Accommodations: Leveling the Playing Field

Reasonable accommodation is not special treatment, it's the key to a competitive workforce.

Moderator: James Schmeling, Managing Director, IVMF

Panelists: James Rodriguez, Director, Executive Branch Government Relations, BAE Systems, Anne Hirsh, Co-director, Job Accommodation Network, Dinah Cohen, Director, Computer/ Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP), Department of Defense, Daniel Sullivan, President, Sergeant Sullivan Center

About this event:

The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF), in partnership with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF), convened a group of national leaders to investigate underlying barriers to employment among post-9/11 veterans and share leading practices. The meeting came on the heels of the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which placed unemployment for post-9/11 veterans at 9.2 percent, but revealed a rate more than three times that figure, 35 percent, among post-9/11 vets ages 20-24.

At the two-day forum, April 23-24, 2013 at the Pew Center in Washington, D.C., public and private sector experts gathered to discuss current assumptions and obstacles to employment for veterans, and present leading practice policies and programs having an impact on service members and veterans with disabilities transitioning to civilian employment. Attendees include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Departments of Defense, Labor, and Veterans Affairs; non-profit leaders, such as the National Organization on Disability (NOD); and corporate executives from GE, IVMF founding partner JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Accenture, among others.