Disability: Part of the Equity Equation

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four U.S. adults has a disability.

Yet despite ADA protections, federal tax incentives, and private sector opportunity programs, millions of individuals with disabilities looking for work remain unemployed.

There is a non-profit corporation right here in New Rockford, Carrington and Fessenden that provides support for individuals with disabilities: 4th Corporation. Their mission: “We strive to promote growth and development enabling each person to fulfill their personal dreams.”

4th Corporation individuals have provided cleaning services to the Transcript since July 2019. They started several months before we moved into our new office at 817 Central Avenue, and they helped clean the former office space and prepare the new one in coordination with the move.

I see those same individuals around town quite often throughout the week, at the bakery and salon working, and at the cafe eating lunch.

They’re there to cheer on the Rockets at the football and volleyball games. In fact, Nate Olds and Jason Ehni have been the managers for the New Rockford-Sheyenne football team for more than two decades.

They are a vital part of our community.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, a time to educate about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities. This year's theme is "Disability: Part of the Equity Equation."

The history of National Disability Employment Awareness Month goes back nearly 80 years. Congress enacted a law in 1945, right after World War II, declaring the first week in October each year "National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week." The word "physically" was removed in 1962, to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals with all types of disabilities. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

“Our national recovery from the pandemic cannot be completed without the inclusion of all Americans, in particular people with disabilities,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “Their contributions have historically been vital to our nation’s success, and are more important today than ever. We must build an economy that fully includes the talent and drive of those with disabilities.”

The individuals who clean our office every other Friday are vital to our success. They are always pleasant, friendly and hard-working. I sure appreciate having that service available to us.

They are evidence that people with disabilities can and do live and participate in our communities. While they have great support from the caring staff at 4th Corporation, other individuals with disabilities are not so fortunate. In fact, more than 40 percent of disabled people do not have assistance for their everyday activities. In the USA, 70 percent of adults with disabilities rely on family and friends for assistance.

This month, as 4th Corporation observes National Disability Awareness Month, we as an employer of individuals with disabilities are here to raise awareness and show appreciation for the individuals who help keep our local businesses running.

We’ve had other individuals with disabilities working in our office. I enjoyed Miss Mariah Duchscherer and Miss Madison Moen, who worked for us while in high school. They bundled our advertising inserts together and prepared them for insertion into the newspaper each week. I still see Mariah once in a while, at either NAPA or Do it Best Hardware, as she works with her parents at both of their local businesses.

“All too often, people with disabilities are relegated to the sidelines in conversations about issues that directly affect us–everything from individual circumstances to major policy decisions…In far too many situations, it doesn’t seem to occur to nondisabled people that disabled people can and do have our own thoughts, viewpoints, and opinions…So please, don’t speak for us, about us, or over us. Speak to us and with us,” writes Emily Ladau in “Demystifying Disability.”

Roxie, Jason, Cheryl, Nate and Melanie- we appreciate you, and we look forward to speaking to you and with you every other Friday.

Fellow business owners, I encourage you to consider ways you can provide meaningful employment to individuals with disabilities in our communities.

Employers and employees in all industries can learn more about how to participate in National Disability Employment Awareness Month and ways they can promote its messages — during October and throughout the year — by visiting http://www.dol.gov/NDEAM.