Disability Employment Awareness Month Celebrates Success of Workers with Disabilities

Vocational Rehabilitation counselor Danny Robison helps students with disabilities find their first jobs. He uses an electronic magnifier to enlarge text because he has a visual disability.

Robert “Mitch” Rice’s positive attitude helped him recover from cancer, left leg amputation, heart attack and surgery to remove his larynx, or voice box.

OKLAHOMA CITY − In spite of a slow economy in many parts of the state, 1,689 Oklahomans with disabilities began earning paychecks last year, thanks to vocational rehabilitation and employment services from the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS).

In celebration of the contributions of workers with disabilities, Governor Brad Henry declared October as Disability Employment Awareness Month in Oklahoma. The state celebration ties in with a national event coordinated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

In federal fiscal year 2009, DRS’ Vocational Rehabilitation and Visual Services staff also provided 12,431 clients with career counseling, vocational education and training, special technology, job placement and medical services – all intended to improve their employment opportunities in the near future.

To qualify for services, clients must have a physical or mental disability that is a substantial barrier to employment. They must be able to benefit from vocational rehabilitation services by finding or maintaining employment.

One in six Oklahomans has a disability, while 325,535 working-age citizens face disability-related barriers to employment.

“Although we’ve made progress since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 20 years ago, Oklahomans with disabilities continue to be employed at a rate 42 percent below Oklahomans without disabilities,” DRS Director Michael O’Brien, Ed.D. said.

“According to the most recent Census data, nearly 30 percent of Oklahomans with disabilities were employed in 2008, compared to 70 percent of people without disabilities.

“Because of limited employment opportunities, Oklahomans with disabilities are poor at a higher rate too,” O’Brien explained. “In 2008, 21.8 percent of people age 16 and over had incomes below the federal poverty level, compared to 12% of people without disabilities.

As the employment agency for Oklahomans with disabilities, DRS can help employers with hiring and training costs for qualified workers with disabilities. The agency may also pay a percentage of the new employees’ monthly salaries for a short time with the understanding that they will be hired on a permanent basis if they meet the job standards.

“We share the costs of bringing new employees up to speed, and employers can get a federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $2,400 for salary paid to each new worker,” O’Brien said. “Plus, many of our employers say they've never had more qualified, dedicated employees than those referred by DRS.”

Employed Oklahomans with disabilities become self-sufficient, taxpaying citizens, reducing the need for disability benefits, Medicaid and other social services,” he explained. “They also spend more money in the communities where they live and generally enjoy a better quality of life.”

According to a report from The University of Oklahoma outreach office, “An Analysis of Program Impacts,” DRS clients who receive vocational rehabilitation services are 77 percent more likely to be employed within three months after services end. When DRS clients work 10 years, they repay $2.3 in taxes for each $1 spent on their programs, representing a 230 percent return on taxpayers’ investment.

For more information about employment programs and services offered by the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, visit the agency’s website at www.okdrs.gov or phone 800-845-8476. The number is accessible by phone or telecommunications equipment for the deaf.

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