADA Signing Ceremony photo from Washington Missouri Historical Society.
Celebrate Disability Night
The Cardinals are hosting their first-ever Celebrate Disability Night!! Grab your theme ticket for a Cardinals Disability Pride t-shirt and join us to celebrate our community and cheer the Birds to victory! We partnered with the St. Louis Cardinals for this special night that includes audio description, ASL, a peanut-free section, and more to welcome all fans to the stadium. Theme night tickets are available at all levels. Get yours and find all the details at www.mlb.com/cardinals/tickets/specials/theme-tickets/disability-pride
Advancements 24Q2 Series: Leadership and You
Leadership skills empowering you to do well at work and in life. Register at the link. See you there!
Session 1: Friday, April 19 at Noon CT (Zoom)
Leadership Math: How You Can Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide Your Way to Being a More Effective Leader
with Ali Carson | Executive Coach, Movere CoachingLearn the unique needs of your team and how to become a leader worth following through trust, compassion, stability, and hope.
Session 2: Friday, May 17 at Noon CT (Zoom)
Flipping the Script: ADHD and Leadership
with Crystal Heimbeck | Senior Business Partner, Marketing Procurement | PurinaLet’s write a new narrative on leading with neurodiversity or your disability.
Session 3: Friday, June 21 at Noon CT (Zoom)
The Watercooler
Facilitated peer discussion to put your new skills into action and build your network of disabled professional peers.Advancements is offered at no cost to participants thanks to the generous support of our funding partners to help disabled people thrive.
Registration is required.