[blindlaw] FW: [MARKETING EMAIL]Employees with Disabilities Impacted More by Government Shutdown

Fri Oct 18 16:55:03 UTC 2013

Greetings:

I am pleased to serve on this board. Do find its newsletter, which is below. The newsletter has a notable point about the recent closure.

From: Federal Employees with Disabilities (FEDs) [mailto:fedsfirst=gmail.com at mail22.wdc03.rsgsv.net] On Behalf Of Federal Employees with Disabilities (FEDs)
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 12:12 PM
To: Norman, Gary C. (CMS/OSORA)
Subject: [MARKETING EMAIL]Employees with Disabilities Impacted More by Government Shutdown

Get the most up-to-date and accurate information about the Federal Employment of People with Disabilities.

Is this email not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser<http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=ba9fddfe83&e=0702226296>.

[Image removed by sender. Federal Employees with Disabilities Logo]<http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=610602027c&e=0702226296>

[Image removed by sender.]

In this issue:

·         Employees with Disabilities Impacted More by

Government Shutdown?

·         FEDs Setting up Shop in England?

·         1st Annual Training Conference was AWESOME!

·         FEDs Spearheads Ideas on the Hill

________________________________
[Image removed by sender. Pic of Capital reads, "Good luck with that whole surviving thing."]
Employees with Disabilities Impacted More by Government Shutdown?

By Jason Olsen

The irony that the government shutdown began the first day of National Disability Employment Awareness Month seems fitting. Especially, since it seems that federal employees with significant disabilities may be facing more hardships than employees without disabilities. This is due in large part to extra costs that disabilities can carry with them. Personal care attendants, sign language interpreters for appointments, assisted child care and other high cost services can have a huge impact on a person’s limited resources.  Add on top of that the costs of prescription and over the counter medications, upkeep or repairs to medically required equipment and other costs that ensure someone’s health and/or mobility is maintained and the costs can easily start to add up and the limited resources can be further diminished.

This mixed with many people with significant disabilities not being able to simply “pick up work” can lead to a significant imbalance for people with disabilities. For example, a federal employee who was interviewed this past Tuesday stated that he has begun to line up appointments to garner extra income, on top of his unemployment, by servicing people’s cars. Others have stated that they will perform handyman work, or pick up work elsewhere, which are paths most likely closed for people with significant disabilities. If federal employees do end up receiving pay from the time missed at the office then those without disabilities will have received time off to earn extra income while those with disabilities will just be happy to be able to make ends meet.

At a time when the government has stated it wishes to fulfill Executive Order 13548 and see 100,000 more individuals with disabilities enter the federal workforce, the government shutdown seems to be just one more hurdle that is sure to have the opposite effect. Issues with retention have already plagued the government’s attempts to increase these numbers. One can’t help but wonder if those who have fought so hard to get off of Federal support programs, such as SSI and SSDI, in order to obtain federal employment won’t be scared back to the security of these programs,  resulting in the lessening of an already dwindling numbers of people with targeted disabilities working for the federal government.

________________________________

FEDs Setting up Shop in England?[Image removed by sender. Picture of phone booth and big ben]

Okay, so maybe that headline is a little misleading. FEDs is not leaving America for the UK. What FEDs is doing however, is working with disability organizations in the UK who are interested in forming a group similar to FEDs in order to fight for rights of workers with disabilities. The support of these organizations by FEDs, and the initial efforts and intentions of these groups to form an organization like FEDs, has already been sent to select members of both the British Parliament and the House of Lords (their versions of the House and Senate). FEDs will continue to aid them with their efforts, provide them with information, and work with them as long as necessary to create positive change for employees with disabilities. People with disabilities are a strong community, but we are strongest when we support each other. Cheers.

________________________________

1st Annual Training Conference was AWESOME!

[Image removed by sender. Chai Feldblum][Image removed by sender.]
For those of you who were unable to make it to the FEDs / FEDQ 1st Annual Training Conference you missed quite the event. You can learn more about the event and even hear the President of FEDs give an interview about the event, and the Mission of FEDs, to Federal News Radio at Grassroots organization breaks barriers for feds with disabilities<http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=b4f1664bcc&e=0702226296>. If you did miss it, don't fret, FEDs and FEDQ are currently in discussions to have another joint event next year and to make it even more chocked full of value than this years. We would be remiss however if we didn't thank some of the amazing speakers we had at this years event. People like Lou Orslene from the Job Accommodations Network <http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=11f7558225&e=0702226296> who did fantastic presentation on Job Accommodations, or Paula Golloday's whose presentation on the Schedule A hiring authority and some of the more complex issues around it helped people to more fully comprehend the true power of this valuable hiring authority, and Stephen King from DOD whose presentation on the legalities around accommodations for HR professionals was right on target for this program. And of course last, but definitely not least,  EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum's keynote address concerning discrimination, the update of the 503 Regulations and other topics was both inspiring and perfect.

________________________________

Affinity Groups Come Together

[Image removed by sender. FEDs President Signing MOU]

On September 26, 2013 the President of FEDs, signed an agreement to join into a coalition with 6 other National Affinity Groups including; Blacks in Government, Federally Employed Women, National IMAGE (Hispanic Group), FEDQ (LGBT), Federal Asian Pacific American Council and Society of American Indian Government Employees. Here is to us doing great things together!!!!!

________________________________

FEDs Spearheads Ideas on the Hill

In an effort to improve working conditions and opportunities for individuals with disabilities, Federal Employees with Disabilities (FEDs) joined forces with Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government (DHHIG) and FEDAccessibility. Together we created an education report which identified many of the barriers faced by current Federal Employees with Disabilities. We also provided some potential solutions to these barriers. It is our hope that we will be working further with Senator Harkin and others on the Hill to continue our efforts to promote the hiring and retention of federal workers with disabilities. Please click here<http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=2cec2a4867&e=0702226296> to read the letter in PDF. If you have any additions you wish to see in further editions please email them to FEDsFirst at gmail.com<mailto:FEDsFirst at gmail.com>

friend on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/jason.oh.520> <http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=4010890d69&e=0702226296> |JOIN FEDs NOW <http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=3960257e4a&e=0702226296>  forward to a friend<http://us5.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=ba9fddfe83&e=0702226296>

We put F.E.D's First!

*|IF:REWA
           [Image removed by sender. Image of FEDs Star] <http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=8a00970ef1&e=0702226296> RDS|* [Image removed by sender. Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp] <http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&aid=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&afl=1>

 unsubscribe from this list<http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=16e8190319&e=0702226296&c=ba9fddfe83> | update subscription preferences<http://fedsfirst.us5.list-manage1.com/profile?u=d30c17a395e19e5df7f4c4fb6&id=16e8190319&e=0702226296>

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ~WRD093.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 823 bytes
Desc: ~WRD093.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1625 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2312 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2331 bytes
Desc: image003.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2458 bytes
Desc: image004.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0004.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2267 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0005.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 426 bytes
Desc: image006.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0006.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 332 bytes
Desc: image007.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/attachments/20131018/46d42155/attachment-0007.jpg>