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I’m “sick and tired” of having to explain just how much disabled people deserve to work, can work, and want to work, a high-level U.S. Labor Department official says.

Neil Romano, assistant secretary, office of disability policy, told the ILG conference today that people still believe the myth that disabled people are receiving plenty of money and don’t need to work. On the contrary, Romano argues: the disabled are innovators who crave the chance at developing products others may not have thought of.

“The marginalization of people with disabilities starts very, very early,” Romano said, speaking from personal experience as a dyslexic. He said every job he has ever received has been from word of mouth, because his disability prevented him from successfully and correctly applying for jobs. “I completely messed up the health care forms at the Department of Labor — so much so that I wasn’t covered for two months,” he jokes. (Romano also tells the endearing story of when he called his mother to tell her the White House nominated him to his job, only to hear his mother respond, “do they know you can’t spell?”)

Disabilities are a running theme of this year’s ILG, with many speakers arguing that disabled job candidates are the next wave of diversity, the next band of talent largely shut out of the workplace, as women and blacks once were.

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Disaboom has teamed up with the Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation to help combat-wounded and disabled veterans. Disaboom says it’ll hire virtual agent graduates of the Purple Heart Service Foundation’s job training program, “Veterans Business Training Center.”

All training grads are home-bound, combat-wounded, or disabled veterans, fully skilled in call center and contact center technology, and all have successfully completed an online training program offered through the Purple Heart Service Foundation and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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A new national job board, dedicated to connecting disabled workers and employers, launched this week featuring 118 job postings from two sponsoring New Jersey employers. AccessibleEmployment.org is a non-profit venture financed through the New Jersey Business Leadership Network and the Henry H. Kessler Foundation. The goal is to have the job board become a national resource for employers seeking to hire disabled workers and disabled workers seeking employment, according to Dan Honig, COO for the organization.

“So many people with disabilities are able to work, but they are largely being ignored by employers,” says Honig. “The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are over 30 million disabled workers between the ages of 16 to 64, but only 18 million are currently employed. Over 70% of disabled workers have hidden disabilities, but of those declaring their disabilities, the average cost of the reasonable accommodation is anywhere from $200 to $600. We think that this workforce offers financial advantages to employers.”

Honig points out that some disabled workers are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, which provides health insurance cost savings for employers, and also that employers may be eligible for tax credits when they hire a disabled worker.

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The U.S. Department of Labor has made available to employers nationwide a free database of approximately 2,000 new job candidates with disabilities seeking work in a wide variety of fields.

This means that federal employers can now use a password-protected online resource any time.

Private sector and other government employers can request unlimited searches by calling (866) 327-6669.

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