Comment on FR Doc # 2011-31371

As an unemployed disabled woman who is trying to get back into the workplace I can tell you now that it really is not so much that employers are not hiring disabled americans, it is that they refuse to allow them to get ahead for the most part. I worked for a company for a few yrs, and while I worked hard andlearned all I could, it didnt help to promote me. Too many companies do this, and it causes a lot of problems. I already had two potential employers call me for interviews but when told I was deaf, told my son who took the call that they would email me with details. Im sorry to say, they didnt. I know there are lots of people out there trying to get work, but the disabled have a harder time getting and keeping work. It is always something that prevents them from keeping the job, and it really isnt in most cases because they cant do the work. Employers, by law, are required to make concessions for those who are disabled, be it a wheelchair ramp, or some way for them to do their work, allowing a deaf or hard of hearing person to text or have someone take and or receive calls for them and being willing to text back or at least talk to a third party, to allow a blind person a way to do their work and get around, or even someone with one arm or leg or whatever their disability is. It is up to the employer to provide this. Yes, it is within their right to not hire a disabled person, but if there is no known reason not to, and the person has already shown they can do the job, either by references, resumes, applications listing previous employers, then there really is no reason to not hire them and promote them accordingly. Passing laws or regulations pertaining to this really does not help, as employers can and will find ways around them to avoid hiring someone who is disabled. I have been in the restaurant business 15 yrs, and have never once been able to get past the title of cook. Nor even given a real chance at manager.