Video Transcript:
Commission Chair Denise Garlick:
"Good day, and again, welcome to National Disability Employment Awareness Month in the Massachusetts State House, the People's House.
I'm so very pleased that you are here. You are all so very wanted, so very needed and so very welcome.
Our program today focuses on three major concepts. One, the essential role of disability inclusive employment. Two, the critical role of direct support staff and agencies in supporting the work of individuals with disabilities. And three, never more important than now, ensuring the right to vote and access to voting for individuals with disabilities."
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll:
"One of the things we were proud to do earlier this year is to award nearly 1 million dollars in grants to fund nine organizations that are providing vital job training to employment placement, post placement, support for young adults with disabilities to enter our employment workforce.
As I look around this room and the work we're doing to build a more inclusive future, support workforce improvements with a pro-growth mindset for our disability community to reach for those impossible goals as Rep. Garlick mentioned, and make them possible. We do that as allies with all of you in this work."
Voting Right Panelist Barbara L'Italien:
"We are really doing a lot of outreach this year and training to ensure that people in those institutions are aware that they can vote, have been registered to vote, and have a plan to vote."
Voting Rights Moderator Keith Jones:
"The voting in the United States for people of color and people with disabilities has always been a highly controversial and political issue because we are not seen as active participants in the democracy."
Employment Panelist Sarah Wiles:
"I think people with disabilities are some of the most creative and adaptable people that you will ever meet."
Secretary of the Comonwealth of MA Galvin:
"Voting for those with disabilities is the key that opens the door to everything else. And it's important that we make sure that we intensify the rights of citizens who have disabilities to vote so that their voices will be heard."
Undersecretary Josh Cutler:
"Our Department of Economic Research at the Executive Office of Labor has recently put out a disability dashboard. It has great workforce data that can be really helpful when we're trying to craft policy. And I, you know, there's policy makers in the audience here having that data to work with. And so if you take a look at the DER, Persons with Disability dashboard, it's something relatively new that we've put out, and the great team at DER has done a lot of work on that, so I think it's a great resource."
Eversource Energy Employee Tim Vernon, 2024 Large Size Organization Awardee:
"I am confident that all of us here today will keep employment for people with disabilities as a high priority. Thank you very much."