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Registration: DDN Nov_2022
It’s nice to recognize and celebrate heritage months, but what comes next? Are you prepared to do the work it takes to enhance the lives of people with disabilities?
We know that individuals with disabilities are less likely to be employed than those without (19.1 % vs. 63.7), and it takes more than a month of celebrations to change those statistics.
As a result, this month we will talk about recruiting, hiring, and retaining people with disabilities. We’ll talk to individuals who are helping pwd get to work, preparing the next generation for professional careers, and educating employers about the benefits of hiring individuals with disabilities.
Since sustaining a paralyzing spinal cord injury in 2000, Tricia has become passionate about elevating the quality of life for individuals with disabilities within the Denver Community. In the past ten years, she founded and directed a sports and fitness camp for female wheelchair users, has mentored newly injured patients through Craig Hospital and paved the way as a pioneer in the sport of paratriathlon, becoming the first female wheelchair racer to complete an Iron distance triathlon. She is a 2016 Paralympian in the sport of shooting. Tricia has master’s degrees in both Sport Management (Eastern Illinois) and Disability Studies (Regis University). Additionally, she published her memoir in 2010 and in 2018 published her first fiction novel, starring a main character who has a disability. Tricia hopes to see more positive portrayals of individuals with disabilities in books, on TV, and on the big screen.
Michelle Alford is the Owner & CEO of Alford-Williams Consulting, LLC and she is currently contracting as a Consultant and Trainer with The Talent Acquisition Portal® (TAP) a product of the Talent Acquisition Network, LLC. TAP is an online system which includes both a national talent pool of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) candidates looking for employment and a job posting system for businesses looking to hire individuals with disabilities. she has over 30+ years of experience as a State Civil Servant with a focus on increasing access to employment and independence for persons with disabilities. As the Manager Workforce Development & Business Relations Unit she works to assist with increasing the number of persons with disabilities in the workforce. She is responsible for representing the department in both national and state level projects including Steering Committee Co-Chair of California Model Employer Initiative, and the single point of contact for the National Employment Team in conjunction with Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) to actively work with business, consumers, and other State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies to develop a national VR- business network. She is a highly skilled presenter on Diversity and Disability Inclusion topics. She has extensive project development, management and transition experience resulting in National and State level impact.
Joyce Bender is the Founder and CEO of Bender Consulting Services, Inc. and the Bender Leadership Academy, located in Pittsburgh, PA. Her focus for both organizations is employment for people with disabilities. As a woman living with epilepsy and hard of hearing, she dedicated her life to a crusade for youth and adults to gain the dream of competitive employment. She works tirelessly to break down the barriers and stigma that exist for people with disabilities. In 1985, Joyce had a life-threatening accident due to epilepsy that caused a cerebral hemorrhage requiring subsequent brain surgery. Against all odds, Joyce recovered from this accident that left her with a 70 percent hearing loss in one ear and a realization that she had epilepsy. This accident changed the trajectory of her life and led to founding Bender Consulting Services, Inc. in 1995.
Meg works with Global 500 companies, foundations, universities, and non-profits to provide strategic direction, design and implementation of disability employment and inclusion programs. Over the past two decades, Meg has worked with some of the world’s most recognized brands to develop and implement talent strategies for domestic and international employers, including Arrow Electronics, Cummins, Lowe’s, Michaels, P&G, Sabre and Starbucks, just to name a few. Meg is also deeply involved in disability employee engagement through her long-standing partnership with Mercer. In 2021, she co-authored The State of Disability Employee Engagement which is the culmination of 10 years of research. This is the first-time disability employee engagement has been researched and studied globally. From this research Amplify, the world’s first disability and climate culture survey was created to help companies understand the workplace experiences of their employees.
Rene Forsythe is Lime Connect’s Director of Professional Development. In her role she is responsible for leading all professional development efforts for members of the Lime Network, which consists of high achieving university students and professionals with disabilities. In her work with Network members and Lime Fellows, she provides individual coaching and training as members navigate their disability throughout the career search process and she continues that support once they are established in their careers. She also supports Lime Connect corporate partners in the U.S. and Canada and creates and delivers relevant training around attracting, hiring, managing, and retaining high potential employees with disabilities. Prior to joining Lime Connect, Rene spent over fourteen years in the advertising and publishing fields, advancing into senior management roles in human resources.
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