Statiscally speaking, I have a 3/4 chance of unemployment...

Parent Cafe
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<p>I was googling today, and I came across this: <a href=“http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/workdisability/1_2.php[/url]”>http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/workdisability/1_2.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to the operational terms used in the study, I have a “severe disability,” a group with a corresponding unemployment rate of ~75%.
Wow, that’s… kind of depressing, really.</p>

<p>Must. Beat. Odds.</p>

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<p>How much of it do you think is attributed to actual inability to keep a consistent work schedule, and how much is employer bias? Restated: are people with disabilities getting fired because they take too much time off, or are they never getting hired in the first place because the employer doesn’t want insurance premiums to go up?</p>

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<p>Wolfpiper, I’m sorry to see those numbers, but in fairness that list lumps together people with all kinds of disabilities, including those with severe cognitive impairments:

You have a physical disability that limits our mobility, but you are a college student working toward a degree, so the question to be asked is what is the unemployment rate among college graduates with physical disabilities?<br></li>
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<p>Yes, of course you may encounter discrimination in hiring – but a whole lot of the task of getting and maintaining employment is one of your attitude. If you walk into the front door assuming that you will be discriminated against, that might be the case. If your attitude is that you are highly qualified for the job and you are confident that anyone you talk to will see that… you’ll very likely be hired.</p>

<p>Remember a few months ago when you were worried thinking that you could never pledge a sorority, because the sorority houses on your campus didn’t seem to be accessible to those with physical handicaps, and you didn’t fit the stereotype of a robust & athletic sorority girl? And how it turned out that there was a sorority that was very happy indeed to have you, and somehow they all made it work? </p>

<p>MOST of those 75% unemployed probably either have worse disabilities than you or less education or educational opportunities (or both) – I’m sure if the list were winnowed down to only those with physical disabilities affecting mobility who were at least high school graduates, the figures would be somewhat more encouraging. If you look only at college graduates – something you plan on being in 3 years – then I think those figures would look even more encouraging. I mean - I know that you fit category #1 in the list above – but I don’t know how many of that 75% fits categories #3, #4, & #5 – and those are going to be the people who have the hardest time finding jobs.</p>

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Another question is what the unemployment rate is among people with physical disabilities who are actually seeking employment. A lot of people with disabilities aren’t seeking employment and would therefore be unemployed. I think those with disabilities need to make sure they don’t get discouraged by some stats that can easily be skewed and not representative of them as an individual.</p>

<p>It’s amazing what some people can do despite their disabilities. I once had a person reporting to me as a software developer who was wheelchair bound, had difficulty using his hands, and had some other issues due to brain damage yet he could do the job just fine. As long as he could do his job okay, in his case think, type (which he could do satisfactorily despite the problems with his hands), and read the screen, his disabilities were irrelevant to his job.</p>

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The definition of unemployment, as used by the government for the unemployment rate and such, actually requires evidence of recent job search efforts, uudad. People who are not looking for jobs are grouped together as disgruntled workers and are not included in unemployment rates. I’m assuming that whoever did this study is using the definition of unemployment in common use by the government and other agencies, though it’s possible (particularly if they have an angle) that they’d use a different definition to suit their purposes.</p>

<p>Calmom’s point is a great one. I 2nd her post.</p>

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<p>Hey! I work with a blind guy in a wheel chair and he does just fine! (He was a shooting victim as a young teenager.) So don’t sweat the statistics. People overcome amazing stuff.</p>

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<p>Wolfpiper, one of my favorite lines from Mind Over Water: “Imagine, then, an enormous wheel, a wheel of fortune, or perhaps of the dharma: the essential thing to know is that whatever the wheel, it is you who turns it.”</p>

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<p>The statistics include people who became disabled as adults and found that they could no longer perform their former type of work because of the disability. </p>

<p>For example, I know of a woman who always worked as a beautician who injured her leg severely in a recent accident. She will never again be able to stand for long periods of time, and she cannot walk for long periods of time, either. Her old job required her to be on her feet all day, which is no longer practical for her. She needs to find an entirely different way of earning a living, which is a daunting prospect. Yet her disability is minor compared to yours. If you ran into her in a public place, all you would notice is that she walks with a limp (she does not need to use any adaptive equipment).</p>

<p>As a young person who has always been disabled, you have an advantage over people who acquired their disabilities after they acquired their careers. I suspect that you will have an easier time establishing a career than the former beautician will.</p>

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<p>RE: The labor force participation rate (actively looking for work or employed) and education level: <a href=“http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/workdisability/2_5.php[/url]”>http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/workdisability/2_5.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Only about half of people with a college education and a disability are employed or actively searching for work, which seems really bizzare to me. If you were intelligent and capable enough to get a college degree, why won’t you try to find work?</p>

<p>Also, and quite surprising to me, people with physical disabilities have the highest rates of unemployment, with the deaf/hearing impaired and those with mental illness having the lowest employment rates. I wonder why this is- people injured on the job, maybe? <a href=“http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/workdisability/2_1.php[/url]”>http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/workdisability/2_1.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Looking at slightly more recent data (2000), the employment rate for people with disabilities is still around 29-34%, but out of disabled individuals who want to work (2/3 of the disabled population) about 56% are employed.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=110&redirected=1&CFID=24678912&CFTOKEN=59356668[/url]”>http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=1430&nodeID=1&FeatureID=110&redirected=1&CFID=24678912&CFTOKEN=59356668&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m really, really confused by the low labor participation rate for highly educated people with disabilities. Why wouldn’t people that educated by seeking work, if not unemployed? What caused them to give up?</p>

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<p>What if they were able-bodied at the time they went to college but developed a disability later? Could that account for it?</p>