Re-charting the Course: Turning Points The Third Report of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities Presented to the President of the United States December 2000 A Report of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. Produced pursuant to Executive Order 13078 December 2000 Copies of this report are available from the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities Web site http://www.dol.gov. The Task Force is located at 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room S2220, Washington, DC 20210; 202-693-4939 (V); 202-693-4290 (TTY); and 202-693-4929 (Fax). Alternative formats of this report are also available by contacting the Task Force. Any modifications to the report, or to material contained in this report, must be specified clearly, along with a description of the modification(s). Notice of modification(s) must be displayed prominently and must contain, if applicable, a notice that the modification(s) may compromise the validity and reliability of the conclusions or data in this report. This report is a product of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. Prepared with the assistance of Health Systems Research, Inc., Kate Lynch Machado, Project Director, and Debra Al-Salam, Project Coordinator. Report layout and cover design by Kim Leaird, Leaird Designs. Staff of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities Rebecca L. Ogle, Executive Director William R. McKinnon, Ph.D, Deputy Director, Special Assistant to the Executive Director. Detailed from the Public Health Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Christopher Button, Ph.D., Staff Director and Senior Policy Advisor. Richard L. Horne, Ed.D., Staff Director and Senior Policy Advisor. Paul Bennett, Senior Advisor. Detailed from the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration. Julie Clark, J.D., Senior Policy Advisor. Jennifer Sheehy, Senior Policy Advisor. John R. Davey, Director of Operations. Detailed from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. Rhonda Basha, J.D., R.D.H., Policy Analyst. Detailed from the Benefits Review Board, U.S. Department of Labor. Randy Cooper, Policy Analyst. Detailed from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labor. Robert G. Goldstraw, Policy Analyst. Detailed from the Office of Operations, Social Security Administration. Clarence R. Griffin, Policy Analyst. Linda D. Kontnier, J.D., Policy Analyst. Detailed from the Employment Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Kathy Ladipo, J.D., Policy Analyst. Michael Reardon, Policy Analyst. Cheryl Klein, Executive Assistant. LaToya Plater, Office Automation Assistant. Karen Saba, Intern. Beth Bader Gilson, Intern. Regina Lee, Intern. Tenth Anniversary of the ADA July 2000 marked the tenth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In commemoration of this historic event, the Task Force, with support from numerous agencies and disability organizations, hosted the Spirit of ADA Torch Rally and an evening celebration at the residence of the Vice President. The artwork displayed here is from those events. In October, as part of the celebration of the National Disability Employment Awareness Month and the 25th Anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Presidential Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities sponsored an essay contest open to youth of all ages, with and without disabilities. To enter, youth in elementary and middle school were asked to write an essay of up to 250 words, and youth in secondary and post-secondary education were asked to write an essay of up to 500 words addressing one of the following questions: 1. Why my life is better because of the ADA ? 2. How will the ADA Help to Prepare Me for What I Want to Do When I Grow Up? 3. What Should Be Done to Address Remaining Attitudinal Barriers Toward People with Disabilities? The response to the contest was overwhelming. We received more than 80 essays which reflected an understanding and appreciation of how our nation has benefitted because of the ADA and IDEA, and provided insight on realistic strategies for addressing remaining attitudinal barriers faced by people with disabilities. The following essays were among the top winners: Why My Life is Better Because of the ADA By Mara Winter, Grade 5, Omaha, Nebraska My life is better because of the ADA in may different ways, especially at school. I have problems with my muscles, which make it hard to walk far. Also, I have problems with things such as writing and cutting. I also have vision problems. I have most of these things because I have Carpenter Syndrome. In my school, there is an elevator that I am a allowed to ride this year for my muscle problems. I also see an Occupational Therapist, a Physical Therapist, and a Speech Therapist. Also, when I need to write sentences or a story in school, I am allowed to use the computer. Sometimes, on tests where a lot of writing is required, I can dictate to my speech therapist what I want to say. In gym class, my teacher lets me go closer to the target than the other students, and also makes adaptations so I can play. A lot of people think that handicapped people are not as smart, but I have been in the Gifted Program since first grade. Also, I have been reading young adult novels since last year, in fourth grade. Last year the assistant principal allowed me to take fifth grade social studies. The ADA has convinced schools across the nation to make adaptations for other handicapped students as well as me. Attitudes About People with Disabilities By Benjamin Snow, Grade 8, Woodland Park, Colorado The words we choose to say show what our attitudes are. When youŐre describing a person who has a disability, you need to remember that we are all people first. "Handicapped" isn't the right word to use when you're describing a person with a disability. It gets on my nerves when I hear that ugly word. I believe using that word shows an attitude that people with disabilities can't do some things. We must learn to change our language and stop believing people with disabilities are different from anyone else. Disability is natural. We must stop believing that disabilities keep a person from doing something. Because that's not true. I am thirteen years old and I have a disability myself. I have cerebral palsy and I think of it as no big deal. I have earned two karate belts. I enjoy writing stories and plays and scripts. I have a part time job. But all of that has nothing to do with my disability. All of that is just about me as a person. Having a disability doesn't stop me from doing anything. When someone has the attitude that people with disabilities canŐt do something they're talking about me, too. And that's just not true. The words we choose show what we think. I think people with disabilities are just like everybody else, and we need to choose words that show that people with disabilities are people first. Attitudinal Barriers By Nicholas Guarino, Grade 2, New Haven, Connecticut What should be done to address remaining attitudinal barriers toward people with disabilities? I feel that the world is made up of different people. I think that schools should talk to students about people with disabilities. People with disabilities are just like us, they have feelings. In my own words people who laugh and make fun of people with disabilities makes me feel sad because I would not like anyone to laugh at me if I had a disability. So I think it is important that people understand someone with a disability instead of making fun of them. So what I think we should do to address people's attitudes toward others who may have a disability is to talk with someone who may be in a wheelchair and find out what it is like for someone on a daily basis. My mom works with a group home for people with disabilities. My mom explains to me that people with disabilities are just like you and I. And if I ever have any questions I should not be afraid to ask her. That's how I learn about things. Just because someone has a disability that does not mean we have the right to hurt someoneŐs feelings because they don't look and act like us. The Forgotten People By Brian Carr, Grade 12, Arlington, Virginia As a person with a disability, I face constant challenges. Although my problems concern only my physical capabilities, their consequences are far broader. Ignorance represents a pervasive part of my struggle, affecting nearly every aspect of my life. If I am to attain my potential, these misconceptions must be abolished, because they present the single greatest impediment to my success. Yet my comments are relevant not simply to my situation, but to all people with such conditions; for the ConstitutionŐs promise of equity and equality cannot be realized if the disabled population is not completely integrated into all areas of society. This objective can only be achieved through education. The concept of being "disabled" is convoluted and confusing. Indeed, it is a term applied to a multitude of deficits, each representing variations of cognitive, psychological, or physical deficiencies. It is therefore daunting, and perhaps slightly intimidating, for most people to identify the characteristics of a handicap that does not concern them. The true nature of the disability is inevitably lost, eventually becoming inextricably linked to the popular stereotypes of a misinformed population. As one who suffers from Cerebral Palsy, let me assure you that I am neither a blithering idiot nor a helpless cripple. My only major impairment is my inability to walk, which has not prevented me from pursuing a relatively normal life. To this end, I strive to normalize relations with others, although my attempts have been only moderately successful. As I write these words, it occurs to me that my peers have never asked about my disability. Perhaps I am overly critical; I would certainly be flattered if they perceived me as their equal. But their silence is reflective of the utter lack of understanding that manifests itself among professionals who study cases such as mine. I still wince at the memory of an orthopedist using epithets to characterize the effective treatment I had received in Hungary. More recently, I have been angered by the Social Security Administration's constant crusade to relinquish my meager disability payments, which constitute the whole of my income. If they succeed, it will become more difficult for me to pay impending college expenses. Yet my college search has also been frustrating, since schools have not been forthcoming with accommodation information. Each example illustrates the attitude of indifference, ignorance, and hostility that currently prevails in our society. If our nation is to achieve its potential, it must not perceive its less fortunate citizens as invalids who have no part in prosperity. Thus, it is imperative that the population be educated on all levels. Americans must better understand the meaning of "disability," and must work toward helping the disabled develop their capabilities as members of a common society. Americans cannot be content to ignore the needs of the handicapped, nor can they allow them to remain on the fringes of the population. The disabled must ultimately be enabled to control their own affairs. These conventions must serve as the guiding principles of a new philosophy, for then-only then- can equality be ensured. December 15, 2000 The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton President of the United States The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: On behalf of the members of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities (Task Force), it is with great pride and honor that we present the third report in a series of four, Recharting the Course: Turning Points. The timing of this chronicle is noteworthy as this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the 25th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), two laws of monumental significance to people with disabilities. The occasion of this report is also significant in that it is being written in the first year of the new millennium, at a time when the Task Force is reaching the halfway point of its existence, and a time when the Clinton-Gore Administration is coming to closure. Because of these important events, this yearŐs report takes stock of what has been accomplished and looks at the challenges that lie ahead. With the ADA, we began a transformation of the proverbial ladder of success for some Americans into a ramp of opportunity for all Americans. With you and the Vice President at the helm, we have navigated previously uncharted waters, buoyed by the principles of independence, empowerment, and inclusion. From defending the ADA, to passing the Ticket to Work and the Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA), to ensuring that the federal government is a model employer, to recommending the creation of a new Office of Disability Policy within the Department of Labor to provide a national focus on the issue of employment of people with disabilities, the Clinton-Gore Administration has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to providing equal rights and equal opportunities for people with disabilities. All members of the Task Force agree that we are at a turning point in the way the federal government formulates policies and programs for people with disabilities. We are turning from national employment policies premised on the paternalistic notions that people with disabilities are less capable of working, to a new paradigm which presumes that all individuals, even those with the most severe disabilities, are capable of work with proper supports. Barriers which previously impeded people with disabilities from realizing their full potential are slowly eroding and employers are beginning to appreciate the wisdom and truth of the words you have expressed so frequently, "Hiring people with disabilities is not just the right thing to do. It's good for business, itŐs good for communities, and itŐs good for all Americans." Finally, the Task Force members and staff applaud your unwavering dedication and leadership in supporting the work of the Task Force to increase employment opportunities for adults with disabilities. Your vision to make equality of opportunity, full participation, inclusion, and economic self-sufficiency realities for people with disabilities will continue to guide the work of policy makers concerned with justice for all. Sincerely yours, Alexis M. Herman Secretary of Labor and Chair, Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities Tony Coelho Vice-Chair, Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities Celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act [2 Pictures] Picture 1, as Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) looks on, President Clinton greets Justin Dart at the FDR Memorial event commemorating the tenth anniversary of the signing of the ADA, July 26, 2000. Picture 2, Vice President Gore and Tipper Gore at the Summer Evening on the Lawn event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the ADA view assistive technology exhibit at their residence, July 25, 2000. Dedication The third report of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities is dedicated to President Clinton, Vice President Gore and the Members of the Clinton-Gore Cabinet serving as Task Force members. Their individual and collective contributions to the overall successfulness of the Task Force mission and vision have been relentless. As each departs their respective positions and posts, each should go forth with the knowledge that the