Awakening the Disability Workforce

By Jesse Schwartzman

This National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Celebrate how far we have come! The Disability Employment rate has never been higher! The labor participation rate for people with disabilities in 2018 was 37.8 percent; in 2024, it is now 40.0. Tremendous strides have been made! It is also important to acknowledge that more can be done and how we get there.

How do we get there? Two things need to happen, Everyone needs to support each other and know that getting a job could take some time, especially a job with health care and a living wage. I enjoy what I do and most importantly I enjoy helping people. It makes me happy. My happiest moment last year was hearing that a former client heard back from her dream job and received a job offer. She has been working there ever since. I have yet to help anyone land their dream job this year, but the year is still not over. My inspiration for this opinion article is to inspire business owners, human resource officers, and the public at large to hire more people with disabilities. People with disabilities, stay at jobs longer and are great workers. If they need an accommodation it will not cost much money the average accommodation is $300. I would also like to say that if you are a person with a disability you should advocate for yourself. It is also important to advocate for others because there is strength in numbers. Every human rights moment was moved forward with a large number of people and yes disability rights are human rights.

This passion for helping people with disabilities is very personal to me. I came out of college with an internship at a Senator’s office, multiple student leadership and work experiences as well as nearly graduating with honors. I thought I would have multiple full-time offers coming out of college boy was I wrong? I would have an easy time getting an interview based on my resume but when it came to going on the interview I would be so self-conscious as a person who stutters and born with missing fingers on my right arm. I would not get hired because I did not show that I could do the job and I do not bring the confidence or passion either. Through hard work, going back to school, and networking I finally got a full-time job three and a half years after I graduated college. I did not get a permanent full-time job in health care for 12 years after I graduated college. I never gave up but it took time. I saved up money to get driving lessons, and then a car so I could drive myself to speech therapy. I continued and to this current day continue to work on myself. Working gave me the ability to do these things and more. Work gives me purpose and the ability to better myself and maybe one day start my own family. I want every person in the disability community to be able to work if they want to work.

I call on leaders in the disability field, elected leaders, people with disabilities, and the general public to not accept the status quo on disability employment. We need more mentors, more willingness to move forward on ideas, and most importantly more opportunities in society. The time is now to not just say these things but to truly implement them in real time. If you would like to join me and help advocate for more employment opportunities for the disability community here’s my email jesseschwartzman00@gmail.com I await your message.

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Jesse Schwartzman is a disability advocate who has worked in the legal, political, and advocacy fields. He currently works as an outreach and advocacy worker in the disability field. Jesse enjoys helping people and watching sports and movies. He can be reached at jesseschwartzman00@gmail.com.