Disability Mentoring Day Program
By The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
More than 10,000 students and job seekers with disabilities had
the opportunity to be mentored by people who are in positions of
interest to them, thanks to a program called Disability Mentoring
Day (DMD). As a result of participation, many of these students and
job seekers offered educational guidance, longer-term mentoring opportunities,
internships, or full-time employment.
As stated by a mentor
participant in last year’s DMD program, “I
didn’t see someone in a wheelchair—I saw someone who
likes to do what I do. I now recognize that, in a workplace, it’s
all about compatibility that makes a team.”
DMD is a core program of the American Association of People with
Disabilities (AAPD), the largest cross-disability membership organization
in the country. Thanks to a strong organization of volunteer local
coordinators, AAPD is able to implement DMD in regions in every state,
plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and 17 countries, including Argentina,
China, Kosovo and Israel. DMD is effective because it implements
a grass-roots structure that fosters creativity and empowers locally
based, on-the-ground businesses, non-profit organizations, schools,
government agencies and consortiums to use a nationally recognized
and trusted model to adapt and make work for their own diverse communities.
DMD is designed to provide
students and job seekers with disabilities a firsthand experience
in learning about career opportunities in a variety of their chosen
fields. It helps to promote the importance of encouraging these
students and job seekers to develop the necessary skills and experiences
to compete in today’s competitive workforce.
A 2004 participant from West Virginia said, “DMD was a good
way to learn about a particular job and the skills that are needed
to be successful on the job. I was especially pleased to be mentored
at a bank, since I plan to work in the banking business when I complete
my training.”
The American Association
of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country’s largest
cross-disability membership organization, promotes the economic
and political empowerment of the more than 56 million children
and adults with disabilities in the U.S. AAPD was founded in 1995
to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities,
including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national
voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA). For additional information and to learn
about AAPD member benefits, advocacy efforts and programs, visit
the AAPD website, www.aapd.com