work that they did on behalf of people with disabilities will go down in history. Your relentless pursuit of equality, justice and the basic right to work for people with disabilities will long be remembered. Thank you. Members of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities: William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States Albert Gore, Vice President of the United States Alexis M. Herman, Chair, Secretary of Labor Tony Coelho, Vice Chair, PresidentŐs Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities Richard Riley, Secretary of Education Hershel W. Gober, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kenneth Apfel, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Lawrence H. Summers, Secretary of the Treasury Norman Mineta, Secretary of Commerce Rodney Slater, Secretary of Transportation Janice R. Lachance, Director of the Office of Personnel Management Aida Alvarez, Administrator of the Small Business Administration Ida L. Castro, Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Marca Bristo, Chair of the National Council on Disability William E. Kennard, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture For your leadership and commitment to improving the lives of millions of the individuals with disabilities, we are forever grateful. Table of Contents Executive Order xi Members of the Presidential Task Force xvii Overview 1 Chapter One: 2000 Recommendations to the President from the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities 13 Chapter Two: A Status Report on the 1999-2000 Task Force Recommendations 21 Chapter Three: Activities in 2000 and Goals for 2001 - the View from 2000 27-61 Civil Rights 28 Federal Government Leadership 32 Federal Tax Policy 34 Workforce Development 36 Small Business, Entrepreneurship, and Microenterprise Development 41 Technology 43 Housing 45 Transportation 48 Health Care 49 Income Support 50 Youth 52 People with Significant Disabilities 54 Diversity 56 Statistics 58 2000: The Year-at-a-Glance 62-80 APPENDIX 81-101 Appendix A: Federal Efforts to Identify the Employment Rate for People with Disabilities 81 Appendix B: Research Activities of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities 89 Appendix C: Disability-Related Initiatives 96 [Picture] December 17, 1999 President Clinton signs the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA) at the FDR Memorial. From left to right, Senator Bob Dole, Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Jeanne Lambrew, Senior Health Policy Analyst, NEC; Donna Shalala, Secretary of HHS; Kenneth Apfel, Commissioner of SSA; James Sullivan; President Clinton; Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA); Wesley Vinner; Donna McNamee; Senator Jim Jeffords (R-VT); Alexis M. Herman, Secretary of Labor; and Justin Dart. Executive Order 13078 Increasing employment of adults with disabilities By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to increase the employment of adults with disabilities to a rate that is as close as possible to the employment rate of the general adult population and to support the goals articulated in the findings and purpose section of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Establishment of National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. (a) There is established the ŇNational Task Force on Employment of Adults with DisabilitiesÓ (ŇTask ForceÓ). The Task Force shall comprise the Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Commissioner of Social Security, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Transportation, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Chairperson of the National Council on Disability, the Chair of the PresidentŐs Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, and such other senior executive branch officials as may be determined by the Chair of the Task Force. (b) The Secretary of Labor shall be the Chair of the Task Force; the Chair of the PresidentŐs Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities shall be the Vice Chair of the Task Force. (c) The purpose of the Task Force is to create a coordinated and aggressive national policy to bring adults with disabilities into gainful employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of the general adult population. The Task Force shall develop and recommend to the President, through the Chair of the Task Force, a coordinated Federal policy to reduce employment barriers for persons with disabilities. Policy recommendations may cover such areas as discrimination, reasonable accommodations, inadequate access to health care, lack of consumer-driven, long-term supports and services, transportation, accessible and integrated housing, telecommunications, assistive technology, community services, child care, education, vocational rehabilitation, training services, job retention, on-the-job supports, and economic incentives to work. Specifically, the Task Force shall: (1) analyze the existing programs and policies of Task Force member agencies to determine what changes, modifications, and innovations may be necessary to remove barriers to work faced by people with disabilities; (2) develop and recommend options to address health insurance coverage as a barrier to employment for people with disabilities; (3) subject to the availability of appropriations, analyze State and private disability systems (e.g., workersŐ compensation, unemployment insurance, private insurance, and State mental health and mental retardation systems) and their effect on Federal programs and employment of adults with disabilities; (4) consider statistical and data analysis, cost data, research, and policy studies on public subsidies, employment, employment discrimination, and rates of return - to-work for individuals with disabilities; (5) evaluate and, where appropriate, coordinate and collaborate on, research and demonstration priorities of Task Force member agencies related to employment of adults with disabilities; (6) evaluate whether Federal studies related to employment and training can, and should, include a statistically significant sample of adults with disabilities; (7) subject to the availability of appropriations, analyze youth programs related to employment (e.g., Employment and Training Administration programs, special education, vocational rehabilitation, school-to-work transition, vocational education, and Social Security Administration work incentives and other programs, as may be determined by the Chair and Vice Chair of the Task Force) and the outcomes of those programs for young people with disabilities; (8) evaluate whether a single governmental entity or program should be established to provide computer and electronic accommodations for Federal employees with disabilities; (9) consult with the PresidentŐs Committee on Mental Retardation on policies to increase the employment of people with mental retardation and cognitive disabilities; and (10) recommend to the President any additional steps that can be taken to advance the employment of adults with disabilities, including legislative proposals, regulatory changes, and program and budget initiatives. (d) (1) The members of the Task Force shall make the activities and initiatives set forth in this order a high priority within their respective agencies within the levels provided in the PresidentŐs budget. (2) The Task Force shall issue its first report to the President by November 15, 1998. The Task Force shall issue a report to the President on November 15, 1999, November 15, 2000, and a final report on July 26, 2002, the 10th anniversary of the initial implementation of the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The reports shall describe the actions taken by, and progress of, each member of the Task Force in carrying out this order. The Task Force shall terminate 30 days after submitting its final report. (e) As used herein, an adult with a disability is a person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity. Sec. 2. Specific activities by Task Force members and other agencies. (a) To ensure that the Federal Government is a model employer of adults with disabilities, by November 15, 1998, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Labor, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shall submit to the Task Force a review of Federal Government personnel laws, regulations, and policies and, as appropriate, shall recommend or implement changes necessary to improve Federal employment policy for adults with disabilities. This review shall include personnel practices and actions such as: hiring, promotion, benefits, retirement, workersŐ compensation, retention, accessible facilities, job accommodations, layoffs, and reductions in force. (b) The Departments of Justice, Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services shall report to the Task Force by November 15, 1998, on their work with the States and others to ensure that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act is carried out in accordance with section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, so that individuals with disabilities and their families can realize the full promise of welfare reform by having an equal opportunity for employment. (c) The Departments of Education, Labor, Commerce, and Health and Human Services, the Small Business Administration, and the PresidentŐs Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities shall work together and report to the Task Force by November 15, 1998, on their work to develop small business and entrepreneurial opportunities for adults with disabilities and strategies for assisting low-income adults, including those with disabilities to create small businesses and micro - enterprises. These same agencies, in consultation with the Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, shall assess the impact of the Randolph-Sheppard Act vending program and the Javits-Wagner-OŐDay Act on employment and small business opportunities for people with disabilities. (d) The Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development shall report to the Task Force by November 15, 1998, on their examination of their programs to see if they can be used to create new work incentives and to remove barriers to work for adults with disabilities. (e) The Departments of Justice, Education, and Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Social Security Administration shall work together and report to the Task Force by November 15, 1998, on their work to propose remedies to the prevention of people with disabilities from successfully exercising their employment rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 because of the receipt of monetary benefits based on their disability and lack of gainful employment. (f) The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor and the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, in cooperation with the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, the National Council on Disability, and the PresidentŐs Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities shall design and implement a statistically reliable and accurate method to measure the employment rate of adults with disabilities as soon as possible, but no later than the date of termination of the Task Force. Data derived from this methodology shall be published on as frequent a basis as possible. (g) All executive agencies that are not members of the Task Force shall: (1) coordinate and cooperate with the Task Force; and (2) review their programs and policies to ensure that they are being conducted and delivered in a manner that facilitates and promotes the employment of adults with disabilities. Each agency shall file a report with the Task Force on the results of its review on November 15, 1998. Sec. 3. Cooperation. All efforts taken by executive departments and agencies under sections 1 and 2 of this order shall, as appropriate, further partnerships and cooperation with public and private sector employers, organizations that represent people with disabilities, organized labor, veteran service organizations, and State and local governments whenever such partnerships and cooperation are possible and would promote the employment and gainful economic activities of individuals with disabilities. Sec. 4. Judicial Review. This order does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any person. The White House, March 13, 1998. Amendment to Executive Order 13078, To Expand The Role of The National Task Force on Employment of Adults With Disabilities to Include a Focus on Youth By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and in order to provide for improved access to employment and training for youth with disabilities, it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 13078 of March 13, 1998, is amended by adding to section 2 of that order the following new subsection to read as follows: "(h) To improve employment outcomes for persons with disabilities by addressing, among other things, the education, transition, employment, health and rehabilitation, and independent living issues affecting young people with disabilities, executive departments and agencies shall coordinate and cooperate with the Task Force to: (1) strengthen interagency research, demonstration, and training activities relating to young people with disabilities; (2) create a public awareness campaign focused on access to equal opportunity for young people with disabilities; (3) promote the views of young people with disabilities through collaboration with the Youth Councils authorized under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998; (4) increase access to and utilization of health insurance and health care for young people with disabilities through the formalization of the Federal Healthy and Ready to Work Interagency Council; (5) increase participation by young people with disabilities in postsecondary education and training programs; and (6) create a nationally representative Youth Advisory Council, to be funded and chaired by the Department of Labor, to advise the Task Force in conducting these and other appropriate activities." WILLIAM J. CLINTON Members of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities Alexis M. Herman Chair Secretary of Labor Tony Coelho Vice Chair Chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities Richard Riley Secretary of Education Hersel W. Gober Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Lawrence H. Summers Secretary of the Treasury Norman Mineta Secretary of the Department of Commerce Rodney Slater Secretary of Transportation Marca Bristo Chair of the National Council on Disability William E. Kennard Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Andrew Cuomo Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Donna Shalala Secretary of Health and Human Services Kenneth Apfel Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Janice R. Lachance Director of the Office of Personnel Management Aida Alvarez Administrator of the Small Business Administration Ida L. Castro Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Janet Reno Attorney General of the United States Bruce babbitt Secretary of Interior Dan Glickman Secretary of Agriculture Young People Are the Future Youth representatives attend the National Transition Summit, June 21, 2000. Youth participants at the Spirit of ADA Torch Relay in Washington, D.C., July 25, 2000. Photo Captions: 1. Youth representatives at the National Transition Summit. 2. Richard Riley, Secretary of Education, greets Chris Gagliardi at the National Transition Summit for Youth, June, 21, 2000. 