National Ad Campaign Promotes Common Sense by Using Humor: My Take

Ever since I became an individual with a disability one thing is sure, I am being labeled daily.  By people I know and those that I don’t.  I am stared at by strangers and can hear their wheels turning.  Their brain is going at hyper-speed to put me in a box and slap a “Label” on it.  They see a man in a power wheelchair with a service dog.  Sometimes, they see me driving my specially equipped van from my wheelchair.  Then other times they spy me at work or going to a meeting, the truth is I am hard to miss.  More importantly, I do not want to be missed!  I go through life (hopefully) dispelling one myth or another about people with disabilities.  That is why am so excited by a national ad campaign called “Think Beyond the Label,” launched this month, by the Chicago-based organization Health & Disability Advocates with 30 state vocational agencies and State Medicaid Infrastructure Grantees.  The funny, edgy $4 million campaign designed is designed to challenge attitudes about people with disabilities in the workplace.  This campaign is exactly what we need to educate employers and others about the destructiveness of “Labels”.  Because, it not only points out “shortcomings” which everyone has, but exploits the ridiculousness of pointing each one out.  The campaign basically says, “if you are labeling me-then I will label you”.

I am of the mind that people cannot help labeling others; because it helps them to place who they are in a given situation.  We are thought to label people and things since the day of our birth.  We have it ingrained in our brains that we “must” put people into a context.  We are hardwired as human beings to judge others, on appearance, verbal skills, dress, and conduct just to name a few.  You might say it is in our DNA to label everyone and everything in our purview.

Here are some examples of “Labels” I have had slapped on my back (Box)

The “Hero”, this is not necessarily a bad label (if you saved kids from burning building) unless one takes into account the context.  If you think I am a hero because as a person with a disability, I wake-up, go to work, and live my life, then you are wrong.  Wrong label, Wrong box! Labels like “Hero” can be destructive, when they purport to treat me different, while I am trying to be like everybody else.  In the workplace, this label is “killer” and not in a good way.  If an employer hires someone on account of them being perceived as a “Hero”, things not go so well.  This new employee is going to eventually have to do the job, if they cannot it may close a door for someone else.   The perception by the employer in this instance can have a rippling effect.

The “non-believer” a person in need of heavenly salvation.  Why else would I be in a wheelchair?  If I believed more, prayed more, and asked to be saved I would “get-up and walk”.  Yes, I have had someone say that to me.  The religious label is hard on those who take it to heart; it could be devastating on those who believe it.

The “pitiful person”, someone that everyone should feel sorry for. This is especially true in instances where other cultures are involved.  Also, when I travel.

The “beggar”, someone in need of money just waiting for a dime to drop on his lap.  First time it happened in Times Square, NY, I was sitting outside, Duane Read pharmacy in my penny loafers, dress pants and tie.  Then, a middle age woman walks by a puts a dollar on my lap.  I was dumbfounded!  Five seconds later, a “well dressed” man drop three dimes on my lap.  Holy crap! I have been turned into my “Label”.  This happens almost every time I am in the city.  The first time I had enough for a cup of coffee-really.

The “unable” , a person who does not by their mere appearance look like they can contribute anything to anyone.

These are just a few examples of labels people like myself muddle through on a daily basis.  There are probably hundreds or thousands which are thrust upon us as we navigate the waters of employment, health care, relationships, and just plain living.   People with disabilities boil in a cauldron of myth, lies, and innuendo as society continues “the labeling game”.  In reality, everyone does it to one extent or another.  However, when those being labeled are affected economically and socially there is a problem.  Not at all dissimilar to the way racial, ethnic, or religious groups were labeled; in some cases literally.  The bottom line is that the lost of participation by people with disabilities in the workplace and other areas is detrimental to the Nation.  The increase in employment and decrease of State and Federal benefits by individuals with disabilities can only improve our economic standing.

