Statement on the State of the Union Address

For Immediate Release: January 27, 2010
Contact: Earl Smith, 773.405.8377 or Rene David Luna, 773.304.7889

Chicago – the DAWWN leadership committee issues the following statement after President Obama's first State of the Union address:

President Obama made several useful proposals on retirement savings, student loans and other areas that will benefit working families.  However, this agenda does not go far enough to address the severity of the problems facing the economy and the critical need to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The unemployment rate is currently in double-digits for all workers, disabled people among them.  The fact is that the crisis for disabled people who can and want to work is many times worse than this. The unemployment crisis confronting all of us is a result of bad economic policy and Wall Street greed.

As some progressive economists have indicated, there are mechanisms through which we can expand the economy and bring the unemployment rate down for those seeking work:  a much larger stimulus, more expansionary monetary policy from the Fed, a lower dollar to bring down the trade deficit, and yes, even a single-payer health care system.

We should be working towards the development of policies and programs to increase employment options and training for working class people with disabilities:  These could include: increasing public awareness of reasonable accommodation provisions under the ADA, enforcement of nondiscrimination laws, the development of work-sharing programs, the expansion of paid internships, and increased funding for quality state vocational rehabilitation services and job placement, to name a few.

If it is not possible to get the policies needed to restore full employment back on the political agenda, then tens of millions of people will suffer needlessly for years to come.  This is the right time for the President to seize the opportunity to ensure that no person, with or without a disability, is left behind.

Disabled Americans Want Work Now is a grassroots group of people with disabilities, who advocate for the Human Right to Work. DAWWN provides a VOICE for all people with disabilities interested in improving access to good paying jobs, job training and broader social justice. We seek to end the massive economic deprivation, poverty and unemployment that people with disabilities face in life.