CSCU pilots career program for people with disabilities

The state university system is introducing job training specifically for people with disabilities.

The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities announced this week a careers program in digital accessibility. Specialists suport the production of accessible content and materials, from alternative text on images that are read aloud to blind users, to fonts legible for people with dyslexia.

Participants learn the foundations and regulations that guide digital accessibility, and receive technology training in email, Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat and HTML. The program includes work experience as trainees use their skills to support university faculty and staff.

The program began this semester with three participants at Western Connecticut State University, though administrators expect to expand the initiative.

“The hope is by tailoring a program that provides individuals who have a disability with very important skills that not a lot of people have makes them more valuable to a company that needs that support,” said Elisabeth Morel, the director of AccessAbility Services at WCSU.

Morel said digital accessibility is an expanding industry, as more companies and institutions catch up to reach audiences of all backgrounds and abilities. More than 1 in 5 Connecticut adults report having a disability, according to a press release for the program, but those high counts have yet to translate into widespread employment.

“The challenging piece is individuals with disabilities historically have been underemployed,” said Morel.

Fewer than 20 percent of people with disabilities were employed before the pandemic, compared to 66 percent without disabilities, according to 2019 U.S. Department of Labor data noted in the press release.

Morel and her colleges introduced a 12-week pilot program to balance the scales.

One of the beneficiaries is William Seaman, a program participant who has ADHD and required an individualized education plan for students with disabilities growing up.

“I tried college but because of my disability, I had a very hard time,” said Seaman, who did not graduate but sees the training program and the relationships he’s built as first steps toward gainful employment. “I think it’s going to be much easier finding a job with all those professional connections.”

Seaman pointed to the importance of accessibility, whether that is the hiring process or the materials a company or institution puts out — like contrasting colors accessible to people who are color-blind, or captioning on videos for those who are hard of hearing.

“Sometimes businesses are hesitant to hire someone with a disability because they’re different, because they may need accommodations,” Seaman said. “But I would say if a business hires someone with disabilities, it could give them new opportunities.”

“A lot of people with disabilities have a different outlook on life, and new ideas that a non-disabled person may not come up with,” he said. “The more new ideas you have coming together, the better off a business is, or a company.”

Western Connecticut State University has led the state university system in accessibility efforts, according to the college system, and officials said the campus was “quick to volunteer.”

“We want to ensure that all persons with disabilities at the university, along with professors, staff and administrators, have the information they need to make WCSU as accessible as possible for everyone,” said John Clark, the university president. “This program will help us, and every CSCU institution, reach that goal.”

The program is part of a partnership between CSCU and the Connecticut Department of Aging and Disability Services. The department’s programs include longestablished supports to help people with disabilities prepare for, find and keep a job.

“Not only does the training program provide skills in an emerging field,” said Amy Porter, the commissioner of the aging and disability services department, “it also has the potential to lead to good, competitive jobs for individuals with disabilities.”