Prairie Public Broadcasting

People with Disabilities Have Trouble Finding Work CHICAGO, IL (wsiu) - The state's already-high unemployment rate amongst people with disabilities is being compounded by cuts in funding to human services programs; thanks to Illinois' $13 billion dollar budget deficit.

Some social service organizations are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to keeping people with disabilities employed.

Rhonda Hollinshead is the advocacy coordinator for the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois. She says communication is an important key to decreasing the jobless rate amongst people with disabilities. "In the state we need to have better coordination and communication among the programs and services that support employment. A lot of the information we have on benefits planning and employment still is kind of fragmented or it's inconsistent. Sometimes it's absent."

Recently, representatives with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy made Chicago a stop on its six-state Listening Sessions tour, which ends next month. The purpose of the tour is to get feedback from advocates and the public on ways to boost employment for people with disabilities.
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