NAD Submits Comments in Response to Senate HELP Hearing

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions met at Gallaudet University on October 11, 2011 to discuss “Leveraging Higher Education to Improve Employment Outcomes for People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.” It was a historic event. Chairman Tom Harkin and Ranking Member Michael Enzi heard testimony from  deaf and hard of hearing panelists. For information on the panelists, see the October 7th Press Release [2] about the hearing from the NAD.

The Committee also invited members of the community to submit written comments. The NAD, along with input from members of its Civil Rights Committee, submitted comments.

In our comments, the NAD encouraged the Committee to consider some options for improving employment opportunities for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. For instance, the NAD wants to see more businesses adopt cost recovery programs for accommodations similar to IBM’s, where private-sector managers are relieved of paying for accommodations for their employees with disabilities. We believe that this will largely remove the cost calculation from decisions about hiring people with disabilities in many workplaces. The NAD also believes that the Disabled Access Tax Credit needs to be greatly increased and doing so will spur the hiring of more deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Among other options, the NAD suggests promoting a policy that encourages all employers to participate in a large centralized fund to provide for all accommodations. In short, this would allow for costs to be evenly spread out among all employers. 

"It is unacceptable that approximately half of all deaf and hard of hearing people in our country between the ages of 18 and 64 have jobs. We are thrilled that the Senate HELP Committee is taking an interest in this important issue and we stand ready to assist the Committee in any way possible to improve employment outcomes for people who are deaf or hard of hearing" explained NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins. 

To view NAD comments, click here [3].