Able To Work

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Former California Congressman Tony Coelho was prevented from becoming a priest in the 1960s--but not because of a lack of faith in God or a failure to keep his vows. It was on account of his epilepsy, which made him unfit for the priesthood, according to ancient canon law that viewed epilepsy on the same level as demonic possession. Though disappointed that he was not able to achieve his holy orders, Coelho went on to a career in politics and on Wall Street, and today serves as chairman of ICF Kaiser Inc., a Fairfax, Va., environmental-engineering company.

Coelho takes heart in the fact that the U.S. today is more welcoming than it used to be for an estimated 30 million Americans who, like himself, must struggle to overcome some form of physical or mental disability. "We now have a fighting chance in the work force, and we are demanding our rights," says Coelho, who serves as chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities and was one of the primary authors of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. "There is still job discrimination out there, but the tide is turning."

Nine years after the passage of the ADA, which was designed to prohibit discrimination in the workplace against those with disabilities, the situation has changed for America's disabled--and for their employers. In large ways and small--but mostly small--American businesses have adapted themselves to make the disabled more welcome and productive. Such workplace accommodations often cost little and can be as simple as offering flexible work hours to an employee suffering from chronic depression, or buying a computer keyboard with all the control keys on one side for someone missing a hand. In general, most workplace accommodations cost less than $200 a person, according to James Geletka, executive director of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America in Arlington, Va.

After voicing initial concerns about the potential cost, U.S. industry has shown itself more open to hiring people with disabilities--especially in the midst of the tightest labor market in memory. In 1994, the latest year for which U.S. Census Bureau statistics are available, some 3.7 million people with severe disabilities were at work, up from 2.9 million three years earlier. That said, there is still a long way to go. As the employment numbers also indicate, a large proportion of America's disabled population still has its nose pressed against the workplace window. Prejudice, lack of adequate transportation and physical barriers to employment are still common, contributing to a sense of discouragement among the disabled themselves. For instance, though exact numbers vary, experts cite a 1998 survey by Louis Harris & Associates that found only 30% of adults with disabilities to be employed full or part time, compared with nearly 80% of adults without disabilities. Nearly 6 out of 10 of those surveyed last year in Louis Harris' annual poll said the ADA had made no difference in their lives.