% finding employment in a tight economy can be tough for anyone. but for people with disabilities, job hunting can be frustrating and futile. >> i do not like to tell employer i have a disability. >> the rights of the disabled and the reality, straight ahead on "equal time." hello from san jose state university and welcome to this week's edition of "equal time." i'm journalism professor bob rucker. with california's unemployment rate at a record high, the

chances of finding a job are slim enough. but imagine you are a person with disabilities. why should an employer choose you. you might be tempted to hide your disability, if you can. we meet people facing these questions starting at a job fair here in san jose. here is journalism professor diane guerrazzi. >> even before the job fair opened, the lineout side is 100 deep. >> i might be taking some classes. >> the fair will last all afternoon by work to future run by the san jose office of economic development. but people dressed in their interview best brave the heat, hoping get a better edge on finding work. once inside, job-seekers register, take a number, and finally they make it into the

inner sank tum, where employers rate. this woman is looking for work as an administrative assistant but said it might not be good. >> one is i'm already african- american so that gives me a center in society and not only that i'm a female, standing 6'2" and so i feel by having to tell someone about any disability, it's frankly more discriminating for me. >> dem orba has a learning disability that limits her learning skills. she said she's a good worker after someone trains her in person. under law employers are forbidden from asking any questions about disabilities and she will not give any information. >> i do not tell them. if i feel them i feel like i'll end up being laid off. >> she was laid off two weeks after revealing her disability to employers but she can't

prove the reason. so instead of waging a legal battle, she's focusing on finding work. >> looking at retail stores, i asked friends, former coworkers, family members, anybody. i'm out there looking all of the time. >>are anna has a disable. looking at here, you wouldn't know she is legally blind. >> the only way i can tell is that the way my eyes move, what i have is called star lights disease and it affects my frontal vision so i don't have any frontal vision so when i'm looking straight at something i either can't see it at all or it's so blurry i can't make it out. >> she used magnifiers and book readers to help her study. she relies on peripheral vision to get around. she has bad memories of the

last try of interviews. >> i told them i was visually impaired so i was slower at first but i could memorize things so i could pick you will skills fairly quickly and then i just wouldn't get a job and somebody else would. and at the same time, i mean i get in an interview, i could just not mention it and then spring it on them later. but i don't know. i never thought that was the right thing to do. >> but doing the right thing can have consequences and kim hing also discovered that. >> i have asperger's syndrome, major depression, anxiety. >> kim told her employer about her struggle with mental illness and aspergers, a mild variance of autistic disorder. she works part-time as a life guard at another pool off campus and she said she thought describing it would create understanding among coworkers. >> if you look at me, you don't know i don't have a disability. it's not there, but the

expectations are maybe not in line with what i am capable of. >> kim is capable of winning handful of medals at the especially olympics. >> i got a gold for the 100- meter sprint, and i got a gold for the 200-meter sprint. and i got a gold for running long jump. >> but she said a co-worker used that against her. >> she made up false accusations about me and telling people that she knew that i'm special and obviously that is directing the fact that i'm a special olympic athlete. >> it can be tough for people with disabilities to prove they've been harassed on the job. kim said she's fallen victim twice in 7 months but can't prove it. >> so you run into things of what you say versus what the

other person says and a lot of things happen without witnesses, they can say whatever they want. and if your witnesses are afraid that they're going to experience some kind of retaliation, or they may lose their job, they are not going to say anything. >> kim said how she's been treated is unfair and illegal. harassment is a form of employment discrimination that violates the civil rights act of 1964 and the americans with disabilities act of 1990. the law that brought about rights for the disabled. but some people with disabilities say the law is far from complete in stopping discrimination. >> they have this ada and it looks good and i think it was a nice political thing but there's no meat or teeth in it. >> every time i said i was visually impaired, i could never get a job. >> they refer you to different links to get jobs which those links i already have.

they don't really help you get the work. >> only one of the people we met will get government help in finding a job. take a guess at who qualifies? >> when we come back, we'll give you the answer and we'll explore the other side of "equal time." we'll show you what the government is doing to try and help people with disabilities find jobs. a assemblyman has come up with the plan. >> i think you'll find they are great employees. >> and we'll meet people with disabilities on the job and speak with their employers.

