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Companies should reduce barriers to hiring people with autism | Opinion

Patriot-News - 10/2/2020

Everyone has been affected by the pandemic, but some segments of the population have been hit especially hard.

My heart goes out to children with disabilities and their parents and caregivers. The need for businesses, the government, healthcare professionals and educators to step up and support this vulnerable population is more critical than ever.

We need more companies to take the lead in transforming the labor market to include more individuals on the autism spectrum, and to give them the tools to succeed in a competitive labor market.

More companies need to offer programs like Autism at Work, which shows enterprises how they can tap into this underutilized talent source by reducing barriers of entry and valuing them as unique employees.

Senator Robert Casey continues his advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities. In this presidential election year, we need both the House and the Senate to pass a bipartisan bill that will bring people with disabilities back to work during and after the COVID-19 health crisis.

We will be discussing these and other issues Oct. 6 at a Conference on Disability at The University of Scranton. For 18 years, the university has offered the conference as a resource to health care professionals, educators and caregivers who serve individuals with disabilities.

Most recently, the conference has focused on individuals with autism and their caregivers as part of a collaboration through a multi-year, multi-funded grant with the ALLONE Foundation.

This year, we will be offering the conference virtually due to the pandemic. A virtual environment has a silver lining--we can reach all of Pennsylvania and beyond, in addition to the 13 counties in the Commonwealth that we serve as part of the ALLONE collaboration.

Researchers, educators, parents and service providers will be talking about how we can close existing service gaps in Pennsylvania, gaps that exist throughout the nation. They will hear from keynote speaker Temple Grandin, world-renowned autism spokesperson who flourished in her career in spite of being on the autism spectrum.

We hope a free, virtual conference will also attract representatives from businesses and cities, so they can learn how they can follow models for including persons with disabilities in their talent pools.

They will learn from people like José Velasco, an information technology executive in California who has pioneered an autism conference focused on improving labor market opportunities for individuals with autism.

The conference also provides the latest updates to legislation on the Hill.

The pandemic continues to challenge us all - but the broadened exposure to the knowledge and resources offered through this conference provides some greatly needed good news.

Debra A. Pellegrino is Dean of the Panuska College of Professional Studies at the University of Scranton.

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