3. Matthew Cavedon leads the Spirit of ADA Torch Relay in ceremonies celebrating the tenth anniversary of the signing of the ADA, July 25, 2000. 4. At the FDR Memorial, Spirit of ADA Torch Relay ceremony sponsored by the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities and the Task Force, awaiting the arrival of the Torch, seated from left to right: Mark Johnson, Becky Ogle and Sydney Button, Greg Smith, Brooke Ellison and her mother, Matt Cavedon and his father, and Adotun Oshowalu, July 25, 2000. Overview Re-Charting the Course: Turning Points Turning point: an important moment of change... [Encarta World English Dictionary, 1999] The Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities is proud to submit this third report to the President, the Vice President, and the nation describing activities underway to create an aggressive and coordinated national strategy to eliminate barriers to employment for adults with disabilities. This year our nation celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 25th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), landmark civil rights laws intended to ensure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities. This year also marks the halfway point in the life of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities, the start of a new millennium, and the end of the Clinton-Gore Administration. These events taken together beg that we stop and reflect. We are at a crossroads - a turning point of sorts - a time to think about where we were, where we are now and what course we should set. A Quick Look Back In 1996, as our country commemorated the sixth anniversary of the signing of the ADA, the National Council on Disability (NCD) released their report, Achieving Independence: the Challenge for the 21st Century. This report included recommendations developed by a diverse group of 300 participants at NCD's National Summit on Disability Policy, which took place in Dallas in April 1996. At this gathering people with and without disabilities, representing the grassroots and national leaders alike, formulated policy objectives that built on the fundamental principles of the ADA: inclusion, independence, and empowerment. An important outcome of that grassroots meeting was recognition of the urgent need to address the staggering rate of non-employment of adults with significant disabilities. In July 1996, Presidential appointees with disabilities, many of whom attended the Dallas meeting, met and decided to promote establishment of a task force with budgetary support targeted specifically to employment issues for people with disabilities. During the ensuing months, Clinton-Gore Administration officials continued to meet and draft what would become Executive Order 13078, signed by President Clinton on March 13, 1998, establishing the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. The overall mission of the Task Force is to develop a coordinated national strategy to ensure that people with disabilities are employed at a rate as close as possible to that of the general adult population. With members from virtually every cabinet level agency directly or indirectly related to employment, the Task Force quickly organized to begin its mandate for change. Actions across the Federal Government quickly began to coalesce; as a result, legislative and regulatory efforts passed during this AdministrationŐs watch will be instrumental components in the progressive disability agenda being developed by the Task Force and its member agencies. For example, when implemented by states, the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (TWWIIA) will mean that people with disabilities today need no longer make the untenable choice between working and losing their health insurance. The issuance of strong implementing nondiscrimination regulations for the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), by the Department of Labor (DOL) will mean that people with disabilities have increased opportunity to choose between available employment and training options and providers. Last year's increase in the monthly Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) amount from $500 to $700 will encourage more people with disabilities to return to work, as will the proposed automatic future adjustments to the SGA tied to the national average wage index, and the increase to the minimum amount of monthly earnings counted during a trial work period proposed by the Clinton-Gore Administration during the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the ADA. Changes made to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act will soon ensure that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is fully accessible to people with disabilities. Recognizing that talent is locked behind institutional walls due to the lack of affordable, accessible housing and community-based support, sustained effort has been focused on addressing these primary issues. Access Housing 2000 is a new public-private partnership between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the National Project Office on Self-Determination. This initiative will focus on expanding the availability of affordable housing and providing the necessary supports and services so individuals can transition from institutions to their communities. This initiative also includes a new $50 million investment in FY 2001 to help states offer services to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs and the issuance of new guidance to state Medicaid directors on Medicaid coverage of home and community-based services that will help them comply with the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. A Comprehensive Plan of Action to Remedy Lack of Transportation Services and Systems for Persons with a Disability developed by the Department of Transportation (DOT), in consultation with other relevant Task Force member agencies, is another example of the actions being undertaken government-wide to increase access to employment and needed supports for Americans with disabilities. Moreover, and significantly, the formation of the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) within the DOL, headed by an Assistant Secretary of Disability, will ensure that issues related to disability are elevated throughout all programs and services of the DOL nationally. This new office was embraced by the Administration and Congress. In conjunction with recent executive orders and executive memoranda which call upon Federal agencies to hire 100,000 people with disabilities over the next five years, to establish effective procedures for processing requests for reasonable accommodation, to develop plans for ensuring that programs are free from disability-based discrimination, and to utilize the skills of people with significant disabilities for appropriate off-site home-based employment opportunities, the new ODEP will soon lead the national effort for employment for people with disabilities, making DOL a powerful voice of employment for all people. "It would be too easy and terribly wrong to assume that those with the most significant physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities can all get real jobs at a real living wage tomorrow, but I believe it would be equally far too easy to discount the abilitiy of many of these individuals to do just that, given the right opportunities and supports. . ." Robert Williams, Task Force Summit on Real Choice, Real Jobs, Real Pay, April 7,2000. Turning Points for the Future Two and one-half years of coordinated, collaborative actions are creating results. The Task Force has become a fulcrum for change - a prodding, thoughtful conscience and bridge builder across Federal agencies and systems. It has become a leverage point for translating innovation and best practices from isolated demonstrations to systemic practices, and a national voice for shifting and elevating the discussion about employment and disability. We are thus at a time when the efforts of these two and one-half years of collaboration and removing walls at the Federal level are allowing a strategy to emerge that is resulting in substantive change for young people and adults with disabilities. The discussion is shifting. And as it does, a number of clear points have become apparent. These are our turning points - essential parts around which any strategy must evolve, turning points that create and support change. These turning points are presented as a lens through which to view the activities and actions enumerated throughout this report - a lens that is focusing actions as Task Force members work toward the goal of opening pathways to employment. Action in these areas, in combination, is enabling the Federal Government to become an effective catalyst for change to increase employ-ment of young people and adults with disabilities. Federal Government as a Model Employer and Purchaser The Federal Government is the world's largest employer and purchaser of goods, services, technology, and health care. It must itself be a model employer - exemplary in its practices, demonstrating through its actions what it expects and trusts state and local governments will do, and illustrating to the private sector what is possible. The Federal Government as a Model Employer initiative begun under the Clinton-Gore Administration shows extraordinary commitment to this strategy. This initiative is evident at all levels, beginning with President Clinton amassing a highly talented and extremely diverse Administration that included record numbers of people with disabilities. Presidential appointees with disabilities served in the White House and the Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Justice (DOJ), Labor (DOL), State, and Transportation (DOT). They also served in independent agencies such as the Social Security Administration, the Small Business Administration, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as U.S. District Court Judges, the National Council on Disability, and on various other Presidential Committees, Commissions, and Task Forces. Because of the insistence of President Clinton and Vice President Gore that the Federal Government lead by example, multiple additional changes are underway. Individuals with psychiatric disabilities now stand on equal footing to persons with significant disabilities and mental retardation in terms of Federal hiring opportunities. As of 2001, mental health coverage will be more affordable and accessible to Federal employees because President Clinton directed that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ensure that the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) plans provide for mental health parity. The hard work of Task Force member agencies, in particular OPM, has resulted in a comprehensive model plan for hiring and promoting people with disabilities: Accessing Opportunity: The Plan for Employment of People with Disabilities in the Federal Government. This plan was developed for the specific intent of increasing the representation of adults with disabilities throughout the Federal workforce. As this comprehensive plan is implemented, it is important that hiring efforts not be confined to a particular class or range of jobs, but must include hiring qualified people with disabilities at all levels of our government. This includes positions that require security clearances. We must review the process for award of security clearances in order to ensure that discriminatory, historical stereotypes about disability do not keep people with disabilities from being considered for these high-level positions. Opportunities for internships, apprenticeships, and mentoring for youth with disabilities must also be encouraged and provided so that these young people can expand their vision for their own future, as well as build experience for employment. The Federal Government must also utilize its influence to shape change by leveraging opportunities for employment that exist through the Federal procurement process. Annually, our nation spends billions of dollars partnering with the private sector to secure goods and services. We must review and revise our procedures for procurement to increase opportunity for awarding contracts to people with disabilities as business owners, and to ensure that all contractors demonstrate model practices, demonstrated by the Federal Government, in their hiring, accommodating, and promoting people with disabilities at all levels of their business. As the leader of the free world, the United States must demonstrate these exemplary practices not just within its own borders, but also through its international activities. As the economy is increasingly globalized, we must ensure as a nation that our policies and contractual relationships abroad carry the same protections afforded to people with disabilities living within our borders. Doing so will model for the world the leadership and commitment of our nation to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to participate as workers. Thus the Federal Government of the United States, as a model employer of all people, will become a catalyst for change world-wide. Federal Government Leveraging Purchase Power Technology will have a profound impact on the types of work and skill sets needed to participate fully in the 21st century market place. We cannot begin to imagine what the future holds as techno-logical advances unfold and transform the way we live and work. People with disabilities have much to gain from this technological revolution. It is imperative that the Federal Government demonstrate leadership in this area - not only to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind, but to actively create opportunities for the global marketplace to benefit from their presence as workers, business owners, entrepreneurs, and customers. Ensuring fully accessible, affordable technology is thus an absolutely essential component to the developing strategy to increase employment of people with disabilities. The Federal Government must use its influence to promote full inclusion and universal design in this area. We must lead the nation with electronic curb cuts, accessible Web sites, and strong implementation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits Federal agencies from procuring, developing, maintaining, or using electronic information technology (EIT) that is inaccessible to people with disabilities, subject to an undue burden defense. This year, agencies must comply with new access rules under Section 508 for full accessibility of technology. Strong implementation of Section 508 will ultimately push the entire technology marketplace toward universal design features, so that as new technologies are developed, full accessibility for people with physical, sensory, communication and cognitive disabilities are considered up-front, not as an afterthought. Indeed, multiple efforts are currently being undertaken at the request of the Clinton-Gore Administration to promote the development of new, accessible technology through mobilizing public and private efforts. These include securing commitments from technology companies, research firms, and non-profit organizations to improve the accessibility and affordability of technology for persons with disabilities. We must increase employment and training activities to meet the explosion of work in the technology arena, a high growth industry which holds the possibility of many jobs for young people and adults with disabilities. Current outreach efforts of the Task Force to private corporations have secured commitments to provide scholarships and training for certification in