New report makes recommendations to prevent people with disabilities from leaving the workforce

A 20-year-old worker has a 1 in 4 chance of experiencing a significant disabling condition before retiring. That’s according to a new report from the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute.

The “Live in our Shoes for a Day: A Study of Hoosiers Leaving the Workforce Due to Disability offers recommendations to increase support for those with disabilities in the workplace and financially.

Ashley Irby Phillips is the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute's community needs analyst. She said people with disabilities often stop working due to lack of accommodations.

"If employers really understood the implications of keeping individuals employed and helping them and assisting them, they could understand that also it benefits them, too, to keep individuals employed,” Irby Phillips said.

The recommendations come from 20 people who left the workforce due to a disability – including Wendy Right.

Right has a spinal cord injury, which prevents her from working. She said people with disabilities need to be a part of policymakers' discussions about disability programs and funding.

“I think a big portion of changing legislation for the better would be to have people who have physical and mental disabilities actually be part of that discussion when they're trying to decide what insurance pays for and what it doesn't,” Right said.

READ MORE: New federal resource provides accommodation ideas for workers with disabilities, employers
 

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Right said insurance does not cover a lot of things for disabled people. For her, insurance does not cover a handicap-accessible ramp for her power chair – or a vehicle to transport it.

“For people with disabilities, especially those that need assisted devices, ADA vehicles are almost out of the question for people to be able to afford them on a Social Security or Social Security Disability Income,” Right said.

She said those challenges make it hard for people who want to return to work or accomplish daily errands.

Other recommendations in the report include greater access to paid family and medical leave, a faster review process for Social Security disability insurance, and other financial supports.

The report also calls for more education for employees and employers about their rights and responsibilities under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Timoria is our labor and employment reporter. Contact her at tcunningham@wfyi.org.