Check out our Disability @ Work 2024 Meet-ups!
Make an appointment with a career coach to discuss how your disability identity intersects with your career journey!
Initiated by a grant from the Chancellor’s Diversity Fund, a new partnership between DisabilityIN NC, Office of Disability Services, and the University Career Center was established that will increase resources, mentorship, and student services to help our students with disabilities better prepare and connect to the workforce. The goal of CommunAbility:DI-NC is to create an inclusive and productive community by expanding economic opportunity and financial literacy for students with disabilities through meaningful relationships with business mentors.
If you are a student interested in joining CommunAbility:DI-NC for the 2023-2024 school year, fill out this form. If you are an employer interested in being a mentor, fill out this form.
Group Mentor Dates
February 21| Mental Health Wellness
March 20| Financial Education for Life
- April 24| Intentional Preparation for Leadership & Entrepreneurship
This presentation shares the value of having a career mentor to guide students in starting a career within their chosen industry. Students will then learn how the program, CommunAbility, can assist them in finding the right mentor and building a path to their ideal career.
Beth Butler Fadel, Executive Director of Disability:IN North Carolina has over 24 years of experience providing subject matter expertise to Fortune 50 companies in ADA Accommodations process and disability inclusion strategies. As a Disability Inclusion Consultant and Executive Director of DI-NC, Beth brings extensive experience in the private sector, including specialized expertise in balancing risk mitigation while promoting full accessibility to support the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce, marketplace and supply chain.
Expanding the excellent work done by Wesley Wade and NC State, our office has expanded this initiative to provide UNC Charlotte neurodiverse students with professional development and career branding activities, and to connect them with opportunity. Originally designed for autistic students, we are expanding to reach a more diverse group of students. Students do not need to have an official diagnosis to join.
“Students Moving Forward (1) provides evidenced-based career guidance for students who are Autistic/on the autism spectrum; (2) cultivates a sense of community for students and strengthens their social and professional networks; and (3) helps students obtain and successfully navigate paid, degree-related internships and full-time postgraduate opportunities.” - NC State Career Development Center
Workshop Series and Registration: You may register at any time during the semester and registration does not obligate you to participate in every meeting. Each session is 60 minutes long and can include presentation, panels, Q&A, discussions - all to help you in the transition from student to professional.
- Session 2: February 20th: Building your Public Speaking Skills
- Session 3: March 12th: Beyond ‘Best Practices’: Building Yourself Up at Work
- Session 4: April 2nd: Salary Negotiation
Students Moving Forward Interest / Registration Form
How to Partner & Support - If you are interested in connecting with this program, please contact Lee Anne Tourigny. We are always eager to speak with organizations serious about hiring a neurodiverse workforce in the Charlotte area.
Questions? - Connect with Lee Anne Tourigny if you are a student, employer, faculty/staff, or parent.
Every spring, the University Career Center offers programming that centers on disabled community members and their professional development as well as their rights in the workforce.
Mark your calendars:
- Meet-up 1: Thursday, March 14th: "What is neurodiversity?"
- Meet-up 2: Thursday, March 21st 1-2 PM EST: "Job searching as neurodiverse" led by David Barlaam from Honeywell
- Meet-up 3: Thursday, March 28th 10-11:30 AM EST: "Panel on Interviewing as neurodiverse" led by representatives from Bank of America
- Meet-up 4: Thursday, April 4th 11 AM-12 PM EST: "NeuroInclusion in the Workplace" led by Musi Lee from JP Morgan Chase & Co
- Meet-up 5: Thursday, April 11th 11 AM-12 PM EST: "Digital Accessibility in the Workplace" led by Laura Trybus
Disability @ Work Newsletter
The Disability @ Work Monthly Newsletter has been created for students with disabilities, allies, and faculty here at UNC Charlotte. Through this newsletter, subscribers will have easy access to DEI focused events that can help in career exploration and readiness. We will share upcoming events and programs at the University Career Center and across campus.
If you would like to receive these newsletters, subscribe today!
Each October, several offices across campus, including the Office of Identity, Equity, and Engagement, the Office of Disability Services, the Career Center, and more offer programming that centers on disabled community members and their professional development as well as their rights in the workforce. Check out past meet-ups on our youtube channel!
Check out art submissions and contest winners from past NDEAM and Disability @ Work art contests here!
- Autism Goes to College
- Provides resources for students, including articles, podcasts, and video clips.
- Careers and the DisABLED Magazine
- The nation's first career-guidance and recruitment magazine for people with disabilities who are at undergraduate, graduate, or professional levels.
- Disability IN (National)
- Inclusion benchmarking for thousands of companies to create lists of the “Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion”, mentorship, resource library.
- Disability Scoop
- Disability Scoop is the nation’s largest news organization devoted to covering developmental disabilities.
- Diverseability
- social enterprise to elevate disability pride through disability community, visibility, and engaged allyship.
- Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion
- A list of resources with particular sub sections of resources for disabled students and disabled veterans.
- IAAP: International Association of Accessibility Professionals
- Defines, promotes and improves the accessibility profession globally through networking, education and certification in order to enable the creation of accessible products, content and services.
- JAN: Job Accommodation Network
- The leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on job accommodations and disability employment issues.
- Lime Connect
- A global 501(c)(3) not for profit that's "rebranding" disability through achievement. Through their private online community, they connect high-achieving students and professionals with disabilities - members of our Lime Network - to their broader network of corporate and university partners.
