Independent Perspective 1668 with Frank Cammarata about National Disability Employment Awareness Month

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living (WNYIL). Our guest today is Frank Cammarata, Executive Director of the Erie County Office of People with Disabilities, and I'm your host Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Frank. 

Guest:  Ernie, nice to see you again, thank you.

Host:  And it's our pleasure and privilege to have you. You're here because October has particular significance to the community of people with disabilities, because it is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I gather that you have been involved in some fashion or other for some time. Can you tell us how this came about?

Guest:  So, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, was actually started in 1945, by President Truman, and President Truman signed the National Hire the Handicapped Week bill, and it was a result of the veterans coming back from World War II, who had been wounded, and in trying to provide opportunities, employment opportunities for them. And so it basically evolved from National Hire the Handicapped Week, as you know we don't use the term handicap any longer, to what we say now is National Disability Employment Awareness Month or NDEAM.

Host:  Oh, well I dare say as someone involved in disability civil rights for many years, I can only salute both the name change, and the intention of the event. As people that have been following the news they keep hearing about how they're seeking employees in a number of venues. Would it be fair to say that, traditionally, the difficulty people with disabilities have had in employment tends to be more because of people's presumption about their capabilities, rather than what they would actually be able to do on the job?

Guest:  I couldn’t agree more with you, Ernie. Honestly, it is all about, unfortunately, it's all about the stigma. You know employers are concerned with hiring a person with disabilities for a number of reasons, because you know they don't; A, they don't think that they're able or capable of doing the work. B, they're afraid that if that doesn't work, they don't work out, that they may get sued. It's just, it's honestly, the stigma piece, and its something that employers need to get over. It is something that I've been working on for the past 12-13 years. I've been in my office now for 10 years and before that, when I was with People Inc., I also participated with the WNY Employment Consortium. And so we've been holding our National Disability Employment Awareness Month events for a very long time. And actually, ironically, sorry, we, this year we are honoring 24 different employers locally.

Host:  That's terrific. Just to give people an idea of the scope of the problem, do you know about what percentage of people with disabilities have been unemployed, before the pandemic and currently?
Guest:  Approximately, this is just an approximation, approximately 70% of non disabled folks are employed, and then when we're talking about people with disabilities, we're talking about 35% of the population of people with disabilities are employed. There are a lot of people out there who have disabilities who are able to do the work that everybody else is able to do, and we need to consider that through the reasonable accommodation process. And we need employers to understand that the reasonable accommodation process is out there to enable a person with a disability to be able to do the work. 

Host:  Oh, we're actually running short on time, Frank, but I imagine that you'd be able to tell people about incentives to hire people with disabilities for employers. If people want answers to this and other questions how can they reach you?

Guest:  They can call me at my office at 716-858-6215, I'm more than happy to assist people. As the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator for Erie County, I'm here to help people out with the ADA and any questions they may have in understanding that employment comes under Title 1 of the ADA. 

Host:  Terrific, thanks so much for being with us, Frank. 

Guest:  Thank you.

Host:   You've been listening to Independent Perspective a public affairs presentation of WNYIL. Our guest today has been Frank Cammarata, Executive Director of the Erie County Office of People with Disabilities. I've been your host, Ernie Churchwell.