A new website is up and running to help Iowa employers match up with workers who have disabilities and are looking for jobs. Steve Wooderson is the administrator of Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS).
Wooderson says the website is designed to be a resource for business and industry and will have information about the resources available to employers for hiring people with disabilities. Wooderson says the "Employers Disability Resource Network" website can address concerns about the workers.
He says the website has several links to resources to answer questions about things such as accommodating workers, how to find qualified applicants and what type of resources and technical assistance is available. Wooderson says employers do have questions about what it take to prepare a workplace for workers who have disabilities.
Wooderson says they aren’t sure if they will be able to accommodate the workplace to meet the worker’s needs. He says they’ve found through research that very few workers with disabilities need accommodation, and when they do, it is not very expensive. Wooderson says there’s a large pool of available labor among those with disabilities — including his agency.
Wooderson says there are over 14-thousand at his agency, and there are other agencies, such as the Iowa Department of the Blind, which provide a large untapped market of workers. For more information, visit the Employers Disability Resource Network website or call Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services at 515-281-4140.