People with disabilities often face difficulty finding employment in the United States. According to a survey of human resource professionals and supervisors, more than half reported that employers do not hire workers with disabilities because they think they can't do the job. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 9%, which is more than double that of those without disabilities (3.4%), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This disparity in employment rates persists every year, despite the value and talent that people with disabilities can bring to the workplace. In an effort to challenge this statistic, Amy and Ben Wright created Bitty & Beau's Coffee - an initiative that began in Wilmington, North Carolina, and has spread across the country. Through her work, Amy Wright, the 2017 CNN Hero of the Year, seeks to promote diversity, inclusion, and integrity in the workplace.
Amy Wright and her husband Ben have four children, including their youngest two, Bitty and Beau, who both have Down Syndrome. Prior to Beau's birth, the Wrights had no experience with disabilities, but once they received the diagnosis they quickly embraced and loved him. Seven years ago, they began to consider the future for Bitty and Beau and were shocked to discover that 80% of people with disabilities are not a part of the labor force in the US. This led Nora Genster, senior director of the Employment Transformation Collective at the Northwest Center, to call for employers to actively integrate these individuals into the workplace. Genster argued in a USA Today article that creating an enabling environment for disabled employees would help them perform better,
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Amy and
Ben Wright, the founder of Bitty & Beau's Coffee, has created an experience for their guests that goes beyond the coffee shop. It has been noted that people with disabilities are often undervalued and thought of as unable to work or undeserving of a spot in the workforce. But Bitty & Beau's Coffee has challenged that stigma and has shown that with courage, commitment, and creativity, substantive job creation is possible. Gus Alexiou, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 26, has said that due to basic human diversity and personality traits, it is impossible to make assumptions about what disabled people cannot accomplish. Adam Ozimek, a chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, has shared that people with disabilities can fall victim to existing labor practices that are generations old. The employment rates for people with disabilities have increased in 2021 to 19.1%, 1.2% higher than the previous year. The Wrights have demonstrated that the workplace can be a place of life-changing possibilities and they are doing their best to normalize disability.
Amy and Ben Wright, founders of Bitty & Beau's Coffee, have created an experience for their guests that goes beyond the coffee shop. It has been noted that people with disabilities are often undervalued and thought of as unable to work or undeserving of a spot in the workforce. But Bitty & Beau's Coffee has challenged that stigma and has shown that with courage, commitment, and creativity, substantive job creation is possible. Gus Alexiou, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 26, has said that due to basic human diversity and personality traits, it is impossible to make assumptions about what disabled people cannot accomplish. Adam Ozimek, the chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, has shared that people with disabilities can fall victim to existing labor practices that are generations old. The employment rates for people with disabilities have increased in 2021 to 19.1%, 1.2% higher than the previous year. The Wrights have demonstrated that the workplace can be a place of life-changing possibilities and they are doing their best to normalize disability.