% welcome back. here in california the department of rehabilitation administrators the largest rehab program in the country. it helps people with disabilities find jobs but it can't serve everyone. earlier we met three people, dem asha has a learning disability. kim has mental illness and aspergers disorder. and arianna is legally blind. >> from my understanding, the department of rehabilitation is willing to help me find a job. so as long as they are with me the whole time, then i don't think it will be a problem.

at least i hope. >> as a communications major and a theater minor, arianna is think being script writing as a career. as a legally blind person she fell into a top priority with the california department of rehabilitation. the agency serves people who have what are considered to be the most significant disabilities first. >> and they pay for all of my tuition and books and supplies and things like that. but they -- what i've been told is when i'm about to graduate, they help me get on a career path and help me to find a career and be able to be secured in a job. >> the d.o.r. is also expected to help soledad find work. >> i'm ready to move to the professional field when i need to. so i think that the issue that i'm going to work on from now on is building the culture and

getting people to know that people with disabilities can and have survived and succeeded, letting people know that soledad rose as is not just a person with a disability, that soledad has dreams, aspirations, goals. >> her goal is to have her own radio show. and she didn't think cerebral palsy will keep her from realizing her dream. she's close to it at a san jose radio station. >> thank you for joining us today. you can see the eagle tequila sunrise on k-bay. >> is this the first time you've hired someone with disabilities. >> as a program director and such, i worked with people with disabilities, wheelchairs and such, and it's always fine. i've never had an inturn personally so it's a new

experience for me. and everything i've given her she's done wonderful with. >> little things, the things that make me feel -- >> the inturnship was arranged through a professor at san jose state. soledad is close to graduation and when the time comes she hopes to be one of the 14,000 people who find jobs every year through the department of rehabilitation. but having help of the d.o.r. is no guarantee of finding a job. this last quarter the agency's success rate placing applicants was only 56%. >> as long as i continue to love the job, i continue to believe that a door will open. >> to get to the radio station, soledad rides her wheelchair a mile each day from her dorm on campus. but getting to work can be beneficial. according to fluorine, founder of parents helping parents, an agency helping families with disabilities. >> employment is just so good

for so many reasons. for everyone. but when i think of the individual with special needs, besides boosting their esteem and also help with their health, they are out and active and they are not depressing and interactive with people and if they are walking to work, it's going to help keep their physical self strong. >> fluorine's son dean has down's syndrome and so does his wife kim. the couple have been married for nine years and live in santa maria and have jobs in food service. >> what is your favorite part of work? >> everything. >> dean works at a carl's, jr., restaurant. he's received job training and

assistance from the d.o.r. in the past. >> i will start working with everybody and say if he can smile, everybody can smile. the customer is here all of the time and so it's a great experience for us. >> for every dollar spent on vocational rehabilitation to help people with disabilities find jobs, there is an $8 return. >> why these people want to be employed and take them off of the public assistance and make them taxpayers and they all want to have that independences just like everybody else. so i introduced legislation that said that the department of developmental services shall work with the department of rehabilitation and try to find jobs for people with developmental disabilities. >> the bill lays the groundwork for more ambitious programs when the state has money to spend. but even during this budget crisis, the department of

rehabilitation continues to serve clients, albeit in between furlough. >> and that's because most of the money comes from special funds from the federal government to provide the services for people with disabilities. and we're really lucky that that's the case. >> are you ready? >> back at work, a one-stop career center in san jose where we started out, managers have ideas about why some employers are e -- reluctant to hire people with disabilities. >> if you are working with someone that might not be able to do the work as you think they should. >> for a smaller business, that is a hesitation on their part to hire someone because they will have to spend money for accommodations, which in this economy they may not have at this point. >> as you can see, i'm already [ inaudible ]. i know all larger companies, city of san jose included, make the

accommodations for people with disabilities. but for a small business, it may be much more difficult. >> question, if you had a disability, would you tell a prospective employer upfront or try to keep it to yourself? what is ethical? what is legal? when we come back, we sit down with experts in search of answers. stay with us. 

% welcome back to "equal time." our focus, employing people with disabilities. for our discussion we're joined by maria nicollet, executive director of transaccess. a nonprofit agency providing computer access, technology and assessment and training for people with disabilities. robin sol ac, faculty coordinator of the disabilities support program at evergreen valley college in san jose. she's also a disability rights activist. earlier we met two people with disabilities. dem osha is studying for her aa degree in business while working temporary jobs. kim is a graduate of smith college, she's now studying film making and environmental studies and science at deanda and is a peer meantor for the

department of mental health. and marcy mitchell is a senior trial attorney in the equal employment opportunity commission. she has litigated case as ledging discrimination, including those based on disability. we thank you for joining us today and let's get started with our discussion. we have double-digit unemployment and many times people with disabilities who are unemployed seem to fall through the cracks. marsha, let's go back to you. your story was poignant early in the program. what does it feel like to fall through that crack? >> it doesn't feel good at all. it's really bad. i get -- usually i get really down. for instance, some days i have good days and some days i have bad days and i still pick myself right back up and i keep on moving. i think that's what has enabled me to keep afloat with this economy, just getting various

temp jobs through whatever i can. whether i'm finding the temp job on my own to take a test to go work for the county or even if it's for like two months, i'm working and doing something to keep my skills up to make sure i don't lose the skills i've gained so far. >> i would like all of you to join in. and the important thing is to keep your skills up and your energy up and not give up. >> it is important. and i think that you have a really good strategy, so really a lot of folks right now, one of the things besides the use of technology, we do employment services as well and we're telling people, don't stop. finding a job is your full time job and that's what you are doing. but i think one of the most important things is we're doing is focusing on the economy now, but when everybody gets employed, people with disabilities will not see the rise in employment and we have to keep that in mind. we have to continue to work on that.