Information Technology (IT) jobs that are specifically targeted to people with disabilities. There are additional plans in the works for public and private partners to create business incubators with a technology focus - with special emphasis on entrepreneurs with disabilities. The High School/High Tech program, which has proven successful, is expanding to four new cities and three new states, thereby providing increased opportunity to develop and enhance information technology skills to even more students with disabilities across the nation. Additionally, the Task Force recommends modifying H1-B Visa legislation to ensure that a designated portion of the funds generated from increased immigration traffic is used to train U.S. citizens with disabilities in information technology jobs. We must do more. There is also wide recognition of the deep divide that exists between people with and without disabilities in terms of access to technology. Substantial effort is being made to address this "digital divide." As part of this effort, President Clinton extended his digital inclusion tour to emphasize how the digital divide impacts people with disabilities, including highlighting examples of accessible technologies. In addition, the Department of Commerce demonstrated its commitment to accessibility for people with disabilities through the delivery of its programs, working to encourage the private sector to make Web content, software, and development tools more accessible for people with disabilities by adopting technical standards consistent with universal design capabilities. In addition, the creation of a Task Force to specifically examine Medicare/Medicaid coverage of assistive technology was announced by the Administration to begin to address barriers to technology access through those programs. Coverage of assistive technologies by health plans participating in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan should also be examined, and appropriate recommendations on how to best enhance such coverage developed. An Executive Order calling for a strategy on the development and transfer of assistive technology and universal design was issued in July, 2000 at the request of the Task Force. Resulting action will create multiple opportunities for conversion of defense technology to private sector use. Significantly, a report developed by the Interagency Committee on Disability Research (ICDR), in collaboration with the disability and research communities, will identify priority areas for the advancement of assistive technologies and universal design capabilities, including technologies needed for improving, increasing, or enhancing functioning across sensory, mobility, manipulation, communication and cognitive areas. The emerging strategy across all areas related to technology will be assisted through the Access America for People with Disabilities Web site, disAbility.gov, which serves as a "one-stop" electronic link to a wide range of information relevant to people with disabilities, their families, and potential employers. Unveiled by President Clinton this year, this portal is fast being recognized as a comprehensive site that provides people with disabilities, their families, employers, the media and the general public to access information on disability services. In just six months, over 239,942 people have visited the Web site, and it has won acclaim from other sites as well. In fact, CBS.com has named disAbility.gov one of the 100 most useful Web services in America. Among other things, disAbility.gov offers private sector and government human resource professionals access to information on accommodations, assistive technology, available tax credits, employee databases, company best practices, resources for small businesses, recruiting tips, internship, mentoring programs, and much more. The site also provides access to a biblio-graphy of disability publications, films, radio shows and books that describe disability issues and experiences. The Task Force also actively collaborates with private partners to broadcast successful employ-ment strategies to the private sector. As a result, online employment services actively work with disAbility.gov to provide valuable disability resources to their customers. The area of technology is huge, and the actions needed to ensure that people with disabilities are considered should be equally substantial. The Administration's FY 2001 budget included $100.4 million (an increase of nearly $14 million) for disability and technology research at the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and for Assistive Technology Act funds to states. While this is focusing a large number of hiring and service commitments and grant-related activities in the area of technology to complement other ongoing efforts, much more must be done. As the strategy for change continues to unfold, promoting development of new, accessible technologies, leveraging opportunities for training and employment in the high-growth information technology industry, comprehensively addressing the digital divide, and expanding access to affordable assistive technologies for people with disabilities must all be critical and coordinated components to that strategy. Federal Government Ensuring Access to Generic Programs and Services Gone are days of separate and unequal. The reality of the ADA will not be achieved until generic systems truly offer effective and meaningful participation for all, including young people and adults with disabilities. As the Task Force strategy unfolds, the importance of access to generic services and systems cannot be overstated. In fact, this is one of the most essential parts of the developing strategy. Generic systems must welcome people with disabilities. They must have the capacity, the knowledge, to connect people with employment based on the strengths, needs, and desires of the individual. There must be a competent array of programs and services at the local level to partner with generic systems, creating choices for young people and adults with disabilities from which to choose as they seek the supports and services they need to successfully become employed. No longer do we need to establish separate and parallel systems. Instead what we need is a change in perspective from policymakers so that resources can be shifted toward a single system of employment service; from providers, so that best practice strategies which have proven successful are adopted; from employers, who must be willing to take a chance to let people with disabilities demonstrate their capacity for contributions; and from people with disabilities and family members themselves. Employment programs such as the One-Stop Career Centers established under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) are leading the way in this effort, clearly intended to be open to all customers, including customers with disabilities. We must make sure that comprehensive technical assistance is available for this emerging system to meet the needs of all its customers. The new ODEP is an essential component in the strategy to increase employment of young people and adults with disabilities through generic systems. It will provide a centralized, consistent focus to critical disability employment issues. Best practices will receive widespread recognition, and will continue to be researched and developed both for employers and the corporate world, as well as critical partners within the provider community and the workforce development system. ODEP will ensure that young people and adults with disabilities are included in every aspect of DOL programs and policies - an essential turning point in the strategy to increase employment. Federal Government as Bridge to Innovation and Choice at the State and Local Level Now more than ever, we have come to the realization that Federal Government cannot and should not do everything. The emerging strategy recognizes that change modeled at the Federal level is driven at the local level. The Federal Government must exemplify best practices and provide the tools that will allow state and local employment systems to expand their services to people with disabilities. If research-based, innovative employment strategies are available at the local grass roots level, then change will occur and an increased number of people with disabilities will be employed. They will be employed within a single workforce, not one created just for people thought to have special needs. The emerging strategy must ensure that state and local systems have the information and technical assistance to build capacity so that this can occur. Part of building capacity relates to implementing informed choice. In transforming the nation's workforce development system, ensuring choice in employment for all Americans, including people with disabilities, has increasingly become part of the change strategy. Indeed, the ability to choose is an essential part of living in the United States. In our nation we have the ability to choose where we live, what work we do, how we choose to spend our free time. But the majority of people with disabilities have not had choice in their lives. In most instances the poverty of the human service system on which they are dependent for needed medical care and other services has removed this as a possibility. Probably the most significant pieces of legislation for promoting choice in employment are WIA, TWWIIA, and the Rehabilitation Act. WIA includes choice as one of its core principles. Under WIA, states are authorized to implement programs using individual Training Accounts, intended to enable recipients to make their own career decisions by choosing training programs or contractual services that their particular needs. Choice under WIA is intended for all customers of the system - including people with disabilities. In addition, TWWIIA provides for tickets which beneficiaries can use to obtain needed employment and support services with a provider of their choice. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has increasingly focused efforts of state rehabilitation agencies on increasing choice in the rehabilitation process. In addition to these statutory authorities, numerous discretionary initiatives have been started to assist states and localities to promote choice. The intent of ensuring choice is to create a different equilibrium between the person and the system: person as customer rather than client; person with the power to choose how and where to spend resources; person with a new and different relationship with the entities intended to assist them into the workforce. The Task Force recognizes that choice is essential for all people with disabilities and sponsored several initiatives related to choice this year, including research on what was learned qualitatively from the Choice Demonstration projects previously funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and a national Summit on increasing choice, employment and wages for people with the most significant disabilities. Reports are available from the Task Force on these initiatives, which will contribute to future Task Force actions in this area. Implementing choice-based services shifts the balance of power putting the individual in the driver's seat and circumventing many of the traditional systemic barriers to employment. Through choice-based services the individual becomes more invested in the result. It is important that choice-based services be an integral part of employment systems, rather than implemented separately as special demonstrations. Recommendations made in this report will ensure that successful approaches to ensuring choice in employment continue to be developed, disseminated, and adopted. Federal Government Investing in Youth as the Future of Change The Task Force has made substantial progress towards the development of a coordinated strategy to improve transition results, increase access to programs and services, and ensure that young people with disabilities keep pace with the ever increasing technical skills required by the job market. Through research activities, town halls, a National Summit on Transition, and Youth Leadership conferences, we have heard the call from parents, employers, service providers, and young people themselves who want better education and training opportunities to help prepare them for postsecondary education, employment and independent living. It is paramount that we create a bridge between education and other systems of support such as vocational rehabilitation, One-Stop Career Centers, health care, transportation, housing and postsecondary education so that all young people with disabilities transition from school prepared for and expecting to contribute to their communities. This means, among other things, the expectation of employment. In October, the President expanded the focus of the Task Force to include the critical issues young people with disabilities face in becoming employed, participating in postsecondary education, and achieving independence. If post high school academic and employment outcomes are to improve, these evolving initiatives to implement effective transition policies, strategies, and activities must occur for all young people with disabilities. Only then will the goals of equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, adequate health care and insurance coverage, and economic self-sufficiency become a reality. Working in partnership with critical stakeholders, the states and local agencies, and the private sector, the Federal Government will lead the charge. Federal Government as Promoter of Rights It is widely accepted that disability is a predictor of exclusion. The ADA was enacted to address the widespread discrimination that exists against people with disabilities in our nation that has resulted in this exclusion. Ten years after its enactment, it has become a powerful protector of justice for all. All programs need strong equal protection regulations in order to prevent historical stereotypes from keeping people with disabilities from working. This year, the Civil Rights Center of the DOL, in conjunction with DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA), issued interim final regulations governing the nondiscrimination provisions under section 188 of the WIA. These preliminary regulations have been lauded by the disability community as exemplary. Other programs, including Welfare-to-Work and TANF, should also have such strong protections from discrimination. In addition, it has become clear that our young people are unaware of their rights under civil rights statutes such as the ADA, IDEA and others. We must educate these young people about their rights so that they can be prepared to use the power of our democracy to combat discrimination and secure meaningful employment. We must also continue to be vigilant about threats to the ADA. Many myths abound about the ADA, and legal challenges to its civil rights guarantees continue. Some of these challenges have had positive outcomes. For example, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C., concerted efforts this year are being made by states and advocates to develop comprehensive state plans for moving unnecessarily institutionalized persons into the community with supports. Unfortunately, a new challenge has arisen. In October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in University of Alabama v. Garrett, with Alabama arguing that parts of the ADA are unconstitutional and violate states' rights. The plaintiffs, joined by the disability community, contend that the states' history of discrimination