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Dialogue Report: Policies for Increasing Employment Among Opportunity Youth with Disabilities

Dialogue Report: Policies for Increasing Employment Among Opportunity Youth with Disabilities

Dialogue Report: Policies for Increasing Employment Among Opportunity Youth with Disabilities
May 2019  (original release date)

The Institute for Educational Leadership hosted a dialogue with young leaders, employers, policymakers, educators, and administrators in December 2018, through the National  Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/ Youth) in collaboration with the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC).  The dialogue, supported in part by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, resulted in the development of an Inclusion Priority Framework that outlines four major priorities and corresponding strategies.

The Inclusion Priority Framework points to the greatest challenge and corresponding solution to success for opportunity youth with disabilities—full inclusion. Full inclusion is often hampered by issues and policies related to self-disclosure, technology, transportation, limited information about and access to opportunities, and supports for youth as well as employers. Fully inclusive practices and policies require a new way of looking at disability—as an important asset in diversifying our workforce and leading to creative solutions in schools and business communities. This challenge is not only clear, it is solvable. Policymakers have a distinctive role to incentivize, mobilize, and stimulate solutions that ensure progress toward the goal of full inclusion for opportunity youth with disabilities.

Learn more about IEL’s conversations with youth with disabilities here

Learn more about IEL’s research briefs on employment, earnings, and the market power of people with disabilities here