National Disability Employment Awareness Month

Sometimes the biggest barrier is getting an employer to see potential.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and an event here in Houston is working to change To change that scenario through mentorship and meaningful connections, it's called Disability Mentoring Day, and it aims to help people with disabilities explore career opportunities and build relationships with employers.

Joining us to talk about the importance of workplace inclusion and how mentorship can open doors is Dr. Dishana Reid.

She's an employment specialist.

They actually took on the responsibility of being a convener back in 2001.

And it actually began under former President Clinton.

He had declared Disability Mentoring Day and National Disability Employment Awareness Month something that really needed to be a national movement focused on older working age teens so 16 and above and he started that back in 1999 so the aapd took that on and then instead of just having it being during the third week of october which is national disability employment awareness month or in deem They decided that they would open it up to coordinators around the country who were interested in actually moving this forward.

And so that's where I came in a couple of years ago.

for home fields? You've done a lot this year and since we last talked, but maybe what's on the horizon for the rest of the year and maybe 2027 and beyond?

Well, may I mention that October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month, and October is also National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

So what we hope to do is connect with the broader community and with others in our own community and bring more inclusivity to what we're doing.

So in the cottage shop model, we're giving people a different reason to connect with us.

Thanks for asking.

And so you said National Down Syndrome Awareness Month and then also National...

National Disability Employment Awareness Month, where every year this goes back to the 80s and being more aware of people that are unseen or invisible to us and bringing people more into our natural life and into those bridges where we connect.

Every year there's a theme.

One quote I want to flag from Lori Sedletsky, CEO of Ardmore Enterprises, one of the awardees.

She said, quote, Ardmore Enterprises is especially proud to receive earned dollars during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

End quote.

Nice bit of timing on that one.

As usual, our DC Velocity senior editors Ben Ames and Victoria Kickham will be along to provide their insights into the top stories of this week.

But to begin today, October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

This annual event was begun in 1945 by the U.S. Department of Labor to recognize the positive impacts that people with disabilities make to the American workforce.

The theme this year is Celebrating Value and Talent.

Thanks, Dave.

Our guest today is Chrissy Sailstad.

She's CEO of Durham Exchange Club Industries, and she's here to talk to us about National Disability Employment Awareness Month, as well as her company's role and the logistics industry's role in this very important effort.

Welcome, Chrissy.

I got a very important conversation now.

And also, I should say on Adapting with Alex Garrett, it is Disability Employment Awareness Month, so I'm sure we'll get to that maybe in this segment with my next guest, Jeanne Beard.

Jeannie, first of all, thanks for joining me at One Look Up Alex Media.

You are the director at the National Academy of Autism.

Gina, I want to ask you this.

I mean, there've been some high powered celebrities who probably have autism.

I mean, Elon I'm thinking of, and yet they become brilliant business owners and it is disability employment awareness month.

So where can we change the narrative of, Oh, look, we're hiring this autistic kid to do something like, why can't it just be, he has autism, autism, but he could still do it.

We wanna bring you an interview we did a year ago.

Now, you might be wondering what could still be true a year ago that's still true today? Well, it's National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and last time we sat down with Diane Navarrete, an ODHS communications officer.

Diane lives with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a genetic condition that affects nerves and muscle strength, though, as we will explain, not the teeth.

Diane's story is about much more than the diagnosis.

And so I, I also know, um, from having screwed this acronym up at least a half dozen times that, um, it- that October is NDEAM, National Disabilities-

I don't blame you for forgetting how to pronounce it and forgetting what it is.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

NDEAM is really good opportunity for everyone to consider how many coworkers they have who probably... whom might have a disability, and they don't even know because it's invisible.