(#DIW Podcast) National Disability #Employment Awareness Month (#NDEAM) 2015 – A Reminder from Jim Langevin about the Value of People with #Disabilities

Day in Washington Disability #Policy Podcast. National #Disability #Employment Awareness Month (#NDEAM)

http://dayinwashington.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/NDEAM-Final.mp3

Audio file: http://dayinwashington.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/NDEAM-Final.mp3

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello and welcome to Day in Washington. DIW is your disability policy podcast exploring and discussing issues and articles of interest to the community. I'm your host Day Al-Mohamed.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month or NDEAM.

Held each October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is a national campaign that raises awareness about disability employment issues and celebrates the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities.

NDEAM's roots go back to 1945, when Congress enacted a law declaring the first week in October each year "National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week."

Whereas Public Resolution No. 176, 79th Congress, approved August 11, 1945, provides in part:

"That hereafter the first week in October of each year shall be designated as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week. During said week, appropriate ceremonies are to be held throughout the Nation, the purpose of which will be to enlist public support for and interest in the employment of otherwise qualified but physically handicapped workers":
Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe the week of October 7-13, 1945 as National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week. I ask the governors of States, mayors of cities, heads of the various agencies of the Government, and other public officials, as well as leaders in industry, education, religion, and every other aspect of our common life, during this week and at all other suitable times, to exercise every appropriate effort to enlist public support of a sustained program for the employment and development of the abilities and capacities of those who are physically handicapped.
In 1962, the word "physically" was removed to acknowledge the employment needs and contributions of individuals with all types of disabilities. In 1988, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to "National Disability Employment Awareness Month."

I struggled a bit with what more to say for this podcast and thought that it might make more sense to have someone else speak. So, Congressman Jim Langevin, perhaps one of the most visible Congress members with a disability spoke at the Library of Congress for NDEAM a few years ago.
I want to begin by sharing a bit of my personal story - what led me to Congress and why the issues of empowerment and accessibility are so important to me.

Growing up in Rhode Island, I dreamed of a career in law enforcement. That hasn't worked out exactly as I had planned, but life seldom does. When I was sixteen, I was accidentally shot while working as a police cadet Explorer Scout. An officer, thinking the gun he was handling wasn't loaded, pulled the trigger to test it. It turned out there was a bullet in the chamber, and that bullet severed my spinal cord. I've been paralyzed ever since.

At first, I was convinced that that gun, and this chair, had ruined my dreams.

But I learned that a badge and a gun aren't the only ways to make a difference. You can also change the world with a ballot... a pen... a creative mind. .

My work in government has flowed from the fundamental idea of personal empowerment. It's about giving people the tools they need to pave their own way. To me, that's the role of government: not to give people a hand out, but a hand up. giving people the tools to pave their own way to success.

What we see here today, as the Library pays tribute to the historic leaders of the disability movement and the everyday heroes in our own schools, workplaces and communities,