Ensuring Individuals with Disabilities have an Equal Opportunity to Work
Senator Harkin believes that people with disabilities should have an equal opportunity to work and be paid an appropriate wage for that work. Federal policy should promote such opportunities. To that end, he has:
- Hosted a Disability Employment Retreat to bring together advocates and individuals to discuss the challenges many individuals with disabilities face in employment and develop initiatives to increase employment options.
- Created and supported the Office of Disability Employment Policy to help eliminate barriers across the federal government to the training and employment of individuals with disabilities.
- Pushed to strengthen the services provided to transition-age youth and young adults with disabilities as part of the Workforce Investment Act so that they have an opportunity to work in integrated settings at competitive wages as they enter the workforce.
- Funded a disability employment initiative at the Department of Labor which will support more integrated and effective approaches to delivering employment and training services to individuals with disabilities through the federal workforce development system.