MINOT, N.D. - In North Dakota, a state agency worries that people with disabilities are being overlooked in a tight job market, as business restrictions from the pandemic create hardships for many companies. This week, the state is honoring some of the businesses focusing on inclusive hiring.
The Dakota Estates Retirement Center and Scheels of Minot have received awards for their efforts to give people with disabilities opportunities to thrive in the workforce.
Brenda Vennes, Minot and Williston region business services specialist with the state's Vocational Rehabilitation Division, said oftentimes, companies lack awareness of what the right individuals can do for them.
"They're usually very dependable," said Vennes. "They want to work. They have unique talents and skill sets."
She said adding people with disabilities to the payroll can play a big role in improving workplace culture.
This spring, one study estimated one million U.S. workers living with disabilities had lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
The report noted that because they're usually hired last, these workers often see layoffs first. And the report found many workers with disabilities are in the retail and hospitality sectors, both of which have been hit hard by the crisis.
Vennes said that's why it's important that this group of workers isn't always the first budget casualty in a downturn. In North Dakota, she said they face other barriers as well, such as lack of transportation to their jobs.
"There aren't bus routes where they live, or they don't have anybody that drives to town at the same time they need to come to town," said Vennes.
But she said North Dakota is making strides in boosting transportation in some rural areas, allowing for greater mobility.
In the most recent fiscal year, the program Vennes works with matched more than 500 North Dakotans with disabilities with positive employment outcomes.
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By Tony Leys for KFF Health News.
Broadcast version by Mark Moran for Big Sky Connection reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Service Collaboration
The blue-and-white highway sign for the eastbound rest stop near here displays more than the standard icon of a person in a wheelchair, indicating facilities are accessible to people who can’t walk. The sign also shows a person standing behind a horizontal rectangle, preparing to perform a task.
The second icon signals that this rest area along Interstate 80 in western Iowa has a bathroom equipped with a full-size changing table, making it an oasis for adults and older children who use diapers because of disabilities.
“It’s a beacon of hope,” said Nancy Baker Curtis, whose 9-year-old son, Charlie, has a disability that can leave him incontinent. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re finally there.’”
The white changing table is 6 feet long and can be lowered and raised with a handheld controller wired to an electric motor. When not in use, the table folds up against the wall.
The table was recently installed as part of a national effort to make public bathrooms more accessible in places like airports, parks, arenas, and gas stations. Without such options, people with disabilities often wind up being changed on bathroom floors, in cars, or even on the ground outside.
Many families hesitate to go out because of the lack of accessible restrooms. “We all know somebody who’s tethered to their home by bathroom needs,” Baker Curtis said. She doesn’t want her son’s life to be limited that way. “Charlie deserves to be out in the community.”
She said the need can be particularly acute when people are traveling in rural areas, where bathroom options are sparse.
Baker Curtis, who lives near Des Moines, leads the Iowa chapter of a national group called “Changing Spaces,” which advocates for adult-size changing tables. The group offers an online map showing scores of locations where they’ve been installed.
Advocates say such tables are not explicitly required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. But a new federal law will mandate them in many airports in coming years, and states can adopt building codes that call for them. California, for example, requires them in new or renovated auditoriums, arenas, amusement parks, and similar facilities with capacities of at least 2,500 people. Ohio requires them in some settings, including large public facilities and highway rest stops. Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Hampshire also have taken steps to require them in some public buildings.
Justin Boatner of Arlington, Virginia, advocates for more full-size changing tables in the Washington, D.C., area. Boatner, 26, uses a wheelchair because of a disability similar to muscular dystrophy. He uses diapers, which he often changes himself.
He can lower an adjustable changing table to the height of his wheelchair, then pull himself onto it. Doing that is much easier and more hygienic than getting down on the floor, changing himself, and then crawling back into the wheelchair, he said.
Boatner said it’s important to talk about incontinence, even though it can be embarrassing. “There’s so much stigma around it,” he said.
He said adult changing tables are still scarce, including in health care facilities, but he’s optimistic that more will be installed. Without them, he sometimes delays changing his diaper for hours until he can get home. That has led to serious rashes, he said. “It’s extremely uncomfortable.”
Iowa legislators in recent years have considered requiring adult changing tables in some public restrooms. They declined to pass such a bill, but the discussion made Iowa Department of Transportation leaders aware of the problem. “I’m sorry to say, it was one of those things we’d just never thought of,” said Michael Kennerly, director of the department’s design bureau.
Kennerly oversees planning for rest stops. He recalls an Iowan telling him about changing a family member outside in the rain, with only an umbrella for shelter. Others told him how they changed their loved ones on bathroom floors. “It was just appalling,” he said.
Iowa began installing adult changing tables in rest stops in 2022, and it has committed to including them in new or remodeled facilities. So far, nine have been installed or are in the process of being added. Nine others are planned, with more to come, Kennerly said. Iowa has 38 rest areas equipped with bathrooms.
