At First Glance: Employment for People with Learning Disabilities at the Beginning of the Americans-With-Disabilities-Act Era

Abstract

From September, 1991 to May, 1992 I worked in Virginia Commonwealth University's Community Service Associate (CSA) faculty program. This program made it possible for university resources to be shared with organizations in the Richmond, Virginia, area. My role as CSA focused on providing technical assistance on employability and employment issues for persons with learning disabilities as business and industry gear up for the provisions of law and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (PL 101-336). (Note: Many of the statutes of ADA became effective on January 26, 1992. Regulations for Title 1 on Employment were issued on July 26, 1991 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Title 1 becomes effective on July 26, 1992 for employers with 25 or more employees.) As a CSA I made contact with 25 companies in the greater Richmond community. Some of these companies were listed on the Fortune 500, others had a national and regional reach, while the balance were major employers in the area. All were fully aware of the ADA and had reached various stages in formulating strategies for complying with it. The following are observations from my contacts and consultations with executive officers, human resources directors, and personnel managers. My observations are divided into two perspectives (a) business and industry and (b) employees with learning disabilities.

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