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Extra Space Management to Pay $95,000 for Disability Bias Against Employee with Cosmetic Disability

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PRESS RELEASE
5-28-09

BALTIMORE -- A Gaithersburg, Md.-based storage facility will pay $95,000 and furnish other substantial relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

In its suit (Civil Action No. 8:08-cv-02498-PJM), filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division, the EEOC said that Extra Space Management, Inc. unlawfully fired James L. Hill II, a maintenance worker, because of a disability. Hill, who has a visible disfigurement as a result of sustaining severe burns to his body in a house fire, began working for the company in June 2006. Although he was physically capable and willing to perform all his job duties, Hill was fired after meeting the acting district manager, who said that he “noticed he was handicapped, deformed or something,” and “it’s clear he can’t get the job done.”

Read more: Extra Space Management to Pay $95,000 for Disability Bias Against Employee with Cosmetic Disability

President Obama Announces New Initiatives During National Disability Employment Awareness Month

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President Obama Announces New Initiatives During National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Washington, D.C. – President Obama today announced that his Administration is taking several steps to ensure that there is fair and equal access to employment for all Americans, particularly the 54 million people in this country living with disabilities. The announcement comes during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
"My Administration is committed to ensuring that all Americans have the chance to fulfill their potential and contribute to our nation," said President Obama. "Across this country, millions of people with disabilities are working or want to work, and they should have access to the support and services they need to succeed. As the nation’s largest employer, the Federal Government and its contractors can lead the way by implementing effective employment policies and practices that increase opportunities and help workers achieve their full potential. We must also rededicate ourselves to fostering an inclusive work culture that welcomes the skills and talents of all qualified employees. That’s why I’ve asked the responsible agencies to develop new plans and policies to help increase employment across America for people with disabilities."
The following are some of the steps the Obama Administration will take:

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) will collaborate to sponsor and organize a day long Federal Government-wide job fair for people with disabilities. The Fair will take place in early spring 2010. In addition to the Job Fair, OPM, ODEP, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Defense's office on Computer and Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) will provide workshops throughout the day on a variety of topics including the Schedule A hiring waiver and the right to the provision of reasonable accommodations including information on assistive and communications technology
OPM will develop training on Schedule A for federal Human Resources specialists, hiring managers and selective placement coordinators that will be easily accessible and includes on line training.
EEOC and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division will hold four Town Hall meetings throughout the nation to share information about the ADA Amendments Act proposed regulations and to gather comments on them. All Town Hall meetings will consist of two sessions - one for disability advocates and one for the employer community. These sessions will be completed by November 20th. The four locations are Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, and New Orleans.
The Department of Justice will release a video that will identify and respond to a number of common myths held by employers about workers with disabilities.
OPM will create and lead a task force comprised of representatives from key Federal Departments and Agencies that have developed and implemented model practices for recruiting, retaining and advancing employees with disabilities. The task force will report on the innovative practices agencies use to encourage the employment of individuals with disabilities. The report will identify and promote successful practices for conducting outreach, recruiting, hiring qualified candidates, successful accommodations, and providing opportunities for career advancement at all levels.
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New Website for People with Disabilities Seeking Employment

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New Website for People with Disabilities Seeking Employment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact Javier Robles at 732-887-8722

New Website for People with Disabilities Seeking Employment

(New Jersey): ThisAbled.com, an online community for inspiring and empowering individuals with disabilities, has launched a new career and classifieds center called Adssistant. The site will assist employers; people with disabilities, personal care assistants and other professionals locate jobs and employees. Additionally, it provides an outlet to sell or purchase goods at reasonable prices.

ADssistant was developed by Javier Robles, founder of ThisAbled.com, as a way to help individuals with disabilities achieve more independence and have more potential to pursue employment opportunities.
“By providing one stop shopping for the diverse community of people with disabilities, health care professionals, and personal care assistants we empower then, while providing a quality career site, that also takes care of finding items for daily living,” Commented Robles.

