The overall unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is 10.1% (U.S. Dept. of Labor, Feb. 2022), and according to a report from the President’s Committee for People With Intellectual Disabilities (2004), individuals with severe disabilities, such as an intellectual disability or autism, the unemployment rate fluctuates between 80-90%. It is clear that individuals with disabilities are facing a number of challenges and barriers to gaining meaningful employment. Though vocational service providers and others focus their efforts in improving employment outcomes, partners are needed in the community to make a real difference. Faith communities are natural partners in these efforts.
How a Faith Community Can Help Make Connections
There are a number of ways, both formally and informally, that a faith community and its members can assist in connecting individuals with disabilities with meaningful employment.
You’ve heard the saying, “It’s who you know.” On average, individual faith communities have 186 attendees. Many of these people are employers themselves or are connected to employers that have the potential to hire people with disabilities. To help make these connections:
- Hire people with disabilities.
- Host networking sessions or job fairs.
- Partner with nonprofits or businesses in the neighborhood that are looking for employees or volunteers. While paid employment is ideal, sometimes volunteering can lead to a paid position. It can certainly boost a resume.
- What identified needs in the community could the person provide? Could meeting those needs turn into a small business or create employment-related references?
- Talk with potential employers about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Employers report that their employees with disabilities model characteristics they want in all of their employees. Loyalty, gratefulness, dependability, and dedication are among the terms used to describe their employees with disabilities.
How a Faith Community Can Support Jobseekers With Disabilities
- Hire people with disabilities.
- Offer career counseling and assessment.
- Assist the person in identifying his or her strengths and challenges. Help to match interests with career options.
- Offer support groups or career ministries.
- Assist in creating resumes and cover letters.
- Offer job training classes.
- Offer computer access for online job searches.
- Assist in filling out job applications.
- Offer transportation to and from interviews.
- Offer job shadowing/mentoring opportunities.
- Offer support, encouragement, advice, and prayer. Searching for a job is stressful. There may also be financial or psychological stressors at play. Talk with the jobseeker and offer support.
‣ VKC Resources
‣ Local and National Resources
- Empower Tennessee
- Disability Rights Tennessee
- Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
- My Next Move
- Social Security’s Ticket to Work
- The Arc Tennessee
- Vocational Rehabilitation
Content for this tip sheet was based on: Carter, E. W. (2011). After the benediction: Walking alongside people with significant disabilities and their families in faith and life. Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health, 15, 395-413.
Top photo by Getty Images/iStockphoto
[April 2011]