Disability Mentoring Day Connects Job Seekers with Disabilities to Employers Nationwide

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a national campaign that raises awareness about disability employment issues and celebrates the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities. Each October the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) commemorates NDEAM by organizing Disability Mentoring Day. In this guest blog, AAPD staff explain how Disability Mentoring Day provides opportunities for youth and other job seekers with disabilities to explore careers and connect to employers. Career exploration activities, like the job shadowing opportunities made possible through Disability Mentoring Day, are an important component of the Guideposts for Success for all youth during transition to adulthood. NCWD/Youth encourages youth, families, and youth service professionals to get involved in or organize a Disability Mentoring Day event near you.

Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), a program of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), connects nearly 20,000 students and job seekers with all types of disabilities to thousands of employers each year during October. Taking place in more than 300 locations in every U.S. state and territory, DMD promotes career development through hands-on career exploration, job shadowing, and mentoring that often leads to internships and employment.

DMD is the nation’s largest job shadowing program designed for people with disabilities. Job shadowing is an unpaid career exploration activity in which one or more individuals spend part of a day or more observing and interacting with employers in an actual workplace. DMD provides an opportunity for youth and other job seekers to explore careers outside of the hiring context and meet employers committed to hiring diverse employees.

AAPD coordinates DMD nationally through a network of over 350 volunteer DMD Coordinators. Coordinators are responsible for local DMD programs, and they share tips and information about their particular programs on www.DisabilityMentor.net. 

History

DMD began in 1999 with only 11 students with disabilities, who job shadowed in the White House during the Clinton Administration. Today, DMD has grown to provide job shadowing, career fairs, and mentoring opportunities to more than 85,000 students and job seekers with disabilities. In many cases, DMD is now just one prong of longer-term employment and career exploration programs designed to connect academic learning to employment. Each year students with disabilities planning for life after high school take advantage of this event as a unique career-building opportunity. This year, AAPD is excited to partner with the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Ready to Achieve Mentoring Program (RAMP) to strengthen DMD programs across the country!

The Value of Disability Mentoring Day

DMD is an opportunity to strengthen the transition between school and work, evaluate personal goals, explore possible career paths, and develop lasting mentor relationships. DMD experiences can also result in internship opportunities with host employers or can function as a first interview on the way to a part- or full-time job.

Through DMD, participants gain insights into different careers that can help them make informed decisions about their future. For example, one young woman who participated in DMD had always wanted to own and operate her own restaurant. DMD provided her with the chance to spend a day job shadowing at a restaurant, where she performed a variety of job tasks, including serving, hosting, preparing food, and interacting with customers. At the end of the day, the manager was so impressed with her work that he wanted to hire her on the spot. But through her job shadowing experience, she realized she loved to dine at restaurants but was no longer interested in running or working in one. Exploring what fits and doesn’t fit about particular careers is a valuable experience that job shadowing and DMD provide.

The DMD program can open a gateway of mutual experiences and opportunities for both employers and participants. By getting to know people with disabilities, employers open their minds to the real talent, enthusiasm, creativity, and work ethic that workers with disabilities bring to the workplace. Simultaneously, youth and jobseekers with disabilities are given the opportunity to explore their potential in diverse areas of employment, discover their preferences and talents, and change directions if they wish.

2011 DMD National Launch

DMD is officially commemorated on the third Wednesday of every October, which is National Disability Employment Awareness Month; however, DMD activities can and do occur around the country on many different dates. This year on October 14, AAPD is excited to partner with the Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) to host the 2011 DMD National Launch. This event will showcase Chicago’s outstanding model and success in furthering the employment of youth with disabilities. The theme for the 2011 DMD National Launch is Transition to Independent Futures, focusing on the importance of education, employment, and independent living for people with disabilities.

Get Involved

DMD activities occur across the country and around the world wherever AAPD has a DMD Coordinator to connect youth and job seekers with disabilities to employers. Youth who are in middle school, high school, and college, and older job seekers are all welcome to participate. (You must be at least a middle school student to participate in DMD; however, there is no maximum age limit.)

Local DMD representatives have the flexibility to create different mentoring opportunities and events, and they may choose to schedule those events around local participants and employers. Students and job seekers interested in participating in DMD can contact their local DMD Coordinator, who will facilitate the DMD match. Individuals who are interested in serving as local DMD Coordinators are asked to complete the Local DMD Coordinator Proposal and email it to dmd@aapd.com.

The following are some of the events that you can join, whether you are a job seeker or an employer:

• Career Day: Local employers and professionals share information about their career areas with students and job seekers with disabilities at schools, universities, or local Centers for Independent Living.
• Field Trip: Visits to local employers’ job sites where DMD participants tour businesses, learn about workplaces, and connect with workplace employees.
• On-Site Job Shadowing: Students and job seekers with disabilities are matched to those professionals serving in careers that interest them.
• DMD Passport to Employment Career Fair: Students and job seekers explore career opportunities during a coordinated Job Fair. Using “the DMD Passport,” job seekers are encouraged to visit employer booths organized by key career clusters. Using their “Passports,” DMD participants can stay connected with employers they meet for ongoing mentoring relationships.

For more information and resources, www.disabilitymentor.net or contact the DMD National Team at (800) 840-8844 or email dmd@aapd.com.

Written by Dana Fink, Program Assistant, and Sarah Amin, Programs Intern, at the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). This blog was reposted from the official National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability Blog.