In the United States, October has been designated as National Disability Employment Awareness Month to recognize how people with disabilities strengthen the workforce and deserve absolute inclusion in the workplace. The movement to raise awareness began in 1945 with National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, which dropped “Physically” to acknowledge all forms of disabilities and was expanded into National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in 1988 under President Reagan.
During NDEAM, it’s important to celebrate the value and talent workers with disabilities add to America’s workplaces and economy. The official NDEAM theme for 2024 is “Access to Good Jobs for All.” The theme embodies NDEAM’s purpose to confirm commitments to ensuring disabled workers have access to good jobs, every month of every year. Disability and neurodiversity inclusion at work goes deeper than hiring commitments for people with disabilities and neurodivergence. An inclusive workplace values all employees for their strengths, and it offers employees with disabilities—whether apparent or non-apparent—an equal opportunity to succeed, learn, be compensated fairly, and advance.
This guide includes ways to honor NDEAM by leveraging resources, linking initiatives to business impact, and building one’s knowledge base in regard to people with disabilities and neurodivergence.
