Resources for Businesses
YourDreamYourTeam Resources for Businesses
YourDreamYourTeam.com is a website toolkit helping to create career pathways for job seekers with disabilities and the families and communities that support them.
Funding assistance available for removing barriers and accommodating customers with disabilities
What Employers Should Know About Learning Disabilities
Tips to Make Presentations More Accessible
The University of Washington gathered suggestions from several popular presenters. about how to make presentations more accessible. This 10-minute video from AHEAD will also give you all sorts of tips and advice on how to make your presentations engaging and accessible to all of your audience.
Building an Inclusive Workforce A Four-Step Reference Guide to Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Employees with Disabilities
While research shows that people with disabilities make excellent employees, not all employers know how to effectively recruit, retain, and advance individuals with disabilities. That’s where this booklet can help. It provides a quick outline of four simple steps to increasing workforce inclusion, complete with web links to resources available to help businesses benefit from the talents of qualified individuals with disabilities.
The ABLE Employer Toolkit
The toolkit consists of resources for employers to share with employees impacted by the additional and often significant expenses that can be associated with having a disability. Toolkit items are downloadable and free of charge.
Resources for Fostering Disability Inclusion
ADA Small Business Primer
ADA Handbook
The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Opioid Crisis: Combating Discrimination Against People in Treatment or Recovery
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations for businesses and State and local governments
The ADA Home Page provides access to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations for businesses and State and local governments, technical assistance materials, ADA Standards for Accessible Design, links to Federal agencies with ADA responsibilities and information, updates on new ADA requirements, streaming video, and information about Department of Justice ADA settlements.
Workers with Disabilites - Employment Tax Credit (WETC)
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)
Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
JAN Offers Practical Solutions & Workplace Success: The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues. Working toward practical solutions that benefit both business and employee, JAN helps people with disabilities enhance their employability, and shows businesses how to capitalize on the value and talent that workers with disabilities add to the workplace.
JAN’s trusted consultants offer one-on-one guidance on workplace accommodations, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and related legislation, and self-employment and entrepreneurship options for workers with disabilities. Assistance is available both over the phone and online. Those who can benefit from JAN’s services include private businesses of all sizes, government agencies, employee representatives, and service providers, as well as people with disabilities and their families. Visit www.askjan.org for answers to questions about employing workers with disabilities. For information about businesses, benefits and costs of accomodations for workers for disabilities, visit this page: https://askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm
JAN provides the following A to Z listings by disability, topic, and limitation. This information is designed to help employers and individuals determine effective accommodations and comply with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). You will find ADA information, accommodation ideas, and resources for additional information.
JAN's A to Z is a starting point in the accommodation process and may not address every situation. Accommodations should be made on a case by case basis, considering each employee’s individual limitations and accommodation needs. Employers and individuals are encouraged to contact JAN to discuss specific situations in more detail.
Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) Toolkit for Establishing and Maintaining Successful Employee Resource Groups
This informational toolkit was prepared in recognition of the increasing number of employers expressing an interest in developing or enhancing Disability Employee Resource Groups.
Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) Resources for Staff Training
In order to successfully implement inclusive technology practices, the relevant staff across your organization will need training in accessibility.
The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) provides staff training resources for getting started with training your staff in the accessibility skills relevant to their specific roles, from executives to web developers.
Included in this resource is information on:
- Accessibility Staff Training for Specific Roles
- Disability Inclusion Basics
- Digital Accessibility Basics
- Web Development and Design
- Communicating About Accessibility
- Making the Business Case
- Measuring and Evaluating Progress
- Professional Development
- Hiring Accessibility Consultants & User Testers
7 Principles of Inclusive Design that Put People First
Accessible eRecruiting Using Social Media Employer Tip Sheet
Accessibility 'Pain Points and Solutions' from PEAT, to ensure that all users, including those with disabilities, can access and absorb the social media posts you use to search for candidates, connect with talent, and advertise your company's brand.
Disability Inclusion in the Workplace
This series of 3-minute disabilitiy-related videos, funded by the New York State Council on Developmental Disabilities, discusses inclusion in the workplace.
BLS - Labor Force Characteristics
US Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy Working Works Campaign
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy has a new public service announcement on the benefits of work, and the roles different people play in helping individuals who become ill or injured stay in the workforce.
To watch the videos, please click here.
Looking Closer: Raising Expectations of People with Disabilities Helps Us All Move Forward
Employer Assistance and Resource Network (EARN)
Diversity Partners: Resources for Human Service Staff Working with Job Seekers with Disabilities
Diversity Partners offers resources about:
- Learning about the context, skills and behaviors that support or hinder relationships with business.
- Supporting integration of promising practices into the everyday practices of employment service professionals serving job seekers with disabilities.
- Advancing the understanding of how disability can impact work and strategies that might mitigate that impact.
- Engaging agencies and personnel in capacity building and organizational change to create and sustain mutually beneficial employer partnerships.
Diversity Partners uses a combination of in-person training, online toolboxes, and on-demand technical assistance to users.
Materials and technical assistance are aimed at creating and sustaining the organizational change required to improve practices in the context of business relationships; as well as information and knowledge regarding capacity building and cross-sector partnerships.
Diversity Partners was developed through a process of multi-stakeholder input, qualitative inquiry, and a piloting phase to refine the content and its delivery. It can be implemented within a single agency, or among a consortium of collaborators at no cost.
Contact Us to Find Out How We Can Help
Questions? Need Assistance? Contact Angela Kelly, akelly@working-solutions.org
or call 607-376-5152 ext. 113
Disability Resource Coordinators (DRC) are available to assist businesses who want to hire workers with disabilities. The DRC's goals are to improve education and employment outcomes for workers who have disabilities. We are currently focusing on additional services for youth with disabilities to increase their participation in career pathways programs. DRCs provide on-going support and disability services including adaptive equipment resources, job placement, job retention, benefits counseling (Ticket to Work), and career guidance resources. The DRCs are developing a broader business engagement approach to address business needs and develop a sustainable workforce talent pipeline.”
For more information, please contact us.
The total cost of the Disability Employment Initiative Round 8 program is 2.5 million dollars. The 2.5 million dollars (100%) is funded through a U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration grant.
This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. This product was created by the recipient and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.
