ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The U.S. Supreme Court held in Olmstead v. L.C. that unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination in violation of title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This allows people with disabilities to be integrated into the appropriate steps of their lives. This can look like individuals moving into appropriately designated group homes, access to necessary health care and employment opportunities.

That court decision was 25 years ago on June 22, 1999, but people with disabilities still suffer from high unemployment rates. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for people with a disability was 7.2% in 2023, about twice that of those with no disability, which was 3.5%.

What You Need To Know

  • People with disabilities were officially ruled able to seek out appropriate next steps for their development in 1999 in the United States Supreme Court ruling of Olmsted versus L.C. 

  • The decision found that justified segregation of people with disabilities is a form of unlawful discrimination

  • 25 years since the decision, there are more employement training opportunities for people with disabilities, but their unemployment rates remain 

  • Daemon Mack is a student worker through the M.C.C. Experience, a program partnered with the Arc o Monroe since 2017

  • They're working with Mack to identify his goals and build his skills for his future career

That’s why employment training is critical for people like Daemon Mack.

“My dream is to work in the Foodlink food pantry you know?” Mack said.

He’s been getting some practice as a student worker in Monroe County Community College’s food pantry, a job provided through the Arc of Monroe and the MCC Experience.

“I got two more years at MCC before I graduate. And I gotta find my plans, what I’m gonna do next year,” he said.

He’ll be entering the workforce, but as a developmentally disabled man, maintaining employment has been somewhat of a challenge for him in the past.

“They’re like, well, you’re not doing that good. So I like, I got to find my plan B,” Mack explained. “I wasn’t mad. I might have to get another job, or might have to do another work study or something.”

Two jobs later, he continues working toward his goals, both physically and mentally.

“It’s part of my disabilities, so it’s more exercising with one with the hand and stuff so,” he said.

The MCC Experience has been partnered with the Arc of Monroe since 2017. The organizations help people, like Mack, to find customized, and sometimes nontraditional, employment opportunities.

“That really helps our participants. It’s prevocational, so getting ready to wok, what are those skills people need that are going to help make them successful and then, but also working on their own goals. What kinds of interests are they interested in doing? It is employment? Is it volunteering? Is it just getting out into the community more? So everybody’s at a different level of services,” Linda Riggs, vice president for community and employment services at the Arc of Monroe, said.

“It’s just helping people understand that, that maybe it’s looking at things in a nontraditional way," she continued. "As I said, maybe we have a person who can’t work 40 hours a week, but has a skill that fits your need, but they could do it in 10 hours a week. So it’s getting creative. And that’s so important because it’s giving, you know, the people we spurt a sense of purpose and mission in life, that, you know, that sometimes have been denied and really shouldn’t be."

Employment helps provide a purpose in life for people with disabilities. People with disabilities were officially ruled able to seek out appropriate next steps for their development in 1999 in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Olmsted v. L.C. Mack’s right to employment can help him find a stronger purpose for life.

“What we do is try to figure out different resources, different techniques, different strategies to help them, to help support them in achieving their goal, whether it’s to get job readiness skills, then we’ll have lectures and like incidental teaching to tell them about stuff they might affect them in their work life to develop appropriate and good work habits along with social habits,” said Daniel Lee, Mack’s program manager at the MCC Experience.

Mack’s supervisors say conversations about his goals have been a huge step in his development. They are proud to watch him grow everyday.

“I think that just all of the opportunities that Daemon has taken advantage of and he’s taken some risks...and he has just blossomed into such an amazing person and he’s doing things he never would have done before. We’re seeing a lot of new tokens and skills come out of him, too. And I can’t wait to see what he does next year too,” Jean McCrumb, program coordinator of Access to College Experiences at MCC, said.

Everyone is forming a team - Team Daemon.

“It’s a great program for me to be in for, you know?” Mack smiled.