based on disability was so egregious that Congress had the power to override state sovereignty. A decision is expected early in 2001. But it is clear that in addition to educating youth, we must also educate the general public about the truth: that the ADA is a powerful tool against injustice that ensures access to employment based on merit and ability. Once again, we must not allow misinformation to guide perception and action. By 2050, minorities are projected to rise from one in every four Americans to almost one in every two Americans. Hispanics and Asians will be the fastest-growing racial and ethnic groups. This demographic trend means that individuals with disabilities from minority backgrounds will also increase. Historically, racial and ethnic minorities have faced significant barriers in accessing employment and other social services. We must strategically target these diverse groups of persons with disabilities who have experienced the highest levels of discrimination, exclusion, and internalized prejudice. Barriers faced by groups such as American Indians/Alaska Natives, African Americans, Asian American/Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans with disabilities must receive particular attention as the strategy continues to unfold. "No one who wants to change this terrible pattern of exclusion is immune from learning. Policy makers have learning to do. Professionals have learning to do. Employers have learning to do. People with disabilities have learning to do. Friends and family members have learning to do. One part of this learning involves forming a better understanding of the changing environment that contains us all and shapes our opportunities to make a positive difference." John O'Brien, Another Look at Informed Choice, A report to the Presidential Task Force, December, 2000 Federal Government as Promoter of Accountability Throughout all these efforts and activities, the Federal Government must be accountable for use of the public dollar. Accountability measures for performance and evaluation are themselves a significant driver of change. The Federal Government must ensure accountability in the use of public dollars by evaluating programs that are intended for all people to ensure that they provide meaningful and effective opportunity for participation to people with disabilities. We must ensure that performance measures designed for individual programs neither discriminate nor promote "creaming," serving only people with disabilities whose needs are less complex, while leaving people with more complex needs behind. Individual agencies must be held accountable through their planning processes to ensure that data about disability is required as performance and evaluation criteria are developed, such as through goals identified through Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) plans. Indeed, there is a critical need for data of all types related to employment and disability. Data shapes policy - and the lack of data is a significant barrier to documenting needed change in policy. For example, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended, requires Federal contractors and subcontractors to take proactive steps to hire and retain people with disabilities. Contractors meeting particular criteria are currently required to fill out and submit Standard Form 100, Employer Information report EEO-1 (known as the EEO-1 Form) which identifies the occupational distribution of men and women in five categories of race/ethnicity. This data is compared to the availability of qualified individuals in each group to flag areas of possible underutilization. Currently, however, as contractors are not required to identify the distribution of people with disabilities on the EEO-1 Form, similar data on employment of people with disabilities is not readily available. In the absence of this or similar data, it is difficult if not impossible to access the impact that Federal legislative efforts and programs are having on increasing the employment participation of people with disabilities. In addition, many of the same principles used to guide policy and legislation that resulted in an increase in employment, reduction of economic inequality, and the creation of a better way of life for women and other protected groups, are equally applicable to how society is beginning to regard the concept of disability. These changes grew from understanding that came, in part, through the collection and analysis of data about these diverse groups. Yet even though it is likely that we all will have personal experience with disability over the course of a lifetime - either personally, or through a friend or family member who acquires a disability - society as a whole is not particularly cognizant about issues and concerns that impact the disability community. This is, in part, because of the lack of accurate data about disability. The availability of accurate employment measures on disability would go a long way toward increasing public awareness about disability. Yet accomplishing this laudable goal is very complex. One significant issue is the concern that many people with disabilities have about self-identification. While self-identification is a particularly important way to identify people with disabilities because a person with a disability knows more about him or herself than anyone else, self identification can pose risks for an individual with a disability. People with disabilities choose not to self identify because of stigma, prejudice, and the potential for discrimination. They have a legitimate fear of the consequences. Statutes such as the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act help protect people against discrimination. But many people with disabilities do not have the resources and often lack the knowledge needed to use the law for their protection. It is a travesty that there are few situations in which a person with a disability can feel secure knowing that self-identification will not have a negative consequence. This must change, or people will continue to remain hidden and silent about an aspect of themselves that should never have been a source of shame, embarrassment, or discrimination in the first place. One way to accomplish this is by modifying the EEO-1 form to provide occupational data on people with disabilities, in conjunction with undertaking appropriate legal steps to put people with disabilities at parity to women and minorities. It is clear that as the Task Force continues to develop its strategy, ensuring reliable, accurate disability measurements is a critically important part of that strategy. Task Force members working on the Employment Rate Measurement/Statistics Committee are taking a comprehensive approach to addressing the dearth of data on the employment of people with disabilities in order that we can have a relaiable, accurate measure of their employment rate. "We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization." Franklin D. Roosevelt, greeting to the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, Washington, D.C., January 9, 1940 A Matter of Will Disability policy has always enjoyed bipartisian support. While ideas may differ, goals have been shared. Change is not easy. But democracy affords the free and equal right of every person to participate in their government, to express their views, to help shape the direction of policy and practice. Open dialogue, a symbol of our democracy, must not be quieted, even when the ideas are new, sometimes revolutionary, and therefore hard for some to comprehend. As the Task Force moves forward with developing a strategy to increase employment of young people and adults with disabilities to a rate as close as possible to that of the general population, the turning points for change enumerated here raise numerous questions that must be addressed. Are we as a Federal Government modeling exemplary practices in each agency and program? Are we leveraging the power of technology across the Federal Government, ensuring full accessibility and useability? Do we have performance and accountability systems in place at all levels to document our effectiveness and contribute to needed data on disability? Are generic systems providing effective and meaningful opportunities for participation to people with disabilities? Are we assisting states through technical assistance, through research, and through demonstrating and disseminating information on effective approaches to successfully assist people with disabilities into the workforce? Are we partnering with the private sector in all efforts? Are we doing all of this in ways that promote the self determination and dignity of each individual, and provide informed choice? To achieve transformational change requires bold, visionary leadership. It requires continued elevation of issues related to disability across the Federal sector. It requires partnership with state and local government and the private sector. And it requires that the Federal Government continue to lead the way by furthering innovation, demonstrating model practices and ensuring protection of civil rights. The United States of America will lead for the world through these actions. Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, people with disabilities have lived the old ways - the ways of isolation, segregation, and discrimination. They have been viewed as the inferior class, as eternally dependent, as needing charity and perpetual care. This is our past. Our nation must be willing to risk change to create a different future. We must portray to the world through our actions and images that our nation will not tolerate discriminatory treatment, nor will we endorse policies and practices that have the effect of such discrimination. This year, with the economy at its strongest and the unemployment rate at its lowest in decades, the country experienced a skills shortage that posed a challenge to companies, but created new opportunity for people with disabilities. As companies recognize the benefits of hiring a diverse workforce, become more creative in locating talented employees, and acknowledge the economic potential of a 54 million-member consumer market, they are discovering the value of hiring qualified people with disabilities. The turning points enumerated here will further this discovery. In closing, people with disabilities today are more knowledgeable, more empowered, and more likely to achieve their full potential than they have been at any other time previously. A solid foundation has been laid. The pieces are beginning to fall into place for what is an emerging strategy for ensuring that people with disabilities are employed at a rate as close as possible to that of the general adult population. Over the next two years, the Task Force will evaluate the effect of the changes which have occurred thus far, explore barriers in areas it has not addressed previously, and effectuate other changes as necessary to ensure that the ADAŐs promises of equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency are fulfilled. In this period of transformation that is reaching to the roots of our policy and practice, we must recognize that promoting employment for people with disabilities is not partisan. Continuity of commitment across Administrations is essential to continue this change. The nation, indeed the world, benefits if we accomplish our mission. It is a matter of will - and the power, the influence to do so is with us, and with our leaders. Task Force Summit on Real Choice, Real Jobs, Real Pay, April 7, 2000 Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman addresses participants at Task Force Summit on Real Choice, Real Jobs, Real Pay. National Transition Summit, June 20, 2000 From left to right, Bob Williams, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy; Carol Rasco, Director of the America Reads Challenge; and Susan M. Daniels, SSA Deputy Commissioner for Disability. The Promise of Technology Top, President Clinton tests assistive technology as part of Digital Divide Tour in Flint, MI, September 21, 2000. Below, Vice President Gore and Tipper Gore at the Summer Evening on the Lawn event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the ADA view assistive technology exhibit at their residence, July 25, 2000. Chapter 1 2000 Recommendations to the President from the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities The Task Force wishes to recognize the outstanding work by the Clinton-Gore Administration in acting on all prior recommendations made to the President and Vice President. Prompt action and strong support by the Administration on Task Force recommendations have resulted in significant achievements that are leading to increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The Task Force also wishes to acknowledge the work of the Task Force Committee Members, who have helped guide and shape our mission. The Task Force has received a report from each Committee on their activities in 2000, which can be obtained upon request from Task Force staff. These recommendations represent the views of the Task Force and have not yet been endorsed by the Clinton-Gore Administration. These recommendations, therefore, should not be viewed as any formal statement of policy or adopted plans of action approved or endorsed at this time. The Task Force respectfully submits the following recommendations to the President for consideration. 1. The Task Force recommends that: All cabinet level Departments should implement an organizational structure within their agencies that elevates issues related to disability agency-wide. Strategy for achieving this goal should include designating an individual responsible for overseeing disability issues at an Assistant Secretary level within each Agency. This may include establishing an Assistant Secretary for Disability. As the Task Force works to implement its charge to increase employment of adults with disabilities to a level as close as possible to that of the general adult population, it has become clear that issues related to disability need to be elevated more formally across the federal government. Individuals with disabilities have tremendous potential for contribution; yet continue to be denied opportunities to demonstrate their competency. Barriers exist in every cabinet level Department that must be addressed if this is to change. Accordingly, the Task Force recommends that each Department review their organizational structure and implement a structure that elevates disability organizationally across agency jurisdiction. Each agency should report to the Task Force by September 30, 2001, the result of their review and their plan of action to elevate issues related to disability. For example, because of critical needs related to activities of the Department of State and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Task Force recommends that both of these agencies consider whether there is a need to establish new offices headed by an Assistant Secretary specifically charged with elevating issues related to disability. The U.S. maintains thousands of international programs administered by a number of agencies at a cost billions annually. Estimates of disability range from 5 to 15 percent of the worlds population. The actions and activities of U.S. foreign policy agencies and their programs should reflect our nationŐs consensus that people with disabilities are fully equal and should be allowed to make their maximum possible contribution to society. In addition, the Federal government currently subsidizes more than four million housing units. Currently, some 550,000 people with disabilities are receiving federal housing assistance, but it is estimated that many additional SSI recipients who have disabilities may be in need of such assistance (Technical Assistance Collaborative, 1998). As individuals with disabilities continue to seek employment in their communities, obtaining affordable and accessible housing that is close to available jobs becomes a critical factor in their success. There is an urgent need for leadership from HUD in order to address the housing needs of people with disabilities in a comprehensive manner. 