The campaign to educate employers through the use of humor is ingenious in the age of political correctness. Because, “Think Beyond the Label”, is about more than realizing how silly our views about certain people can be.  It is about the limitless boundary to which anyone (disabled or not) could be labeled.  In the end it does not matter if you are “footwear fumbled”, “keister deficient” or “vocally enthusiastic”.  What matters is the ability of each and every one of us to see the potential in others, and recognize our own internal biases.

For more information on this campaign visit: thinkbeyondthelabel.com

Javier Robles

Five percent-No Excuses!

ThisAbled.com is calling on President Obama to employee people with disabilities at all levels of the Federal Government.  Currently, people with disabilities make-up less than 1 percent of the Federal workforce, this is unacceptable.  We can longer afford to keep the most vulnerable in poverty by denying them jobs and promotions.  America is better than that and we will prove it!

Together, we will send Washington a clear and unequivocal mandate to fix the unemployment problem which faces 54 million people with disabilities.  We will not, we cannot and we must not take the same lame excuses that we have for decades.  The Clinton Era promise of 100,000 new jobs for people with disabilities was a cruel hoax perpetrated on a community of people who have no choice but to believe in promises made by government.   During the rolling economic times of the Clinton Presidency, Executive Order 13163 went into effect.  It called for 100,000 new hires by the year 2005 today Disabled employees represent 0.92 percent of the federal workforce, a decrease of nearly 15 percent since 1997.  

The Ticket to Work Act of 1999, also signed by President Clinton has been a serious disappointment to people with disabilities wishing to work.  The saving grace of the Act may be the Medicaid Buy-In program which has allowed thousands of people with disabilities, to receive medical benefits while working.  These, programs are run through a States’ Medicaid Agency and may go by different names in different States.  For a list of Buy-In States go to http://www.nchsd.org/links/index.asp?c=39 and click on your State.

One would suppose that the unfulfilled promise of 100,000 jobs by Uncle Sam was a kick in the gut.  However, what really leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of many Americans is the money and effort expended by the Federal and State government to “get people employed”.  For example, in 2001 “The Social Security Administration (SSA) awarded MAXIMUS a $56.4 million nationwide contract to provide Program Management services for the Ticket-to-Work and Self-Sufficiency Program. (Maximus Website).

The five-year contract would make MAXIMUS the Program Manager for the Ticket-to-Work Program. They would be responsible for recruitment and management of nationwide employment networks anticipated to be in excess of 4,500.  In addition, they would coordinate services to 13 million Ticket recipients over the next five years; assistance to SSA in processing payments to employment networks; and operation of a national call center.  In reality, more people with disabilities were working before this contract than after it.  MAXIMUS, like most huge conglomerates never got it.   Therefore, no jobs were really ever created.  Here is a thought, contract someone to get 100,000 people hired into the Federal system, then move on from there.

Everyone has heard of all the new jobs that will be created under an Obama Administration; well we want 5 percent of at least the Federal workforce to be people with disabilities.  The Federal workforce is under the direct control of the President.  54 million people with disabilities have waited too long and cannot afford to wait another year.

What can we do this year?

Sign and Share our Petition to President Obama.  Simply copy the text below and email it to friends, family, colleagues or post it on websites and social network sites, Facebook and My Space.

Five percent-No Excuses!

The Second part of 2009 efforts on behalf of people with disabilities has begun. Here is the www.thisabled.com petition to President Obama to increase the number of Federal employees with disabilities by five percent. We ask that you sign it and forward to others as well as share.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Thisable/petition.html

Petition Text

We call on President of the United States Barrack Obama to employee people with disabilities at all levels of the Federal Government.  Currently people with disabilities make-up less than 1 percent of the Federal workforce, this is unacceptable.  We can longer afford to keep the most vulnerable in poverty by denying them jobs.  America is better than that and we will prove it!

Five percent of Federal workforce to be people with disabilities by 2013, no excuses!

Together, we will send Washington a clear and unequivocal mandate to fix the unemployment problem which faces 54 million people with disabilities.  We will not, we cannot and we must not take the same lame excuses, we have for decades.  Five percent-No Excuses!

Sign the petition at:  http://www.petitiononline.com/Thisable/petition.html