“Linda Wright (C), 57, attends a job conference for unemployed people with disabilities at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Connecticut. - Christopher Capozziello/Getty Images”
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“If you’re a person with a disability, you’re much likelier to have a harder time finding employment.
“According to the Department of Labor, in 2016, the unemployment rate for the general population was 4.6 percent. But for people with disabilities? It was stuck around 10.5 percent. That’s about where it was in 2015, too, meaning that despite the ebb and flow of the labor market, employment prospects didn’t change too much for people with disabilities.
“‘I don’t really see the employment rate for people with a significant disability going up. It just seems to have plateaued,’ said Greg Thompson, the executive director of the Personal Assistance Services Council in Los Angeles. ‘And unfortunately there’s a lot of disincentive for somebody with a significant disability to return to work because they lose all their benefits.’
“Thompson was injured in a water skiing accident in 1977, when he became quadriplegic. After his injury, he went through rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos in Los Angeles.”
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