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May 23, 2024
Keeping People in the Workforce After Injury or Illness: A RETAIN Demonstration
How can we keep people who develop a potentially disabling condition from exiting the workforce? The RETAIN (Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network) demonstration, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration (SSA), aims to find out. RETAIN is enrolling recently injured or disabled people in five states to see how the early coordination of medical services and employment-related supports affects their chances of staying in the workforce. Importantly, a significant number of RETAIN enrollees have behavioral health conditions, including mental health conditions and substance use disorders, and a new issue brief by the SSA-funded Mathematica evaluation team explores their stay-at-work and return-to-work experiences.
How to Create Accessible Immersive Captions
If you’ve watched content on a phone or laptop, you’re probably familiar with standard closed captioning. But have you ever wondered how captioning works in an immersive environment, such as virtual reality? Find out in recently published recommendations for accessible captions in 360-degree video, by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Immersive Captions Community Group, with input from the ODEP-funded Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT).
Webinar: Navigating Mental Health and Your Job
Join ODEP and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 30, 2024, for a free webinar about navigating mental health conditions and substance use disorders in the workplace. Learn about requesting reasonable accommodations, building a support network, understanding your legal rights when accessing care under a job-based health plan, appealing a denied claim and more. Get your questions answered and hear real stories about workers who received help accessing their mental health benefits.
Q&A with JAN’s Cognitive/Neurological Team
Earlier this month, consultants on the cognitive/neurological team of ODEP’s Job Accommodation Network (JAN) held an illuminating webcast fielding questions about a wide range of mental health and neurological conditions—from stress, anxiety and depression to narcolepsy, memory problems and ADHD—and reasonable accommodations for success in the workplace. The recorded webcast, transcript and accompanying slides are now available online.
Workforce Recruitment Program: College and University Registration Is Open!
College and university staff working in career services, disability services and other related areas are invited to register their school to participate in the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP), which allows disabled students and recent grads to explore careers in federal service and connect with potential federal employers. Registration is open through June 28, 2024.