I support increased fairness and opportunity for all individuals concerning hiring and contracts.

Similarly to the way that the city has promised to strive to address gaps in access to city hiring
and contracts for women and minority owned businesses, I support addressing those disparities
in access to individuals with disabilities. There are vital contributions to be made by so many
talented individuals in this city, provided that simple measures are taken to improve access and
promote the development of these firms. And, I believe that the city would gain far more than it
would have to invest to create those opportunities.

We must provide the so-called "handicapped" and Persons with disabilities with complete equal access to all city buildings, services and opportunities and ensure they have the physical and financial ability to fully utilize all public facilities;

This has received little attention despite changes in federal law. We need to an urgent examination of barriers to hiring and contracts followed up by appropriate changes in City ordinance and/or regulation.

I am excited about the leadership that the federal government has recently taken on this issue by
aggressively pursuing people with disabilities to be employed throughout the ranks of the federal
government. As mayor, I would work to ensure similar goals within the City of Chicago’s workforce. Additionally, I am encouraged by leadership taken by various corporations, per a recent panel discussion at The Chicago Community Trust’s persons with disabilities forum, to conduct internal campaigns to communicate to staff the high value the companies place on including people with disabilities in their work place and encouraging staff to feel comfortable in self-identifying their disability, as applicable, without any fear of recrimination. Such model practices would be important to getting a better count of the number of people with disabilities employed by the City since many people likely do not offer that information as freely as they identify their gender or racial/ethnic minority status in demographic surveys.

No response provided