Members of the Special
Needs Alliance see their mission as working to help protect individuals
with special needs. Even more fundamentally, we strive to maximize the
personal potential of every individual with whom we come into contact.
That can take the form of working for better care and treatment,
advocating for more personal autonomy, or even helping maximize the
possibility that an individual can "graduate" from public benefits
programs and become completely, or more nearly, self-sufficient.
The integration of individuals with special needs into the workforce is
an international issue, as a recent initiative from the United Nations
demonstrates. At a press conference at UN headquarters in New York on
December 3 (the UN
International Day of Disabled Persons), officials announced that
Spain became the tenth country to ratify
the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Spain also ratified the
Optional
Protocol providing for UN committee regulation of the Convention).
The next day, in fact, Namibia became the eleventh to ratify the
Convention, joining Bangladesh, Croatia, Cuba, Gabon, Hungary, India,
Jamaica, Panama and South Africa.
The press conference included presentations from Judy Young, Vice
President of the National
Business and Disability Council, and Chris Sullivan, Vice President
for Special Needs Financial Services at Merrill Lynch & Co. Both
speakers advocated for stepping up worldwide efforts to bring persons
with disabilities into the workplace. Studies cited by Mr. Sullivan
indicate that global employers predict a shortfall of over 30 million
skilled workers by 2010, growing to 56 million in the following decade.
With unemployment higher than 65% in the United States for individuals
with disabilities, noted Mr. Sullivan, one partial solution is obvious:
train and employ those with disabilities, and implement the workplace
changes necessary to help them be productive.
Mr. Sullivan's own circumstances are instructive. Though he was born
with impaired hearing, for two decades he has worked at Merrill Lynch
in an environment that encourages diversity, training for those with
disabilities and those who work with employees and customers with
disabilities, and accommodations where necessary. The result, for him
and for other employees with disabilities, has been utilization of
"proven skills and talents that were previously ignored or unrealized,"
said Mr. Sullivan.
Merrill Lynch's work toward integration of those with disabilities has
focused not only on employees, but also on customers. Mr. Sullivan is
director of a special
needs outreach program at Merrill Lynch, and he has helped develop
a core group of financial advisers with particular interest and
emphasis in working with those with disabilities and the families who
are planning for their future -- and present -- care.
We at the Special Needs Alliance are pleased to work with Mr. Sullivan,
Merrill Lynch, and a growing number of other financial and planning
companies emphasizing the needs of those with disabilities. We are
eager to see the trend spread nationwide and worldwide.
Incidentally, the United Nations press
conference was recorded and is available online. You can also read
the press
release for more information. According to the United Nations, the
Convention "reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities
must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms."
About this Newsletter: We hope you find this
newsletter useful and informative, but it is not the same as legal
counsel. A free newsletter is ultimately worth everything it costs you;
you rely on it at your own risk. Good legal advice includes a review of
all of the facts of your situation, including many that may at first
blush seem to you not to matter. The plan it generates is sensitive to
your goals and wishes while taking into account a whole panoply of
laws, rules and practices, many not published. That is what The Special
Needs Alliance is all about. Contact information for a member in your
state may be obtained by calling toll-free (877) 572-8472, or by
visiting www.specialneedsalliance.com.