2. The Task Force recommends that: The Office of Personnel Management should review the Federal GovernmentŐs Personnel Security Program to assess actual or potential adverse consequences for persons with disabilities, particularly those with mental disabilities. Such review should consider matters such as the convergence of "disability," civil rights, security clearances, contractor/grantee access to Federal Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), occupational regulations, and general personnel security. Many Federal Government jobs entail, as part of the basic eligibility determination process, national security clearances. All civilian personnel (as well as consultants, contractors/grantees and their employees, and others) whose jobs necessitate their having access to "classified" information must satisfy certain requirements that have been established in the Federal GovernmentŐs Personnel Security Program. While these critical personnel security decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, and are the responsibility of individual departments and agencies, they are guided generally by a formal adjudicative process that covers 13 "issue areas of concern." These areas relate to various kinds of behavior or "conduct," both present and past, and a judgment as to whether such conduct is "inconsistent with national security." 3. The Task Force recommends that: All departments and agencies should review their FY 2002 Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) plans to determine the extent to which their programs and policies are being delivered and conducted in a manner that facilitates and promotes employment of people with disabilities. Based on this review, each agency should revise its plans to ensure, where appropriate, that people with disabilities are provided meaningful and effective opportunities for participation in and benefit from such programs and services. Each agency should file a report with the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities on the results of this review and proposed plan for revisions by July 26, 2001, consistent with the requirements of Section 2(g) of Executive Order 13078. GPRA requires that agencies consult with stakeholders to clearly define their missions, to establish long-term strategic goals (including annual goals), to measure their performance against the goals they have set, and to report publicly on how well they are doing (General Accounting Office, 1996). The intent of GPRA is to create more accountability and effectiveness in government. Since GPRA standards drive significant action and activities of Federal agencies, issues related to disability must be formally incorporated into the goals set by agencies in order to ensure wide-spread change within each agency. This directive is designed to determine the extent to which people with disabilities are considered part of agenciesŐ stakeholder groups in the delivery of government programs and services, and the extent to which agencies measure and report on their effectiveness in extending their programs and policies to people with disabilities. 4. The Task Force recommends that: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission should modify the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Standard Form 100 (EEO-1) to provide occupational data on people with disabilities and appropriate legal steps should be taken to put people with disabilities at parity to women and minorities under Executive Order 11246. Concurrently, data on the availability of persons with disabilities in the workforce should be included in the 2000 Census Equal Employment Opportunity File, to be available in 2003. Employers currently rely on the 1990 Census EEO File, which compiles detailed local area data on six specific occupations and the sex and race distribution within the occupations to develop recruitment and affirmative action plans. Although not collected previously, including this same information on people with disabilities in the 2000 EEO File would allow for the development of action plans for people with disabilities. The Department of Labor, through its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program, has the responsibility for enforcing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires Federal contractors to take proactive measures to hire persons with disabilities that go beyond the nondiscrimination requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Adding disability status to the data base of occupational distributions and to the EEO-1 form would enable firms to evaluate their progress toward their goal of hiring people with disabilities. 5. The Task Force recommends that: The General Services Administration, the Departments of Labor and Defense, and the Small Business Administration should conduct a comprehensive review of statutory and regulatory authorities dealing with procurement and acquisition of Federal contracts and develop proposals for revisions, as necessary, to ensure increased utilization by, and awarding of contracts to, people with disabilities. The Federal Government currently spends approximately $180 billion annually procuring goods and services through the private sector. There is a need for reevaluating how the Federal Government can stimulate greater employment and business ownership opportunities for people with disabilities through contractual relationships, both directly as an employer and indirectly through its procurement practices. Building on the work of the Task Force in 2000, such a review of procurement authorities can determine changes needed to ensure increased utilization by and awarding of contracts to people with disabilities. 6. The Task Force recommends that: The Department of Treasury's Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should develop updated materials for and implement a targeted outreach effort on existing provisions of the tax code intended to assist individuals with disabilities to obtain and/or maintain employment, and those intended to assist businesses in employing individuals with disabilities. Such outreach should be for the purposes of educating businesses, tax preparers, individuals with disabilities, and family members on tax code provisions designed to facilitate employment and needed supports for individuals with disabilities. Our existing tax law contains a number of important provisions intended to assist people with disabilities and employers. The intent of these recommendations is to initiate an information campaign to educate multiple stakeholders about these provisions. 7. The Task Force recommends that: The Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Transportation should develop a coordinated plan to facilitate collaboration at the state and local levels among housing, transportation, and employment programs that serve individuals with disabilities. The lack of available and affordable housing and transportation options continue to present major barriers to employment for people with disabilities. There is a tremendous need for coordination of these critical services and supports with employment programs generally. This plan will be developed by various Federal agencies with input from Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), transportation authorities, housing, Medicaid agencies, and disability advocates. In developing this plan, agencies shall, in concert with the Task Force, convene a Housing/Transportation Summit on the interrelationship of housing, transportation, and employment to ensure input from the field, including individuals with disabilities. 8. The Task Force recommends that: The Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, and Treasury, the Social Security Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Small Business Administration, in collaboration with the Presidential Task Force, should develop by July 26, 2001, a coordinated plan specifically focused on increasing employment and wages for people with the most significant disabilities. Based upon work conducted by the Task Force during 2000, which resulted in a comprehensive report with recommendations for consideration government-wide, the development and implementation of a coordinated action plan should be designed to result in measurable increases in individualized employment and wages for persons with significant disabilities. This plan should encourage similar actions by state and local governments. Such plans will include developing models for expanded use of individual training accounts, "tickets," vouchers, and other mechanisms that provide individual control over securing needed services and supports and technical assistance regarding their implementation. 9. The Task Force recommends that: The Department of Education should develop a comprehensive plan to expand opportunities for involvement in community college and post-secondary experiences for individuals with disabilities under existing authorities, including individuals with mental retardation and other cognitive disabilities. There is a need to impact implementation of the Department of Education's general education authorities, such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Higher Education Act, and other generic education authorities, in order to better promote transition and postsecondary opportunities for young people and adults with disabilities. 10. The Task Force recommends that: The Departments of Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Commerce should develop a coordinated plan for increasing the participation of individuals with disabilities in high-growth industries. It is imperative that people with disabilities are equipped with the skills and information needed to actively participate in employment opportunities resulting from the globalization of commerce and the explosion of information technology. A coordinated effort can ensure that people with disabilities participate in the high-growth industries by developing education technology and curricula and modifying existing training and skills programs, as needed, to specifically address their needs. Pilot programs providing technical skills training for employed and unemployed American workers funded by fees generated under the H1-B visa program need to be available to, and accessible by, people with disabilities, and funds should be specifically targeted to ensure that people with disabilities benefit from this skills training initiative. 11. The Task Force recommends that: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should expand its outreach and technical assistance campaign designed to educate consumers, employers, and the general public about: (a) the new 7-1-1 Telephone Relay Service and its potential benefit to people with disabilities and employers; and (b) its rules for accessible telecommunications products and services. Accessible telecommunications products and services have significant implications in the workplace for people with disabilities. An expanded technical assistance and outreach campaign conducted by the FCC could have far-reaching implications in informing the general public about critical new regulations, such as the recently announced 711 relay service, speech-to-speech and other relay services, as well as access to other communications technologies to assist people with disabilities to access employment. This technical assistance and outreach campaign could include publishing an updated Section 255 Market Monitoring Report to update previously collected information and include information about new and emerging telecommunications network technologies. 12. The Task Force recommends that: The Department of Labor should issue final non-discrimination regulations for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), and the Department of Health and Human Services should issue non-discriminatory guidance for the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)that unequivocally protects the rights of people with disabilities. In November 1999, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued interim final regulations implementing Section 188 of the Workforce Investment Act, the Act's equal opportunity and nondiscrimination provisions. DOL should issue a final rule under WIA and, utilizing the WIA regulations as a model, issue similar non-discriminatory regulations for the Welfare-to-Work programs, as there are comparable anti-discrimination statutory provisions in the TANF program and RRWORA legislation. DOL should work with HHS to develop and issue guidance on nondiscrimination for the TANF program. Issuance of the parallel regulations and guidance will ensure the highest coordination of programs and services at the state and local levels, eliminate confusion about applicable rules, emphasize the importance of complying with the nondiscrimination requirements, and ensure that people with disabilities can secure the services and supports they need in order to work. This action will greatly enhance the access to services and effectiveness of these Federally conducted and assisted employment and training programs for people with disabilities. 13. The Task Force recommends that: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) should: (1) examine existing coverage of assistive technologies by health plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP); and (2) make recommendations on how to best enhance such coverage in order to support employment for people with disabilities. On September 21, 2000, President Clinton issued an Executive Memorandum to the heads of all Federal agencies creating an Interagency Task Force on Health Care Coverage of Assistive Technologies. Although this new Task Force is charged with looking specifically at coverage of assistive technologies by Medicare and Medicaid, it is appropriate that OPM do much the same for the health care plans participating in the FEHBP. If the Federal Government is to be a model employer, it must set the standards to be followed by other employers and insurers. 14. The Task Force recommends that: The Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Management should create an interagency, cross-committee Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Work Group, with representation from each of the 18 member agencies, in order to evaluate and monitor implementation of parity for mental health and substance abuse coverage in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHB) for 2001. On June 7, 1999, at the White House Conference on Mental Health, the President officially announced the Federal GovernmentŐs intention to achieve parity for mental health and substance abuse treatment with the coverage provided for the treatment of physical illness in the FEHB program in 2001. Following the President's directive, OPM issued a letter on June 7, 1999 to all health plans that participate in the FEHB program to enlist their support in achieving parity for mental health and substance abuse coverage. OPM issued its call letter guidance on April 11, 2000 to all FEHB health plans detailing the parity requirements for 2001, and OPM Director sent a memo on July 13, 2000 to the Personnel Directors of Executive Departments and Agencies soliciting their assistance in soliciting their assistance in implementing mental health parity in the FEHB Program for 2001. The Work Group will provide continuous input to OPM with the goal of achieving full parity for mental health and substance abuse coverage in the FEHB program. The interagency, cross-committee Work Group will provide information to guide the design of mental health and substance abuse (MH/SA) benefits in the FEHB program. The work Group will address issues such as the terms and conditions of mental health coverage and substance abuse treatment other than annual and life time limits as well as cost sharing, premium levels, and limits on the number of visits or days of coverage. 