Jobs Available to Suit People with Disabilities - Freedom Disability

Author: Freedom Disability
Published: 2010/02/16 - Updated: 2010/09/13
Topic: United States Employment - Publications List

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: Freedom Disability hiring plan is good news at a time when the national unemployment rate hovers at 10 percent.

Introduction

Focus

Freedom Disability wants to help lower that statistic by offering jobs to qualifying candidates who have disabilities.

The national Social Security advocacy group announced in January that they will start hiring this spring to fill Advocate positions and customer-service and support-staff positions. Overall, Freedom Disability's hiring plan is good news at a time when the national unemployment rate hovers at 10 percent.

"We're repeating what we said about more jobs being made available at the Shelton headquarters and remote locations across the country because we want to make sure the disability community knows that we are an employer that hires people with disabilities," said Jon Mayhew, president of Freedom Disability.

The message happens to parallel a new national ad campaign launched this month by Health and Disability Advocates (HDA). The "Think Beyond the Label" campaign provides a light-hearted approach to encouraging diversity in the workplace. Freedom Disability applauds the efforts of the campaign to raise employer awareness about the value of hiring people with disabilities - to think beyond their disabilities and see, instead, their expertise and value as employees.

"Our business is about helping people who are unable to work because of a disabling medical condition, to secure replacement income through Social Security," said Mayhew. "But there are also folks on disability who want to try to work again. We want them to know that our door is open to creating job possibilities for them."

People on disability may worry that they could lose their benefits if they try to work again. However, the federal work-incentive program administered by the Social Security Administration called "Ticket to Work," makes it possible for people on disability to ease back into the workforce without losing benefits.

According to the "Think Beyond the Label" campaign, there are 54 million Americans with disabilities. Twenty-four million are veterans, and 2.2 million are college students.

"We really want to tap into this large pool of talent," said Mayhew.

Freedom Disability will start advertising to fill positions in the spring. Inquiries should be directed to Human Resources at hr(at)freedomdisability(dot)com.

Find out more about the "Ticket to Work" program at the Freedom Disability Web site or at www.ssa.gov.

About Freedom Disability:

Freedom Disability is a leading national Social Security Disability Advocacy group that provides education and representation services in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Freedom Disability's mission is to help people with disabilities apply for, and win, disability benefits from the Social Security Administration.

Find out more about Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and Supplemental Insurance Income (SSI) at www.freedomdisability.com