According to the World Bank, one billion people, or 15 percent of the world's population, experience some form of disability, and persons with disabilities are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes such as less education, poorer health outcomes, lower levels of employment, and higher poverty rates. In the United States, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than twice that of people without disabilities.
Higher education institutions can play a critical role in bridging the gap between disability services and career services. Disability services offices can work with career services offices to ensure that students with disabilities have access to the resources and support they need to succeed in the job market. This can include providing accommodations during the job search process, such as assistive technology or interview accommodations, as well as connecting students with disability-friendly employers.
One way that higher education institutions can support students with disabilities is by providing disability services that are integrated with career services. This can help to ensure that students with disabilities have access to the same career resources and opportunities as their peers. This includes having the disability services offices and career services offices work collaboratively to provide job search workshops and career fairs that are accessible to students with disabilities. They can also work together to provide career counseling and job placement services that are tailored to the needs of students with disabilities.
Additionally, career services can work with their disability services offices by providing training and education to employers on disability inclusion. This can help to break down the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from accessing employment opportunities. According to the National Organization on Disability, employees with disabilities have lower turnover rates, lower absenteeism rates, and higher job performance ratings than employees without disabilities. By integrating these offices, institutions can help to break down the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from accessing employment opportunities and create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
With Symplicity Accommodate, institutions can ensure that their campuses, whether in person or online, have equal access. Accommodate allows for disability services to communicate, in one system, across campus to help students with all aspects of a student’s success by identifying campus resources for students. Integrated with Symplicity CSM, institutions can provide a more comprehensive service to students with disabilities. For example, students with disabilities can use Symplicity Accommodate to request accommodations for career fairs and job interviews. The accommodation requests can then be seamlessly integrated into Symplicity CSM, allowing career center staff to provide tailored support to these students.
For those interested in learning more about Accommodate or CSM and how your institution can utilize technology to support all students, schedule a conversation with us or email info@symplicity.com.