15. The Task Force recommends that: The Department of Education, in concert with other agencies as appropriate, should conduct a national training initiative to teach youth with disabilities about their rights and responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA, the IDEA, and other laws designed to provide equal opportunity. As a result of activities conducted by the Task Force, it has become evident that many young people with disabilities do not receive education and training about their civil rights. The IDEA Amendments of 1997 emphasize that young people with disabilities must be informed of their civil rights by the age of majority in each state and that the states develop plans and procedures to convey this information. Research also demonstrates that many young people with disabilities, because of a lack of awareness of their rights, are not successful in postsecondary education and employment. Many lack the knowledge of reasonable accommoda-tions necessary for success. This initiative will encourage programs to include this critical training in their activities. 16. The Task Force recommends that: The Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities, should issue a Memorandum to the Governor of each state and Territory to encourage the establishment of a State Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities. Each State Task Force would work closely with the Presidential Task Force in their effort to bring adults with disabilities into gainful employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of the general population. Much of the work of the Task Force has involved promoting interagency collaboration at the Federal level to bring about a more comprehensive, less duplicative system of employment services and supports. As Federal disability policy becomes more unified and consistent, the work of the individual states to implement these new policies represents the next step for addressing the issues raised by the Task Force. In addition, many states and localities have developed unique and exemplary approaches related to assisting people with disabilities to enter or reenter the workplace that should be shared with other states. The establishment of such entities should result in the greater collaboration and partnering at the state and local levels. November 29, 2000 President Clinton joins representatives of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, advocates and Federal officials in an Oval Office ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Left to right, Richard Riley, Secretary of Education; Becky Ogle, Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities; Katy Neas, Assistant Vice President for Government Relations, National Easter Seals Society; Leslie Jackson, Federal Affairs Representative, American Occupational Therapy Association; Linda Shepard, Executive Director, National Parent Network on Disabilities; Beth Foley, Policy Specialist for Government Relations, Council for Exceptional Children; Libby Kuffner, Director of Public Policy, National Association of School Psychologists; Ellen Winkler, Winner, IDEA 25th Anniversary Poster Contest; President Clinton, Justine Maloney, Policy Specialist, Learning Disabilities of America; Paul Marchand, Assistant Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy, The ARC; Kenneth Warlick, Director, Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Curtis Richards, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; Danielle Busto, student; Jackie Busto, parent; Maureen Hollowell, Educational Services Coordinator, Endependence Center; Carol Winkler, parent; and Judith E. Heumann, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Chapter 2 A Status Report on the 1999-2000 Task Force Recommendations The Task Force is once again extremely gratified by the consistent and steady support of President Clinton and Vice President Gore. Their strong endorsement and actions to realize the Task Force's 1999-2000 recommendations continue to propel us forward. Below are the highlights of this past year in terms of the progress and current status of those action items recommended by the Task Force and favorably acted upon by the President and the Vice President. 1. The President accepted the Task Force's recommendation and directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to develop a proposal for consideration in the FY 2001 budget process for an Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) to be headed by an Assistant Secretary of Labor. "... beginning in fiscal year 2001, there is established in the Department of Labor an office of disability employment policy which shall, under the overall direction of the Secretary, provide leadership, develop policy and initiatives, and award grants furthering the objective of eliminating barriers to the training and employment of people with disabilities. Such office shall be headed by an assistant secretary." - from Public Law 106-554, Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2001 STATUS: Based upon recommendations and input from the Task Force, DOL developed and presented an FY 2001 budget proposal - subsequently approved by the Office of Management and Budget and the President - that included $21 million for the establishment of an ODEP within the Department, headed by an Assistant Secretary. The mission of the ODEP - unlike, but parallel and complementary to that of the interagency-focused Task Force - is to function as the DOL-exclusive unit concerned with serving and promoting the training and employment interests of American workers with disabilities. Specifically, the ODEP encourages collaboration and leadership within the DOL for implementing a sustained, coordinated, and aggressive employment strategy to eliminate job barriers for people with disabilities and result both in a dramatically increased employment rate, and in equal, accessible employment and career-related opportunities. Central to its mission within the DOL is the responsibility to advocate for working-age people with disabilities and ensure that they are fully informed of their work rights and obligations. The ODEP will also assume responsibility to help ensure that employers, labor representatives, and the general public are fully informed about the variety of employment issues encountered by workers and job applicants with disabilities. In order to carry out these new responsibilities, the PresidentŐs Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities (PCEPD) will be subsumed under the OEDP office, thereby helping to consolidate interrelated efforts and enhance coordination of Federal employment programs for people with disabilities. LEGISLATIVE ACTION: On December 15, the House and Senate passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2001 which, among other things, provided for the establishment of the ODEP. FINAL ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION: On December 21, President Clinton signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2001 into law. 2. The President accepted the Task ForceŐs recommendation and directed the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Labor, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to collaborate in exploring methods for strengthening enforcement of employment-related nondiscrimination provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. STATUS: On July 26, the President signed an Executive Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies on "Renewing the Commitment to Ensure that Federal Programs are Free from Disability-based Discrimination." In his memorandum, the President called upon six Federal agencies to assume leadership responsibility to ensure that all Federal agencies, including those that administer programs of employment, work together to maintain their programs in ways that are "readily accessible to and usable by" persons with disabilities, in accordance with the requirements of sections 501, 504, and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. DOJ and EEOC, in consultation with the Inter-agency Disability Coordinating Council (IDCC) and the Task Force, have been directed by the President to develop priorities that Federal agencies can use to meet these goals. The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Secretary of Defense were directed to participate in the IDCC, and the IDCC is directed to "coordinate executive agenciesŐ efforts to make the Federal GovernmentŐs electronic and information technology accessible to persons with disabilities." The EEOC published a final rule clarifying the legal standard to be used in examining the impact of "mitigating measures." The rule deleted several sentences of EEOC's Interpretive Guidance that accompanies the regulations on Title I of the ADA. The EEOC made the change to eliminate any possible conflict with two 1999 Supreme Court rulings: Sutton v. United Airlines, Inc., and Murphy v. United Parcel Service. The EEOC also is preparing, for publication early next calendar year, the final rule amending its regulation governing Federal sector equal employment opportunity to incorporate ADA standards under the 1992 amendment of Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The final rule will conform to Federal sector standards to those already governing the private sector. On October 6, Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman announced the publication of proposed new rules drafted by the DOL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance to help implement Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The proposed rules would give DOL express authority to apply, in support of Section 503 enforcement, the same compliance evaluation system currently used to enforce the equal employment opportunity provisions of Federal Government contracts with respect to discrimination in employment decisions on the bases of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 3. The President accepted the Task ForceŐs recommendations concerning youth and directed the Departments of Labor (DOL), Education (ED), and Health and Human Services (HHS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Office of Personnel Manage-ment (OPM), and other appropriate Federal agencies to construct and coordinate, under the leadership of the Task Force, a Youth-to-Work Initiative. The President also directed HHS to develop a proposal to allow the Maternal and Child Health Programs for Children with Special Needs to provide Health and Ready-to-Work services to youth with disabilities who are over the age of 16. STATUS: In June 2000, the Youth-to-Work Initiative began taking definitive shape when the Task Force hosted a two-day National Transition Summit on Young People with Disabilities, to explore policy options and develop recommendations for improving the transition results for young people with disabilities. On October 25, as part of the Second National Disability Mentoring Day activities, the President issued an amendment to Executive Order 13078. The amendment provides a mandate for the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities to place a significant focus on young people with disabilities. The amendment states: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and in order to provide for improved access to employment and training for youth with disabilities, it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 13078 of March 13, 1998, is amended by adding to Section 2 of that order the following new sub-section to read as follows: "(h) To improve employment outcomes for persons with disabilities by addressing, among other things, the education, transition, employment, health and rehabilitation, and independent living issues affecting young people with disabilities, executive departments and agencies shall coordinate and cooperate with the Task Force to: ..." Thus, the Youth-to-Work Initiative, begun formally in June at the National Transition Summit, will continue under the structure of the Task Force, strengthening interagency research, demonstration projects, and education and training for youth-to-work activities. The Initiative will ensure that youth with disabilities are included in all youth programs funded and administered through Federal agencies. In this connection, the initiative will, among other things, focus on ways to increase access to health care services for youth preparing to go to work: for example, by formalizing a Federal Healthy and Ready-to-Work Interagency Council. 4. The Vice President accepted the Task ForceŐs recommendation and directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to explore steps needed to establish an "earned income disregard" for tenants with disabilities living in other-than-Public-Housing-Authority housing who return to work; and to exempt, from the "countable" income used to determine rents, any disability-related expenses incurred when a tenant goes to work. STATUS: On July 25, as part of the commemoration for the tenth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Vice President announced that HUD would issue a proposed rule expanding employment incentives for people with disabilities, by extending the application of "earned income disregards" currently available only under HUD's public housing program to a broader range of its housing programs, including its Section 8 "tenant-based rental assistance programs." The Administration is working on legislative changes to ensure that those "disregards" are extended to all remaining housing programs. In addition, the new rule would amend existing HUD regulations to add a number of mandatory "expense deductions" used to calculate family adjusted income and determine rental housing payments. These new mandatory deductions would include disability-related expenses such as medical expenses, attendant care expenses, childcare expenses and others that would benefit working persons with disabilities. On August 21, HUD published its proposed new rule affecting persons with disabilities in the Federal Register. Comments were accepted through October 20. Following the agencyŐs review and consolidation of the comments, it anticipates publication of a final rule early next year. 5. The Task Force recommended that the President continue to work with Congress to secure adequate funding, proposed in the Administration's FY 2000 budget, for the program to accelerate the development and adoption of information and communication technologies that can be used by the 54 million Americans with disabilities. STATUS: In the Administration's FY 2001 budget, President Clinton requested $100.4 million (an increase of nearly $14 million) for disability and technology research at the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitative Research (NIDRR). The increase is dedicated to a variety of technology initiatives, including $5 million for technical assistance for schools to help them purchase accessible technology, and $8.5 million for a "Technology for Independence" initiative. The PresidentŐs budget also requested additional funds to support an expansion of the Department of Defense's highly successful Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) so that its services, available since 1990 at no cost to employees with disabilities (or to their respective departments, agencies, or offices) at the Department of Defense (DOD), could be available to persons with disabilities in other Federal departments and agencies as well. In yet another area of his budget, the President sought additional funding to enable the General Services Administration (GSA) to carry out its responsibilities under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, to provide technical assistance to Federal agencies, and to ensure that the governmentwide provisions of Section 508 are implemented successfully. LEGISLATIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION: On October 30, the Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2001 to grant CAP expanded authority to "provide assistive technology, assistive technology devices and assistive technology services to any other department or agency upon the request of the head of the agency." This Congressional action will result in the availability of approximately $2 million of additional funds to support CAP's expanded authority. In December the Congress passed, and the President signed, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001, which provided the additional amounts needed for the technology initiatives and for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) disability and technology research. Congress also passed that portion of GSA's budget that will ensure an additional $3.5 million in each of the next two years to carry out the agency's Federal Technology Accessibility Initiative (FITA). 