Throughout the month of October, the Cortland area is joining communities from across the state and nation to recognize National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). In addition to an array of workshops, conferences and keynotes on disability employment issues, Cortland’s youth will have an opportunity to participate in Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) tomorrow, Wednesday, October 20.  Disability Mentoring Day is recognized on the third Wednesday of every October and is a large-scale national effort to promote career development for students and job seekers with disabilities. Hands-on career exploration, on-site job shadowing, and ongoing mentoring opportunities often lead to internship and employment opportunities for participants.      Here’s how it works: Students with disabilities (youth) are matched with workplace mentors according to expressed career interests. Youth experience a typical day on the job and learn about the necessary training and expectations of their chosen career. Employers gain an increased awareness that people with disabilities represent an often overlooked talent pool and an understanding of the youth’s abilities. Some of the other objectives of Disability Mentoring Day are:

• to enhance internship and employment opportunities for people with disabilities,
• to promote disability as a component of diversity recruitment for a more inclusive workforce,
• to dispel employers' fears about hiring people with disabilities, and
• to increase confidence among students and job seekers with disabilities.

While Disability Mentoring Day takes place on one day each year, Access to Independence and other local organizations and schools offer mentoring and career exploration opportunities for youth throughout the year. Why is this important? Consider the following statistics:

·        According to the NYS Education Department, only 8% of students with disabilities earn a Regent’s diploma (compared to 51.5% for local diplomas and 30.4% for an IEP diploma).

·        According to the NYS Education Department, while 41% of students with disabilities intend to go to college, only 3.4% actually enroll

·        According to 2005 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 45.6% of people with disabilities in New York State are unemployed.

While Cortland County offers a variety of services for its youth, the 900+ disadvantaged youth and youth with disabilities remain underserved. Fortunately, the Cortland Area Communities That Care (CACTC) Coalition provides a forum for a number of key community organizations to work earnestly to close these gaps in services. This is essential in order to ensure that those youth avoid risks that lead to problem behaviors, including substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school drop-out and violence. Access to Independence of Cortland County, Inc. is a proud supporter and contributor to the CACTC Coalition.

Over the past three years, ATI has undertaken a dedicated effort to build capacity to address youth transition concerns and has applied its independent living philosophy to an array of new, unique services for the community (service providers, youth, and families). Furthermore, ATI is collaborating with the area’s providers of youth transition services to lead the way in developing and implementing a set of programs that complement existing resources by promoting the development of life and independent living skills, including self-determination, self-advocacy and critical thinking. ATI is committed to empowering youth to overcome barriers and to lead productive, independent lives in the community. ATI offers peer counseling and mentoring opportunities to help youth learn to think critically, make independent decisions, manage common adolescent anxieties, and to communicate effectively with parents, friends and authority figures.     

For more information on transition services for youth with disabilities, contact Aaron T. Baier at Access to Independence by phone at 607-753-7363, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .