Technology Levels the Field
From: PC World News 10/26/99
http://www.pcworld.com/cgi-bin/pcwtoday?ID=13488

Able to Work offers a technological assist for people with disabilities who
seek jobs. 

by Alexandra Krasne, PC World 
 
The biggest obstacles people with disabilities face when trying to get and
keep jobs are not the disabilities themselves, but people's attitudes.  

"There isn't a whole lot I can do for work because of the severity of my
disability, at least that's what I keep hearing," says Doug Kemp, 26, who has
a form of muscular dystrophy called spinal muscular atrophy. Because of this,
Kemp can move only a few muscles in his body.  

Kemp uses a single microswitch attached to one finger as an input
device--which plugs into an external hardware unit--and taps out Morse code
on his switch. Another adaptive device emulates a mouse and keyboard and
sends his commands to his PC, which runs Windows 95.  

Kemp plans to become a financial adviser when he graduates from California
State University at Fullerton with a degree in Finance. But social attitudes
have prompted him to not seek work until he finishes school.  

Still, corporate consciousness is being raised. About two dozen tech and
nontech companies on Monday formed the Able to Work consortium.  

They're turning to technology to help employ the estimated 8.5 million people
with disabilities who want to work. More than 70 percent of working-age
individuals with disabilities are unemployed, although they'd like to work,
according to Bill Gates, Microsoft's chair, who announced the Able to Work
consortium. He spoke at the National Business and Disabilities Council's 22nd
annual conference, hosted this year on the Microsoft campus.  

"We firmly believe that if enough members of the business community step
forward, applying positive employment policies in their own workforce and
mentoring other companies, that fact will change," Gates says.  

Along with NBDC, Microsoft founded the Able to Work effort with the idea of
creating new programs and to give people with disabilities more job
opportunities. One program is an interactive Web site, abletowork.org, for
job-matching and resources. Job hunters can post resumes, and 21
participating companies - including AT&T, Caterpillar, Ford, IBM, Johnson &
Johnson, and Merrill Lynch - will post job openings.  

Selected for their leadership in hiring employees with disabilities, the 21
companies involved in the consortium will participate in member roundtables
and share ideas for accommodating and hiring.  

For Meg O'Connell, assistant vice president at Crestar Bank in Richmond,
Virginia, Able to Work provides an open forum and an open exchange.  

"As we move forward, we'd like to see more and more companies involved to
establish change," O'Connell says.