Abilities, Opportunities and the Future of Work Conference

残疾人是美国经济的重要组成部分。在将残疾人纳入其特定工作环境方面存在着巨大的挑战。根据2021年劳工统计局的数据，残疾人的失业率（10.1%）远高于非残疾人（5.1%）。为了讨论这一挑战，一个跨学科的研究小组计划举办一次会议。该会议旨在讨论扩大残疾人就业的方法，描述企业在有效参与残疾人就业方面面临的主要挑战，并最终澄清残疾人就业的投资回报率（ROI）。会议受邀者将来自一个跨学科学术团体的包容性侨民（职业康复，商业，劳资关系，工程），行业从业者，多样性，公平，准入和包容（DEA I）专业人士，不以营利为目的，以及与企业合作的国家职业康复（VR）顾问。会议将持续一天半。研讨会将包括以下三个专题小组：（a）人力资源管理/职业康复;（B）雇用残疾劳动力方面的业务挑战;（c）管理残疾劳动力方面的企业社会责任。每个小组将有来自学术界，非营利组织，国家机构和雇用残疾人的领先公司的多个跨学科小组成员。此外，每个小组将与一个分组配对，与会者将互动地辩论小组成员列举的挑战并进行讨论。这些讨论将被记录下来。在会议结束时，研讨会的组织者和志愿者参与者将整理在会议上学到的信息，以制定一份关于审议和前进方向的白色文件。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.