Wednesday, June 25 the House voted to expand protections for people with disabilities. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 overturns several Supreme Court decisions that reduced protections for Americans with disabilities handed down in the last decade and clarifies that ADA is intended to provide broad coverage to protect anyone who faces discrimination on the basis of disability.
This was necessary because although access to sports, education and community have greatly improved in the 20 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities act, meaningful and fulfilling full-time employment remains tricky and fleeting for more than 7 million people with disabilities. There are another 4 million Americans with disabilities living at or below the poverty line and for them success seems like a pipe dream.
There are advances in technology creating new options for people with disabilities who want gainful, purposeful employment doing what they are passionate about. It can be done but finding the correct resources and supports is elusive at best. Human services organizations are often pressed for time, staff and resources and state agencies created to assist people with disabilities are, in general, often woefully limited in the assistance they can offer.
So when I began looking to re-enter the workforce again two years ago after eight years of healing from spinal surgeries and learning how to be disabled after an on-the-job injury, I was optimistic but unsure. I knew more about what I didn’t want to do than what I did, largely because I didn’t know what was available to me.
I had spent considerable time in learning about self-employment and entrepreneurship. As a freelance writer and visual artist, I certainly had skills and talents that most any organization or company would benefit from. I had the opportunity to volunteer and later work for a non-profit arts organization whose mission was to make the Arts accessible to people with disabilities. Fortunate enough to spend my time in programming and fund development during my tenure there, I was able to work doing what I love and am passionate about.
I knew I was not alone in my struggles to find employment doing what I was passionate about because in working with other artists with disabilities, I discovered most of us had an entrepreneurial spirit but lacked the support and resources to help ourselves toward more financial independence and freedom. I mined the Internet for resources and communities that seemed to address my needs. And while the Internet does indeed allow for full and balanced economic participation by removing many of the barriers that people with disabilities face in the workforce, very few community and resource sites came close to addressing what I was looking for.
Active Grey Matter (AGM) is the first Internet-based community business incubator designed by and for people with all kinds of chronic or disabling conditions who want to work for themselves but lack the tools, community, support, resources and services to launch their own businesses and determine their own futures.
More than just another social networking site, Active Gray Matter is also a community of people who love to learn, collaborate, teach and share knowledge to assist new self-owned businesses take flight and thrive. Sue Cline, AGM’s founder and visionary, designed AGM as a sustainable community, able to function independently with or without her and independent of grants, government or venture funding. Every person in the AGM community is vital and important. They are the cheerleaders and the coaches; the teachers, mentors and students; the friends and family; the supporters and broadcasters that are vital to any thriving and independent community.
If you are an emerging entrepreneur or interested in self-employment or know, love or work with people with disabilities who are interested in owning their own businesses, you are invited to become a part of the Active Grey Matter community. Just pop over to the community site and register for free to meet other like-minded people and AGM community members and see what Active Gray Matter is all about!
