Employers should hire the disabled

Lowell Sun, Sept. 20, 2011
A letter from Perkins President Steven Rothstein:

On Capitol Hill, President Obama decried the 9.1 percent jobless rate and urged Congress to support his proposed American Jobs Act. Nine percent unemployment is hard to live with. Imagine living with 70 percent unemployment. You do not have to imagine it if you are blind. That is the real jobless rate for Americans with impaired vision.

In Detroit on Labor Day, the president recalled that our country is built on giving everyone a fair chance to share in America's prosperity. We can truly give everyone a chance to work, including our fellow citizens with disabilities. High-tech adaptations already make it possible for people who are blind to succeed as lawyers, professors, engineers, telecom specialists, teachers, etc.

Let's open the door to every qualified applicant.1) Ask your human-resources department what your employer does to make your workplace accessible. 2) Offer a critical first internship to a graduate with a visual impairment. 3) Come to Perkins School for the Blind on Oct. 18 for the statewide Disability Job Fair to learn how amazingly able these young people really are.

STEVEN M. ROTHSTEIN,
President
Perkins School for the Blind
Watertown