Education Series: Enable. Empower. Employ! Discover EmployAbility Dallas

This 2-part Education Series hosted by Dallas Mayors Committee, EmployAbility will empower employers to evaluate and select disability service providers that can remove barriers to employment and meet their company’s hiring goals. This on-site event, hosted by U & I – Dallas and My Possibilities – Plano will include Identifying key barriers to employment of people with disabilities, an interactive Q & A session focused on moving beyond awareness and etiquette to building real disability inclusion, and an on-site tour of each facility. You will hear success stories of how companies overcame hiring objections to show that employment of people with disabilities can be successful even in complex situations.

Learning objectives:

Discuss business reasons to employ people with disabilities.

—

Identify key barriers to employment of people with disabilities.

—

Evaluate and select disability service providers that can remove barriers to employment and meet their company’s hiring goals.

—

Understand transition-to-work mindset and expectations to hire and retain talent with disabilities.

---

The first session of the 2-part series will take place on May 17th from 9 am to 11 am CT.

The second session of the 2-part series will take place on June 7th from 9 am to 11 am CT.

---

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson Announces City's Commission on Disabilities

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson met with our new chairman of the board, Michael Quezada (UT Southwestern) and members Beth West (Lennox), Deb Jones (Texas Workforce Commission), and Kelly Burton (AT&T) to announce the formation of the city’s Commission on Disabilities.

The Mayor also too the opportunity to sign White Cane Awareness Day Proclaimation.

Education Series: Service Animals in the Workplace

During this online education event, service animal and accommodation experts Linda Carter Batiste, Principal Consultant/Legislative Specialist, Job Accommodation Network (JAN), Dan Rollings, South Central Program Director, Canine Companions for Independence, and Alexandra Walch, Client Services Program Manager, Canine Companions for Independence, discussed:

—
The difference between service animals and emotional support animals

—
Rules and laws around using service animals in the workplace

—
The value of service animals and concerns about using them as an accommodation

Education Series: Disability Employment: 30 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act

In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 75th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we hosted Derek Shields of ForwardWorks for a webinar on October 6, 2020 to review trends in disability employment. This is an abbreviated version, recorded after the event.

30th Anniversary Virtual Celebration of Americans with Disabilities Act

On Friday, July 24th the Governors Committee on People with Disabilities hosted a video conference with a series of notable disability advocates who shared their experience with the Americans with Disabilities Act – seeing it implemented, watching it further the civil rights of Americans with disabilities, and where it will go in the future. Then, a virtual tour of Texas, some happy birthday wishes from the partners, and some historic footage.

The program starts (with a sign language interpreter) about 6 minutes and 40 seconds into the video and the part specifically about Dallas starts around 2 hours, 44 minutes, and 15 seconds. Crystal Baker, Lead Accessibility Solutions Engineer at AT&T, represents Dallas, walking everyone through a video about our city’s commitment to the ADA.

Beth West on Good Morning Texas

WFAA gave us the opportunity to appear on their Good Morning Texas segment to tell Dallas about our upcoming event. Click on the image to see vide of the segment.

Board Members as Panelists at North Texas Industry Liaisons Group Quarterly Meeting

Board member Anne Hudson was the guest speaker and several of other board members were panelists at the North Texas Industry Liaisons Group quarterly meeting.