Advancing Access to Good Jobs for All: Celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month

People with disabilities represent over 1 billion people across the planet and around 13 percent of the U.S. population. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), an opportunity to recognize the contributions that people with disabilities add to America’s workforce and economy. NDEAM is also an opportunity to learn about the advancements made by disability rights activists in advocating for equality and equity in the workplace.

This year’s theme is “Advancing Access to Good Jobs for All.” The theme emphasizes the importance of creating an opportunity infrastructure, which focuses not just on the number of people with disabilities that are employed, but the quality of opportunities available to workers with disabilities.

Poster for National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2024, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor. 

As of 2023, it is estimated that people with disabilities accounted for 4% of employed Americans and that 22.5% of people with a disability were employed. However, workers with disabilities face challenges in obtaining and performing work due to lack of accessibility and the ongoing prevalence of discrimination. Most people with a disability – about three fourths – are not in the labor force, and those who are face higher rates of unemployment. Workers with a disability, on average, earn less than those without a disability. Workers with a disability are twice as likely to work part time and are also more likely to be self-employed.

Other key employment issues that affect people with disabilities include: lack of reasonable accommodations to access physical workspaces and perform job functions, including the provision of assistive technology and equipment; discrimination in the job-seeking process and in career advancement; and the right to seek employment and participate in the labor force free from harassment.

The Disability Rights Movement and the Fight for Equal Opportunity

Equal opportunity in employment is a cornerstone of the Disability Rights Movement. Advancements in employment opportunities and recognition of disability discrimination in the labor force and in workplaces were the result of focused and organized efforts by disability rights activists. Though the achievements of the Disability Rights Movement are widely recognized today, it took decades of deliberate and determined organization for significant legal, social, and political progress for people with disabilities.

The Disability Rights Movement as we know it today was catalyzed during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 granted historic and important legal protections for women, people of color, and other minority groups but neglected to address the discrimination and lack of equity experienced by people with disabilities. At time of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, people with disabilities still suffered under oppressive legal and societal discrimination, including “ugly” laws, forced sterilization, involuntary commitment, and barriers when seeking education and employment. While some activist organizations existed in the early-to-mid 1900s, these organizations were often led by parents of children with disabilities, and largely focused on individual disabilities, rather than the cross-disability approach to disability rights employed today. Advocacy by disability rights activists in the 1960s brought to the forefront the “Nothing about us without us” approach to disability advocacy, and many activists with disabilities began to advocate for their own community. As disability rights groups organized, the movement evolved into a “cross-disability” approach that considers the many factors that may intersect and affect a person’s disability status and identity.

Many consider the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July of 1990 to be most significant legal achievement of the Disability Rights Movement thus far. Disability Pride Month is observed every July to commemorate the passing of the ADA and as a celebration of the past, present, and future accomplishments and contributions of people with disabilities, including the historic actions of disability rights advocates who stewarded the Disability Rights Movement. Over the past three decades, the ADA has continued to shape modern life for Americans with disabilities. The first Disability Pride Day, or Disability Independence Day, recognized every July 26 on the anniversary of the signing of the ADA, was held in Boston in the fall of 1990.

On the day of the signing of the ADA, President George H. W. Bush is pictured with Evan Kemp, Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (bottom left) and Justin Dart, Jr., Chairman of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities (bottom right).

The Law Library will feature an exhibit highlighting landmark laws, cases, and other resources to commemorate National Disability Employment Awareness Month. In July, the Law Library featured an exhibit commemorating Disability Pride Month.

October is Persons with Disabilities History and Awareness Month in Texas

Here in Texas, HB 3616 was passed during the 82nd Legislative Session in 2011, which designates each October as Persons with Disabilities History and Awareness Month. The bill encourages public schools and state agencies to celebrate the accomplishments of people with disabilities, highlight the achievements of Texans with disabilities who made significant contributions to the state, and educate about the extraordinary Americans who led the way in the disability rights movement.

Each October, Texas celebrates National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) with job fairs, public awareness events, and a statewide #HireAbility campaign to promote employment opportunities for Texans with disabilities. 

The Texas Standard published a special report, “The State of Disability in Texas,” profiling key issues in disability rights today. This report details the diversity of disabilities and issues that still face Texans with disabilities today and features interviews with prominent members of the disability rights movement.

Texas Disability Support Organizations

Learn more about disability and accessibility law by checking out the resources listed on the Disability & Accessibility Law Resource Guide and the Assistive Technology Resource Guide.