NEWH Winter 2022 - 10

EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND DIVERSITY
School-to-Work Transition for Young
Adults with Disabilities
BY TAD ASBURY
Vice President & Executive Director
bridgestowork.org
F
or the last 20 years, I have been executive director of the nonprofit Bridges from School
to Work (Bridges), which was established in 1989 by the Marriott family to improve
employment prospects for high school students with disabilities. Bridges operates in
some of the nation's largest cities and school districts, including those in Chicago, Los Angeles,
and New York City. Here I will share with you some key insights we've learned over 32 years of
connecting 21,000 young adults with disabilities to jobs across 12 major cities.
We enroll students with any type of disability capable of and committed to getting and keeping a
job. Most, 69 percent, have one or more disabilities related to communication, attention, emotion,
and behavior, including learning and intellectual disabilities. Their challenges with written
expression, reading comprehension, emotional regulation, attention, and problem-solving can
render the online applications and pre-employment assessments now common among employers
nearly impossible to complete. The technology of the digital age has only made the job search
process more complex.
Though sometimes overlooked in mainstream media, researchers have demonstrated a clear correlation between race, ethnicity, income, and
disability. This correlation is borne out in our data across 12 major cities, where most Bridges participants are youth of color from low-income
communities. The most recent Annual Disability Statistics Compendium published by the University of New Hampshire reports that African
American adults with disabilities are 33 percent more likely to experience poverty and 49 percent more likely to lack adequate housing. Youth
with disabilities, compared to their non-disabled peers, have lower levels of academic achievement, including high school graduation, college
enrollment, and college completion.
Young adults who fail to build professional work habits early may be more likely to struggle with erratic job histories and chronic
unemployment, putting them at greater risk for substance abuse, mental health problems, homelessness, and incarceration. Especially for
young adults, jobs afford a sense of identity and purpose. Employment builds confidence, promotes economic empowerment, and fosters social
mobility. Researchers have demonstrated that employment is a predictor of better physical and mental health outcomes.
Bridges is one of many organizations with a track record for helping persons with multiple employment barriers succeed in the workforce. You
can invite representatives from organizations like Bridges to meet with you or your human resource offices. You can enlist the expertise of
organizations like DISABILITY:IN, the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), and many others, for information and guidance. For the young adults
in Bridges, whose average age is 18 or 19, entry-level jobs in retail, hospitality, food service, and recreation abound with on-the-job training,
competitive wages, and potential for advancement into well-paid leadership roles.
In our experience, we sometimes see youth with disabilities whose potential is hindered
by well-intentioned but overprotective parents and teachers who want to shield them
from failure or disappointment. Yet we have seen youth by the thousands who flourish in
jobs where they realize, often for the first time, a sense of achievement, validation, and
success. As many as 400,000 youth with disabilities ages 14 to 21 exit the public school
system each year. Your business can be one that helps them realize their potential as
contributing members of the workforce.
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10 newh.org

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NEWH Winter 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEWH Winter 2022