People with disabilities are trained

• People with disabilities work or are trained to work in all kinds of professions.  Of the 120 million employed Americans, 16 million of them have a disability.  They are executives, machines operators, managers, sales workers, mechanics, teachers, accountants, and health care workers. (Americans With Disabilities:  West Virginia University, McNeil, 1993)
• 72% of working-age people with disabilities have high school diplomas or a higher education. Yet, of those with a college degree, 55% are unemployed, compared to 14% of college-educated people without disabilities. (National Organization on Disability, Harris Poll of Americans with Disabilities, 2000)

People with disabilities want to work

• Most people with disabilities want to work.  2 out of 3 people with disabilities who are unemployed (67%) say they would prefer to be working. Of those people with disabilities who say they are able to work, 56 percent are working, and the rest are looking. (N.O.H, Harris, 2000)
• A strong commitment exhibited by top management and a positive attitude among co-workers and supervisors are the best ways to remove employment barriers for people with disabilities, according to a Cornell University survey of human resource and equal employment opportunity personnel from the private and public sectors.(Susanne M. Bruyere, March 2000)

Employers Need & Will Need Their Skills

• The U.S. job growth is projected to swell by 55 million by 2008, compared to a growth of only 20 million in workers, of whom 3.6 million will have a disability.  Employers will need these 3.6 million people to fill vacant positions.  (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 1999)

People with Disabilities & Their Families Have Purchasing Power

• One in five Americans (54.4 million people) has a disability.  (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005) An estimated 20.3 million families or 29% of all families have at least one member with a disability. (Family Resource Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey, 1990)
• Marketing research shows that families with one or more persons with disabilities are significantly more likely to do business with a disability-friendly company, and consumers, with and without disabilities, are more likely to buy from those companies.  (National Family Opinion, Inc., Survey for 1996 Paralympic Games, 1994)