persons with disabilities will not get the bump that everybody else will get when the economy gets better. >> i agree. >> i think that going back to what you were saying, keeping your stills up emphasizes the point that people with disabilities are able to perform the work. and it's a benefit to employers to hire people with disabilities who do have the qualifications. and we saw in the clip that some employers are fearful of the cost of accommodating somebody but by enlarge accommodations are inexpensive and the law has built in that a employer doesn't need to provide a accommodation that will bankrupt that employer. so it's a win-win situation for everyone involved and once we can mystify the idea of those with disabilities, i think they will have more jobs. >> i think they should ask for the accommodations before they say they can't do it.

for me, i don't need a bunch of accommodations. i need access to a computer to be able to utilize the spell checker and things like that, to look over my documents versus writing the information. sometimes i may just need a tape recorder, depending on if that company allows it. but it's not all of the time. so basically my learning disability doesn't affect me in the working environment and it more affects me in the academic environment because normally they shouldn't just say, okay, well we can't hire you because you have a disability. they don't know what i need. they didn't ask me. >> a lot of it has to do with fear and they don't know what to expect. and that's the biggest problem, is the stigma associated with people with disabilities. especially the disabilities you can't see. >> right. >> those are the ones i think people are more fearful about because though don't understand them. if they see somebody in a

wheelchair they get it. maybe i'll have to have adaptive software or something like that. but when it's an invisible disability, i think they are very fearful and i think you are probably right in not having to tell people upfront. you might want to wait a while. or if you end up needing an accommodation, that's when you bring it up because sometimes you don't need any. i experienced in a program, a girl worked for a while in our program through financial aid and she was wonderful and we did not have to pay any money at all for any accommodations that she needed. we just needed to be aware of some things at first. and that goes with other people in our department that we hire. we have several people with disabilities and not one has ever cost us any money. >> you mentioned earlier that once you get the job, there can be problems on the job.

who has had that experience? tell us more about that. >> well, once i went undiagnosed for a very long time because aspergers wasn't a diagnosis until 1994. so, as an adult, it's considered a children's thing. and so i was a child at one point and it doesn't go away. so with aspergers, you have a hard time with communication or office politics, i'm not going to figure it out. you have to explain it to me. so after i got my job at the y, i told people, i have aspergers and i have trouble with some. and so it was getting -- i was getting harassed by different people. >> and the sort of harassment you see every day in your work? >> we don't see harassment in the issue of the area of disabilities, but it does exist. most frequently people are coming to the eeoc with issues

related to accommodations but harassment is something covered by the americans with disabilities act and if somebody is experiencing comments or inappropriate behavior or it could be images based on a disability, then that is something that is covered and that certainly we would like to hear about. >> but it is difficult to prove. >> it can be difficult to prove. as with all forms of discrimination. and there are ways to help somebody to arm themselves. one is to take notes. to keep a diary when something happens. but the best way is to raise the issue with the employer immediately once somebody is beginning to harass you. >> what if you actually had done all of that, took your notes, kept your diary and things like that and you still got laid off? >> if you still got laid off, then that's the time to come and talk to somebody at the equal employment opportunity commission and we can try to

assist you. and certainly not every case results in a favorable resolution to the employee, but that's what we are there for. we are the federal agency that is required to enforce the americans with disabilities act. and so we're there to try to help you resolve the problem. >> and let's point this out and i'll ask maria to jump in on this with me. and people in society are looking at this and they say we don't think a lot about this issue. how do we get the public more aware? >> it's a personal issue. and i think everybody here can attest to that, that when you're an employer and in the public, you don't think about hiring or working with somebody with a disability until it becomes personal. that means yourself or a family member or someone that you know. and then suddenly the entire world opens up. and then it becomes personal. and so i think really we can talk about laws, we can talk

about policy, we can talk about training and transition, but we need to bring it down to the average person and make it personal and think about -- and this is something that i think all of us are working on and need to continue to work on and shows like this really help, think about if you are an employer and if your co-worker or a recruiter, what if you had a disability, what if your child, your mother, your father could not get a job because of a disability and what is it that is holding you back from viewing this person as somebody who is qualified for the job solely because you fear they have a disability or may not be able to do the job because of their disability. and if you make it personal, i think we can get over a lot of our barriers. >> i agree. >> i also think if people have to understand that just because you have a disability, it doesn't mean you can't do

anything. i graduated calm lady from laud -- calm lady from smith. >> and we're going to have to wrap this up because we're talking about a very important topic. thank you very much and you were very forthcoming. and we'll be following up on this issue and keep you in touch with the people involved. we insuit you to be part of the process. log on to your website, "equal time"tv.com. and join us as we give each side "equal time." take care.