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Marco Damiani, Chief Executive Officer of AHRC New York City (AHRC NYC), joins the DEP RRTC’s Let’s Get to Work podcast hosted by Dr. Peter Blanck, University Professor and Chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University and Principal Investigator of the DEP RRTC. Drawing on decades of experience supporting people with disabilities, Marco discusses his journey from working as a direct support professional to leading one of the largest organizations supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the U.S. He highlights the movement from institutionalization to community-based supports and services and the importance of self-advocacy, self-determination, and Supported Decision-Making. Marco and Peter also emphasize employment as a way to advance independence and community participation. Using AHRC NYC's nationally recognized initiatives as examples, they show how meaningful, competitive work benefits people with disabilities, employers, communities, and the broader economy.

Archive, Bios, Description, Transcripts for Episode 154: The Access Coalition: Creating More Inclusive Retail Spaces available at: https://adalive.org/episodes/episode-154/ Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, retail spaces are required to provide goods and services to customers with disabilities equal to the goods and services offered to customers without disabilities. This allowed businesses to benefit from the patronage of all customers. Thirty-six years after the ADA became law, many businesses are still not fully accessible to people with disabilities. Recognizing that the consumer spending power of people with disabilities worldwide is over $13 trillion annually, beginning in 2024 Walmart and the American Association of People with Disabilities, or AAPD, began working together on this problem. They created the Access Coalition as a place where business competitors and partners could move beyond basic ADA compliance to reimagine what inclusive, accessible retail space could look like. To tell us more about this ambitious initiative, we have with us Maria Town. She is president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, a cross-disability organization dedicated to increasing political and economic power of people with disabilities.

Sharon Rennert, senior attorney with the ADA Division of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has played a leading role in the development of their policy interpretations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. In this podcast, Sharon explains the protections for people with disabilities in employment and how they apply to people with Long COVID. Rennert describes the importance for employers to understand the protections that job applicants and employees with disabilities have in the workplace, and the related responsibility for people with disabilities to understand the process for securing needed accommodations that enable them to perform the essential functions of their job.

Pandemic Patients founder Andrew Wylam discusses the reasons he created the organization, and his vision for future national efforts to address issues facing individuals with disabilities with Long COVID. The organization also manages a COVID 19 Advocacy Center to connect individuals with Long COVID with policy makers in support of legislative proposals that will improve access to health services and expansion of family and medical leave policies. His organization offers a Legal Assistance Network that provides attorneys who volunteer their time to assist individuals with Long COVID with such issues as disability discrimination in the workplace and access to social security disability benefits. He explains some of the challenges he has encountered as he has advocated for policies that are shaped around Long COVID, but also discusses the importance of supporting individuals with Long COVID on a one-on-one basis to help them with their new daily challenges.

Nicholas Wyman, executive director of the Institute for Workforce Skills and Innovation, describes the value that apprenticeships offer in addressing disability employment disparities. In doing so, he describes the obstacles that people with disabilities face in seeking employment, whether outright discriminatory assumptions or longstanding practices that may have good intentions but have adverse consequences for people with disabilities. It is vital with continued skilled labor shortages for employers to rethink the application processes and coordinated support systems to enable disabled people to succeed in inclusive apprenticeships.

Lydia Brown, director of public policy at the National Disability Institute, discusses two issues preventing people with disabilities from excelling in the workforce and in general: policies that trap them in poverty and artificial intelligence that discriminates. Antiquated Social Security rules with asset and income limits create a poverty trap that limits a disabled individual from seeking more pay or career advancement. In terms of AI, algorithms are being used that may screen out candidates with disabilities based on certain characteristics such as gaps in employment history, or length of time it took an individual to graduate from college. Often these characteristics are unrelated to a job function or job performance. Brown says these are two of the major issues of this generation for not only disability rights groups but also policymakers. They represent larger issues regarding policies, laws, socioeconomic structures, and the need to address our fundamental values as a society.

Lisa Mills, Owner, Moving to a Different Drum, Disability Policy and Services Consulting, discusses opportunities to increase employment outcomes by braiding and blending resources across funding sources such as vocational rehabilitation, Medicaid, and Ticket to Work.

Jay Burks, Director of Supplier Diversity at the Comcast Corporation, shares about the importance of ensuring that large companies like Comcast buy goods and services from diverse suppliers, including Disability-owned Business Enterprises (DOBEs).