Summary: Here, Dr. Kirk Adams, Managing Director of Innovative Impact LLC and former CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, addresses the critical oversight in a memo from Jobs for the Future (JFF) to President-Elect Trump. Adams commends JFF’s goals to enhance workforce and education systems but emphasizes a crucial omission: the explicit inclusion of people with disabilities. Highlighting the untapped potential within this population, Adams advocates for disability-focused policies in skills development, post-secondary education reform, and tech-driven workforce strategies. By fully integrating disability considerations, Adams argues, the administration can foster a truly inclusive economy for all Americans.
As Managing Director of Innovative Impact LLC and immediate past President and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, I am enthusiastically supportive of Jobs for the Future’s (JFF) recommendations to President-Elect Trump.
However, I must emphasize a glaring omission in their memo — the lack of explicit inclusion of people with disabilities.
JFF’s memo outlines several critical areas for improving education and workforce systems, including preparing young people for success, investing in skills development, adapting post-secondary education, and realizing untapped talent. While these recommendations are commendable, they fail to specifically address the needs and potential of people with disabilities.
When discussing barriers to education and employment, the memo overlooks one of the most significant barriers faced by millions of Americans — disability. Only 35% of working-age people with disabilities are in the labor force, compared to 77% of those without disabilities. This represents an enormous untapped talent pool that could help address workforce shortages and drive economic growth.
The memo uses terms like “underrepresented” and “underserved” without explicitly including people with disabilities in this category. Similarly, when mentioning communities with high rates of unemployment, it lists Black and Latine populations but fails to acknowledge that people with disabilities face even higher unemployment rates — 10.1% compared to 3.1% for those without disabilities in 2022.
It’s crucial to recognize that disability intersects with all demographic categories. When discussing youth ages 16-20 or Black and Latine populations, we must remember that these groups also include people with disabilities who face compounded barriers.
The memo’s focus on technology is promising, but it lacks acknowledgment of the need to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. Any technology and transformation fund or tech-enabled strategies must prioritize universal design and accessibility to truly be inclusive.
Despite these omissions, I strongly support JFF’s overall recommendations. Their call for expanding work-based learning, investing in skills development, adapting post-secondary education, and realizing untapped talent aligns well with the needs of people with disabilities. I would urge JFF and the incoming administration to explicitly include disability in these initiatives.
For instance, when discussing the expansion of apprenticeships, we should ensure these programs are accessible to people with disabilities. When reforming post-secondary education, we must consider the unique needs of students with disabilities. And when talking about realizing untapped talent, we cannot overlook the immense potential of workers with disabilities.
In conclusion, while JFF’s memo provides a strong foundation for improving education and workforce systems, it must be expanded to explicitly include people with disabilities. As we move forward, let’s ensure that disability inclusion is not an afterthought but a fundamental part of all workforce development strategies. By doing so, we can truly create a system with no dead ends to opportunity for all Americans, including the 61 million adults living with disabilities in the United States.
— Dr. Kirk Adams, PhD