IN NC: Disability:IN North Carolina’s ADA 31st Anniversary Celebration

Disability:IN North Carolina is proud to host a screening of the award-winning documentary film, “Lives Worth Living” (directed by Eric Neudel and produced by Alison Gilkey) on July 26, 2021, from 2:30 to 5:30pm at the Regal Birkdale 16 at 16950 Birkdale Commons Pkwy in Huntersville, NC, 28078. Lives Worth Living is a historical documentary about the Disability Rights Movement and a biography about one man’s struggle to achieve disability equality and inclusion.

Disability:IN North Carolina will also be featuring the video we produced under the North Carolina Employment Collaborative, NCEC. The NCEC is an initiative funded by the NC Council on Developmental

Disabilities to expand disability inclusion and equality via the Workforce Career Centers across the state. Partner agencies collaborating on this initiative include the NC Department of Commerce, the NC Department of Health and Human Services, NC Community Colleges, local Workforce Development Boards, business leaders, community employment agencies and stakeholders with disabilities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), is one of the most significant pieces of bi-partisan legislation of its time, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. While historic and visionary in its goal of economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities, 31 years later the national labor force participation rate among people with disabilities is only 32.7% compared to 73.6% among people without disabilities. (Source: Current Population Survey, BLS, April 2020). Disability:IN North Carolina is grateful to Wells Fargo and Novant Health for being the corporate sponsors of the 31st ADA Anniversary Celebration.