Abilities, Opportunities and the Future of Work Conference

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Individuals with disabilities are an important part of the American economy. Substantial challenges exist in integrating individuals with disabilities into their specific work environments. Unemployment rates for persons with a disability are substantially higher (10.1%) than those without (5.1%), according to the 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics data. To discuss this challenge, an interdisciplinary team of researchers plan to host a conference. The conference aims to discuss approaches to scale the employment of individuals with disabilities, delineate key challenges that businesses face in effectively engaging in disability employment, and finally, clarify the return on investment (ROI) imperative for the employment of individuals with disabilities. The conference invitees will come from an inclusive diaspora of an interdisciplinary group of academics (vocational rehabilitation, business, industrial relations, engineering), industry practitioners, Diversity, Equity, Access and Inclusion (DEA&I) professionals, not-for-profits, and State vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors that work with businesses. The conference will span over one and a half days. It will feature the following three panels: (a) Human Resource Management/Vocational Rehabilitation; (b) Operational Challenges in employing Workforce with Disabilities; and (c) Corporate Social Responsibility in Managing a Workforce with Disabilities. Each panel will feature multiple cross-disciplinary panelists from academia, non-profit organizations, state agencies, and leading corporations that employ individuals with disabilities. In addition, each panel will be paired with a breakout group where participants will interactively debate the challenges enumerated by panelists and discuss them. These deliberations will be recorded. At the end of the conference, the workshop organizers and volunteer participants will collate the information learned at the conference to develop a white paper on the deliberations and way forward.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.