ROLLING PROUD by Andrew Levinson

When Is the Economic Boom for People with Disabilities Going to Arrive?

14.1%? Come on, you’ve got to be joking.

Yes, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced not too long ago that in “November 2009, the unemployment rate of persons with a disability was 14.1 percent, compared with 9.2 percent for persons with no disability, not seasonally adjusted.” Even during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the unemployment rate for people without disabilities is still only in the single digits, while people with disabilities suffer from double-digit unemployment. Yeah, people can talk about the economic expansion of the 90s and say that the good days are long behind us. However, just ask the contributors to a project that ended in 2004 called The Center for an Accessible Society. It doesn’t seem that there ever were “good days” for people with disabilities.

2010 will bring the ADA’s 20^th birthday, with the ADA, of course, being the principal example of federal disability rights legislation. It’s time to celebrate that birthday with true health care reform. It’s time to end a dependence, for a lot of us, on Social Security. (If you have a “preexisting condition,” you are left with Medicaid, by way of SSI, as your only option. Also, Medicaid is far from a universal health care program with its restrictive eligibility standards). Here’s to Josie Byzek of New Mobility for talking about this dependence and the fear of leaving one’s job over health care coverage. I think it’s only fair that we allow entrepreneurs with disabilities to buy affordable health care coverage and allow workers with disabilities to find the job that provides them with the highest standard of living and not the best health care insurance.

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