6. The Task Force recommended that the President continue to work with Congress to pass the tax credit proposed in the Administration's FY 2000 budget, in order to assist adults with disabilities with expenses related to work. STATUS: The President announced that his new budget would include the FY 2000 tax credit previously proposed but not acted upon by Congress, as well as a second credit. Accordingly, his FY 2001 budget provided: (1) a $1,000 tax credit to offset the formal and informal employment costs incurred by working people with disabilities; (2) a new $3,000 long-term care tax credit. This credit would help with the diversity of long-term care needs of individuals and the family members who care for them by providing compensation for a range of services in cases where a person experiences three or more limitations in activities of daily living, or has a comparable cognitive impairment. LEGISLATIVE ACTION: There was no action in the 106th Congress on either budget proposal. 7. The Task Force recommended that the President continue to work with Congress to pass a strong, enforceable Patient's Bill of Rights. STATUS: Both the President and the Vice President have continued to call and work for the passage of a strong, bipartisan PatientsŐ Bill of Rights that provides basic patient protections. Although two different bills have passed the House and Senate respectively, the 106th Congress was unable, before its adjournment, to agree to a version that meets the criteria of "strong and enforceable." LEGISLATIVE ACTION: There was no final action in the 106th Congress on this legislative initiative. ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION: On November 21, DOL published new rules to ensure faster, fairer, and more informed processing of workers' health insurance claims and timely decisions on appeals when workers' claims are denied. The new rules apply to employers' health plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Among other things, these rules provide meaningful information to patients about their rights under the appeals process, and create a more fair process for reviewing decisions to deny benefits. 8. The Task Force recommended that the President convene a White House Conference on Employment of Adults with Disabilities that included representatives from the Administration, Congress, elected officials from State and local governments, small and large businesses, the disability community and other stakeholders. STATUS: In order to better heighten awareness and focus attention on several critical issues that affect the employment of persons with disabilities, it was decided to hold a series of events, rather than a single conference. The year 2000 was particularly rich in conferences, summit meetings, and in anniversary commemorations relating to the tenth anniversary of the ADA and the 25th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). President Clinton and Vice President Gore used these various anniversary commemorative events to announce an unprecedented number of executive directives addressing disability employment issues. (See Time Line 2000) 9. The President accepted the Task Force's recommendation and directed that Task Force member departments and agencies collaborate on the development and implementation of a multimedia, interagency public awareness campaign to eliminate the negative and erroneous stereotypes about employment of people with disabilities. STATUS: Production has been completed of a Task Force-sponsored "public service advertisement" (PSA) featuring celebrities such as Harrison Ford, Angela Bassett, Stevie Wonder, and Christopher Reeve, and more. The PSA is the cornerstone of a planned public/private, multimedia public awareness campaign to eliminate the stigma of disability. The PSA will be released in the first quarter of calendar year 2001 to network television and local affiliate stations. A plan for additional distribution of the PSA is currently under development. 10. The President accepted the Task Force's recommendation and directed SSA and DOL to create an Access America Web Site for People with Disabilities that targets individuals with disabilities. STATUS: On July 26, the President announced the launch of a new Web site - www.disAbility. gov - that serves as a "one-stop" electronic link to an enormous range and wealth of useful employment-related information to people with disabilities, their families and prospective employers. 11. The President accepted the Task ForceŐs recommendation and directed the Department of Transportation (DOT) to work with DOL, ED, HHS, SSA, and other relevant Task Force members to develop a comprehensive plan of action to address the lack of transportation services and systems for persons with disabilities. STATUS: DOT issued its plan, Comprehensive Plan of Action to Remedy Lack of Transportation Services and Systems for Persons with a Disability, specifying the actions that DOT will undertake to increase transportation options and supports for persons with disabilities. The plan emphasizes better enforcement of current law, and the beginning preparations for both expanding upon some of the initiatives already underway, as well as introducing new ideas. The plan contemplates a 2001 completion for the steps spelled out in the plan. 12. The President accepted the Task Force's recommendation and directed all Federal agencies with customer service call centers and other appropriate services to explore ways to encourage hiring people with disabilities. STATUS: On July 26, the President signed an Executive Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies on Employing People with Significant Disabilities to Fill Federal Agency Jobs That Can Be Performed at Alternate Work Sites, Including the Home. As a result of the President's directive, agencies and departments which operate call centers and/or which are responsible for other work activities that feasibly could be carried out off-site or at workers' homes are completing the development of agency-specific "plans of action" to encourage the recruitment and employment of qualified individuals with significant disabilities. These plans are being reviewed by the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities in order to provide feedback and guidance for their implementation. 13. The President accepted the Task Force's recommendation with respect to students and directed SSA to explore options for raising the Earned Income Exclusion in the Supplemental Security Income program for students, in order to encourage work efforts. STATUS: SSA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on August 11 that would increase the amount that students who receive SSI benefits can earn while continuing to receive the important protection which SSI provides. The final rule, published in the Federal Register in December, announced that the maximum monthly earned income exclusion for students who receive SSI will increase from $400 to $1,290, and the yearly exclusion will increase from $1,620 to $5,200, effective January 2001. In the future, automatic adjustments to these amounts will be made annually, based upon the annual increases in the cost-of-living index. Chapter 3 The View from 2000 "The nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency..." -from the ADA, July 26, 1990 This nation has clearly mandated that our public policies and resources encourage and support the full participation of individuals with disabilities in the mainstream of our society, as evidenced by enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and numerous other authorities. However, the majority of Federal programs and mandates that affect individuals with disabilities are not disability-specific. Instead, they are laws governing generic systems meant for the general population of people across the nation. For two years, Task Force members have been working collaboratively on a range of issues directly related to reducing employment barriers, increasing employment opportunities, and facilitating coordination at the state and local levels. A particular focus for Task Force agencies charged with monitoring and implementing Federal programs and policies has been looking closely at how best to modify their policies and procedures to ensure that all people, including people with disabilities, have equal access to the benefits derived from these generic programs and services intended for all people. The Task Force has successfully encouraged adoption of recommendations made to the President in its first two reports, and is continuing to work with agencies to develop new and/or revised policies, and to implement some of its own initiatives designed to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The breadth of the Task Force's mandate is wide, and covers areas directly related to employment, as well as those that are indirectly related but essential if people with disabilities are to be included in the workforce at a rate as close as possible to that of the general adult population. These essentially are those services, supports, or benefits - such as accessible transportation, housing, and adequate health insurance - that allow individuals to work. For many people with disabilities, the difference between working productively and being unemployed or underemployed is not a matter of whether they have the skills necessary for the job. Instead, it is often a matter of whether they can get to the job or, once there, whether they can access all of the tools and equipment they need to perform the job. For some individuals with disabilities, employment supports are needed the moment they wake up - with assistance in regular personal care activities such as dressing and eating. For others, it may be assistance in getting to work. Employment supports cut across all disability categories - a worker who has low vision may require the assistance of a reader, another with hearing loss may use a sign language interpreter. A person with a cognitive disability may need verbal coaching or customized job development while someone with a physical disability may need some assistance in workplace adaptations. Some individuals with disabilities may need several supports on an ongoing basis, while others may need intermittent assistance in one area. And many individuals with disabilities do not need any assistance. This chapter provides updates on Task Force member actions in multiple areas. It also provides direction about activities to be undertaken as the Task Force members continue to work collaboratively to develop an aggressive national strategy for increasing the employment rate of people with disabilities.1 (Actions are grouped by content area, and the reader is referred to Task Force Committee reports and research reports for additional information.) Civil Rights The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) provides a clear and comprehensive national mandate for elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. In addition, it sets forth strong, enforceable standards addressing discrimination, with the Federal Government playing a central role in enforcing these standards. However, the clear intent of this landmark law is to use the influence of public policy to facilitate change in communities across the nation - to stop the continuation of historical, stereotypical, and internalized prejudice, widely recognized as the greatest barrier to full participation for people with disabilities. The ADA's basic premise (and promise) of equality and full participation underlies all of the efforts of the Task Force as it works to design and implement a coordinated strategy for increasing the employment of people with disabilities. This year marked the tenth anniversary of the signing of the ADA with President Clinton declared July 2000 Spirit of ADA Month. An important and very visible aspect of the nationŐs celebration of the tenth anniversary of the ADA was the Spirit of ADA Torch Relay, initiated and organized by the Task Force, American Association of People with Disabilities, Volkswagen of America, Inc., the Consortium for People with Disabilities, along with numerous other organizations from the public and private sector. The purpose of the ADA Torch Relay was to coalesce support for the goals of the ADA by renewing AmericaŐs commitment to equality of opportunity, full participation, and economic self-sufficiency for all people with disabilities. The torch began its official tour on June 11 in Houston and traveled through 25 cities before reaching its final destination in New York City on August 7, with large grassroots celebrations in each location. Many Task Force members personally participated in these events across the nation, demonstrating their recognition of the importance of this landmark law and their commitment to furthering its promise. In addition, on July 25, Vice President Gore hosted a reception at his residence in celebration of the ADA. This event featured an exhibit, organized by the Task Force, of the latest advances in assistive technology products, hardware, and software. On July 26, Task Force members joined President Clinton and the First Lady, individuals with and without disabilities from across the nation, advocacy organizations, and elected officials in celebrating the tenth anniversary of the signing of the ADA at an official event at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Memorial in Washington D.C. The day before, a rousing parade of youth with disabilities, organized by the Endependence Center of Northern Virginia, carried the torch across the Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial,