B Develop (or use existing) databases of persons with disabilities looking for employment.
Streamlining the process by which employers committed to hiring staff with disabilities are matched with potential employees is important to increasing overall employment in the private sector for people with disabilities. States can work to create and/or support platforms helping employers and potential employees can find each other in a variety of ways, including web-based programs or databases.
Note: The Talent Acquisition Portal®, or TAP, is led by the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation and NET in partnership with disABLEDperson Inc. TAP is an online system that includes both a national talent pool of VR candidates looking for employment and a job posting system for businesses looking to hire individuals with disabilities. The NET comprises VR business consultants in every state, territory and Washington, D.C., who can partner with and provide support services to businesses at the national, state and local levels.
EXAMPLES IN ACTION Utah’s PWDNET job opening program allows businesses that have undergone accommodations and disability hiring training to flag job postings on the statewide job board, thus encouraging people with disabilities to apply. Florida’s Abilities Work web portal encourages businesses to post open positions to the Employ Florida Marketplace and utilize a help desk to source candidates from the state vocational rehabilitation client lists.
C Extend diversity and inclusion (affirmative
action) policies for state government contractors, including requirements to prepare plans that include utilization analysis and goals applicable to race, national origin and gender, to include disability. Expand and improve selfidentification practices to ensure accurate counts of people with disabilities.
EXAMPLES IN ACTION Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Wisconsin include disability in the list of categories covered by affirmative action requirements applicable to entities that do business with state government. Massachusetts surveyed participants regarding self-identification, disclosure and reasonable accommodation, the employment pipeline, and agency culture. The state found that employees were not aware of the processes for selfidentification or reasonable accommodation, or the difference between the two. In response, the state created a marketing campaign to reinforce the importance of disability diversity as well as mandatory training for employees and managers. Since the launch of Massachusetts’ model employer effort in 2009, the share of people with disabilities working in the executive branch has increased from 2.4 percent to 2.9 percent.
34 The Council of State Governments • National Conference of State Legislatures