- LiNC-IT
- Recruits autistic talent for work experience with its employer partners. The work experience can be an internship, on the job training, or a direct hire
- National Organization on Disability
- Works with employers, policy makers, and disability service providers to innovate disability employment solutions. NOD has helped many of the world’s most recognized brands successfully hire individuals with disabilities.
- Neurodiversity in Business
- NiB is a business-led forum functioning as an industry group for organizations to share industry good practice on ND recruitment, retention and empowerment.
- Neurodiversity in the Workplace
- Neurodiversity in the Workplace™ (NITW) is dedicated to making neurodiversity a fundamental component of talent acquisition by eliminating barriers faced by neurodivergent job seekers.
- New Deal for Neurodiversity
- Our mission is to level the playing field for Neurodivergent individuals, empowering them to fulfil their potential in the workplace. We believe in a world where everyone, regardless of their neurotype, can thrive.
- AllAbility Solutions
- A disability solutions firm offering comprehensive services that include training, consulting, recruiting, and speaking engagements. Leave No Ability Behind™
- DisabilityIN North Carolina
- Mentoring for students with disabilities and consulting for business aiming to make their workplace more accessible and inclusive.
- Disability Right North Carolina
- The employment section of the site includes information on employment rights of person with disabilities amongst other resources.
- NC Health and Human Services
- The North Carolina division of disability services assists people with disabilities in finding employment.
- We Connect Now
- Dedicated to uniting people interested in rights and issues affecting people with disabilities, with particular emphasis on college students and access to higher education and employment issues.
- Ability Jobs
- The only employment site where 100% of posted jobs are from employers specifically seeking to hire people with disabilities
- Ability Links
- Job board for people with disabilities and resources on accessible inclusive workplaces for employers.
- American Council of the Blind - Job Connection
- Job board site which seeks to increase the independence, security, equality of opportunity, and quality of life for all blind and visually impaired people.
- Chronically Capable
- Dedicated to hiring, supporting, and elevating those living with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
- disABLEDperson
- disABLEDperson, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce the high unemployment rate of individuals with disabilities.
- Disability Solutions
- Consults to attract, hire and engage top talent for your workforce. Take their survey on seeking to understand the experience of people with disabilities participating in clinical trials.
- Jobs Ability
- Empower employers to understand and leverage the increasingly valuable employment population of people with disabilities
- Mentra
- A data-driven tool that maximizes career success for neurodivergent individuals
- SourceAbled
- This program facilitates the coordination and management of diverse hiring programs and brings them to life through subject matter expertise, guidance, and training on how to attract, onboard, support, and retain the qualified talent of diverse abilities.
- recruitABILITY
- Features approximately 350,000 jobs across the country from employers that are proactive in recruiting job seekers with disabilities. Job postings can be searched by field of interest.
- AUCD Emerging Leaders Program:
- The Emerging Leaders Community shares a passion to serve, research, and educate to make positive changes with and for people with disabilities and their families.
- DXC Dandelion Program
- DXC Dandelion Program embraces, supports and expands the skills of neurodiverse people to help them secure long-term, fulfilling IT careers.
- Entry Point Internships
- Identifies and recruits students with apparent and non-apparent disabilities studying in science, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and some fields of business for internship and co-op opportunities.
- Neurodiversity@BofA
- Bank of America believes that providing jobs for neurodivergent individuals – those with autism, ADHD and other neurological differences – helps Bank of America better serve our teammates, clients and communities. This program is an important part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
- Neurodiversity@Deloitte
- Neurodiversity@Deloitte is a strategic initiative that aims to attract, host and hire candidates from an untapped talent pool into a variety of positions that provide opportunities to leverage their individual strengths.
- Microsoft Neurodiversity Program
- The Neurodiversity Hiring program seeks to attract talented neurodivergent candidates and provide the training and support needed for career growth and success.
- SAP Autism at Work Program
- The Autism at Work program provides hiring and workplace support, and leverages the unique abilities and perspectives of colleagues on the autism spectrum.
- Workforce Recruitment Program
- WRP is a recruitment and referral program that connects federal and private-sector employers nationwide with highly motivated college students and recent graduates with disabilities who are eager to demonstrate their abilities in the workplace through summer or permanent jobs
- Wells Fargo Neurodiversity Program
- The Wells Fargo Neurodiversity Program facilitates a more considerate, accommodating, skills-based hiring model that is accessible by design.
- Office of Disability Services
- Works to ensure that students with disabilities have access to education and campus life at the University. Through collaboration with the institution’s diverse community, Disability Services facilitates accommodations, discourse, and engagement to promote a universally accessible learning environment for all.
- Office of Diversity and Inclusion
- Their mission is to guide UNC Charlotte toward inclusive excellence by creating a culture and climate where students and employees can access and thrive.
- Office of Identity, Equity, & Engagement
- They educate, develop, and engage students regarding their various intersecting identities. The mission of the Office of Identity, Equity and Engagement is to support students who hold historically minoritized identities in an effort to enhance a university culture that embraces inclusive excellence.
- University Center for Academic Excellence
- They provide academic support services and resources that increase learning effectiveness, enhance student success, and promote academic excellence. The UCAE offers the program SHIELD. SHIELD (Students Honoring Individual Experiences and Learning Differences) is a program that includes a FIT course, two courses during the fall, and additional activities designed to support neurodiverse students with ADHD, ADHD-like experiences, and/or executive functioning skills challenges.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Persons with a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics Summary
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - Job Applicants and the ADA
- U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy (Accommodations)
- Trade School Guide for Students with Disabilities
- The disability inclusion imperative