Kennerly estimated it costs up to $14,000 to remodel an existing rest-stop bathroom to include a height-adjustable adult changing table. Incorporating adult changing tables into a new rest stop building should cost less than that, he said.
Several organizations offer portable changing tables, which can be set up at public events. Some are included in mobile, accessible bathrooms carried on trailers or trucks. Most permanent adult changing tables are set up in “family restrooms,” which have one toilet and are open to people of any gender. That’s good, because the act of changing an adult is “very intimate and private,” Baker Curtis said. It’s also important for the tables to be height-adjustable because it’s difficult to lift an adult onto a fixed-height table, she said.
Advocates hope adult changing tables will become nearly as common as infant changing tables, which once were rare in public bathrooms.
Jennifer Corcoran, who lives near Dayton, Ohio, has been advocating for adult changing tables for a decade and has seen interest rise in recent years.
Corcoran’s 24-year-old son, Matthew, was born with brain development issues. He uses a wheelchair and is unable to speak, but he accompanies her when she lobbies for improved services.
Corcoran said Ohio leaders this year designated $4.4 million in federal pandemic relief money to be distributed as grants for changing-table projects. The program has led to installations at Dayton’s airport and art museum, plus libraries and entertainment venues, she said.
Ohio also is adding adult changing tables to rest stops. Corcoran said those tables are priceless because they make it easier for people with disabilities to travel. “Matthew hasn’t been on a vacation outside of Ohio for more than five years,” she said.
Kaylan Dunlap serves on a committee that has worked to add changing-table requirements to the International Building Code, which state and local officials often use as a model for their rules.
Dunlap, who lives in Alabama, works for an architecture firm and reviews building projects to ensure they comply with access standards. She expects more public agencies and companies will voluntarily install changing tables. Maybe someday they will be a routine part of public bathrooms, she said. “But I think that’s a long way out in the future, unfortunately.”
Tony Leys wrote this story for KFF Health News.
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North Dakota is above the national average in seeing individuals with disabilities as part of the workforce but the people tracking the numbers said even more people could be part of the steady job growth.
During National Disability Employment Awareness Month, assistance groups and agencies remind businesses and hiring managers workers with disabilities are a hidden talent pool.
Malinda Krahgh, employment specialist for the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities at Minot State University, said "mom and pop" style businesses are often more open to providing job opportunities than larger corporations and there are more barriers.
"We do find that it's a little more difficult to connect with those bigger companies, to encourage them to hire individuals with disabilities," Krahgh pointed out.
She noted it makes it harder for workers with disabilities to earn more money and improve their quality of life. Traditionally, the national disability unemployment rate is higher than in the general population. However, gains were seen after the pandemic. In North Dakota, the employment rate for working-age people with disabilities is nearly 20 percentage points better than the national average.
Krahgh emphasized workers with disabilities bring a variety of skills to the table and should not be limited to food service and similar jobs. She encouraged larger employers with more diverse openings to gather input from provider agencies and customize platforms for jobseekers.
"I do notice that through online job applications, that it's not quite as easy to get those skills and information out there," Krahgh added.
Her team recommended using video resumes, where a person with disabilities can better describe their unique skills. Advocates said with remote work still a major force, employers can use the tool in hiring more people with disabilities.
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Connecticut disability rights advocates are concerned about state and federal barriers to employment.
At the state level, Medicaid is the only health care plan covering necessary care some people with disabilities might need. Beyond that, they could face high out-of-pocket costs.
Jonathan Sigworth, president and CEO of the nonprofit More Than Walking, feels states can reform their Medicaid buy-in programs. Connecticut's buy-in program has a $10,000 asset limit, which he said restricts a disabled person's ability to work.
"The system is currently set up so that if you have the health care you need, the policies prevent you from working," Sigworth pointed out. "You'd have to choose between the two, essentially, in some cases. Those policies are really detrimental."
Having a job could force someone over what advocates call the "benefits cliff," when a person gets a raise, has a kid with a part-time job, or some other income increase, which then makes them ineligible for certain benefits. Connecticut's General Assembly considered several bills during its last session to alter programs with benefits cliffs, though none were passed.
Beyond state policies, the upcoming election is also concerning for Sigworth. He's troubled by Project 2025, a policy outline for former President Donald Trump's possible second term. It calls for removing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's consent decree power in instances of employment discrimination.
Sigworth noted it would terminate a key way for people with disabilities to fight workplace discrimination.
"There's one party, one argument in this country that talks about cutting regulations and in the same breath saying we should protect people with disabilities," Sigworth contended. "It's using the disabled community as a token audience."
Though Trump disavowed Project 2025, some disability rights advocates remain uncertain since he repeatedly tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Project 2025 also calls for federal spending cuts to programs like the Equity in IDEA program, which encompasses all policies ensuring fair treatment and access for students with disabilities.
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