Job seekers looking for careers can create a free account and gain access to a database of opportunities from various employers like individuals and agencies. With a rewarding career in the disability field or beyond everyone can benefit, from a person with a disability to personal care professional. A job makes the economic difference we all need.
Another feature of ADssistant is the classified section, which functions like other online marketplace sites, where people can sell a product or service that would be of value to a disabled or elderly individual. Individuals with disabilities can also use ADssistant as a way to earn some income with their own online store.

The purpose of ADssistant and ThisAbled.com is not just to provide employment opportunities and online shopping. The mission is to promote a community of acceptance and power sharing, empowerment and not pity, and the knowledge that individuals are not measured by what limits them, but what they can offer to society.
For more information about joining ADssistant as a job seeker or employer, please visit www.adssistant.com or go to www.ThisAbled.com and click on the ADssistant link at the top of the page.

About ThisAbled.com

ThisAbled was started in 2007 with the idea that in order for people with disabilities to be free, they have to be politically and economically empowered. Visitors to ThisAbled.com will have access to podcasts, current news, social and economical cartoons, a forum for honest and open talk and access to a new career center called ADssitant. ThisAbled.com is funded by support from people with disabilities, family members, friends and those whom we assisted in one way or another.

About Javier Robles

After an accident at 16 left him a C5 quadriplegic, doctors told Robles he would never gain strength again nor have and chance for a family of his own. Twenty fives year later, Robles is a graduate of Seton Hall Law School, a father of two and to top it all: drives nearly 100 miles everyday to work as Deputy Director of the NJ Division of Disability Services in Trenton.

Some of Robles accomplishments in the empowerment of people with disabilities include the first New Jersey Plan on Employment for disabilities, a NJ Workability evaluation, the first African American and Latino conference for people with disabilities. For his contributions to helping the disabled and Latinos in NJ, Robles has been featured in numerous state publications and currently is a contributor to LatinosNJ.com, a community for the Latino population in NJ with a similar purpose as ThisAbled.com: to provide a place for meaningful, open and inspirational discussions.

Suitor on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” Recounts Struggles After Near Fatal Accident

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Suitor on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” Recounts Struggles After Near Fatal Accident
By: Kelly Rouba

When Sasha Petrovic, 27, received a call from ABC saying they were interested in having him compete on the network’s hit reality dating show “The Bachelorette,” he was more than shocked.

“I was like, ‘What are you talking about? You’ve got the wrong guy’,” Petrovic said in a recent interview.

But there was no mistake. Over a year ago, “my sister submitted me for ‘The Bachelor’ as like a joke,” said Petrovic, who resides in Texas and had forgotten all about what his sister had done until ABC called him.

Although he wasn’t chosen as “The Bachelor,” producers asked if he would consider being a contestant on “The Bachelorette.” Still a bit bewildered, Petrovic decided to move forward with the interview process and ended up joining the ranks of 30 men who have been vying for the heart of bachelorette Jillian Harris, of Vancouver, British Columbia, this season.

Last week, much to the surprise of many viewers, Petrovic was eliminated from the competition after he talked about his search for a “mythical unicorn” among single women—a sentiment Harris didn’t think she could live up to.

Read more: Suitor on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” Recounts Struggles After Near Fatal Accident

Five Percent Federal Jobs by 2013-No Excuses!

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Five Percent Federal Jobs by 2013-No Excuses!

In an effort to push for real employment infrastructure change www.thisabled.com and www.Adssistant.com are asking our readers to read and sign our online petition. The petition calls on President Obama to increase the number of Federal employees with disabilities by five percent.

Five percent may not seem like much, however, the current rate of employees with disabilities working federal jobs is 0.97 percent. That is less than 1 percent! We must expect better from our government and a five percent change is only a starting point; but we must start somewhere.

Currently, this petition and topic is also featured on Facebook as a Cause, join us at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/190729?m=48fc3623 or discuss in our Forum at http://www.thisabled.com/forum/index.php . Assist us in pushing for greater employment opportunities for people with disabilities by signing our petition at: 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
Please forward to at least 5 other people.

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