Demystifying the Rehabilitation Act: What Faith-based and Community Organizations Need To Know About Using Federal Financial Assistance to Serve People With Disabilities

[Excerpt] If you represent a faith-based or community-based organization that is • Receiving financial assistance from the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) (e.g., a grant, sub-award, contract, in-kind assistance, etc.), or • Planning to apply for financial assistance from USDOL, or • Partnering with an existing USDOL-supported program, Then, the following information will help you better understand how Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 applies to your organization as you serve people with disabilities

Technology Changes Everything: Inclusive Tech and Jobs for a Diverse Workforce: Pierce Memorial Foundation Report

This document serves as the final report to the Pierce Foundation for funding to support the design and implementation of a 1.5-day Forum entitled “Technology Changes Everything: A Forum on Inclusive Tech and Jobs for a Diverse Workforce” conducted in NYC on October 26-27, 2017 at Baruch College. The conference idea was conceived to address the need to raise awareness across a number of distinct areas where technology is currently impacting employment outcomes for people with disabilities. The topics ranged from one as straightforward as the critical need for attention on equitably integrating individuals with disabilities into the rapidly exploding tech sector workforce, to the much more nuanced and complex application of algorithmic screening and job-matching tools increasingly used in online job applications and selection processes. Other topics focused on were equitable access to entrepreneurship opportunities, inclusive design in technology-based products and services, and the growing targeted focus of technology sector and tech-intensive industries in affirmative recruitment and hiring of individuals with Autism

Combating e-discrimination in the North West - final report

The Combating eDiscimination in the North West project examined over 100 websites advertising job opportunities both regionally and nationally, and found the vast majority to be largely inaccessible. Professional standards, such as using valid W3C code and adhering to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, were largely not followed. The project also conducted interviews with both public and private sector web professionals, and focus groups of disabled computer users, to draw a broader picture of the accessibility of jobs websites. Interviews with leading web development companies in the Greater Manchester region, showed that there is a view there should not be any additional cost in making websites accessible, as the expertise to create a site professionally should be in place from the start, and that accessibility will follow from applying professional standards. However, through the process of trying to create a website for the project, with such a company, it was found that following professional standards is not sufficient to catch all the potential problems, and that user testing is an essential adjunct to professional practice. The main findings of the project are, thus, that: • Most websites in the job opportunities sector are not following professional standards of web development, and are largely inaccessible • Professional standards of web development need to be augmented with user testing to ensure proper accessibility

Samples and data accessibility in research biobanks. An explorative survey

Biobanks, which contain human biological samples and/or data, provide a crucial contribution to the progress of biomedical research. However, the effective and efficient use of biobank resources depends on their accessibility. In fact, making bio-resources promptly accessible to everybody may increase the benefits for society. Furthermore, optimizing their use and ensuring their quality will promote scientific creativity and, in general, contribute to the progress of bio-medical research. Although this has become a rather common belief, several laboratories are still secretive and continue to withhold samples and data. In this study, we conducted a questionnairebased survey in order to investigate sample and data accessibility in research biobanks operating all over the world. The survey involved a total of 46 biobanks. Most of them gave permission to access their samples (95.7%) and data (85.4%), but free and unconditioned accessibility seemed not to be common practice. The analysis of the guidelines regarding the accessibility to resources of the biobanks that responded to the survey highlights three issues: (i) the request for applicants to explain what they would like to do with the resources requested; (ii) the role of funding, public or private, in the establishment of fruitful collaborations between biobanks and research labs; (iii) the request of co-authorship in order to give access to their data. These results suggest that economic and academic aspects are involved in determining the extent of sample and data sharing stored in biobanks. As a second step of this study, we investigated the reasons behind the high diversity of requirements to access biobank resources. The analysis of informative answers suggested that the different modalities of resource accessibility seem to be largely influenced by both social context and legislation of the countries where the biobanks operate