CLSC student Ian Snitch and his coach Jasmina Chatani.

As part of today’s nationwide Disability Mentoring Day events, 13 students in CDS’s Career and Life Studies Certificate (CLSC) program spent the morning trying out jobs that intrigued them. CLSC staff sought to pair students with mentors in their fields of their interest, including several UD offices, the WMPH radio station, Newark Senior Center, Pet Kare, VCA Newark Animal Hospital, Unique Impression and the office of U.S. Sen. Chris Coons.

When the students regrouped at the Courtyard Marriott hotel on UD’s campus, they shared their experiences, with many saying the morning’s activities reinforced their goals to find careers in their chosen fields.

Creating the opportunity to try jobs firsthand is one way CLSC, which is administered by CDS, prepares students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to thrive after school. A two-year postsecondary program, CLSC unites classroom, campus and life-skills learning experiences with internships and on-the-job training to enable students to pursue short- and long-term life goals such as living independently, continuing their education and finding meaningful employment.

Today’s event marked the ninth year CDS took part in Disability Mentoring Day, which was created by President Bill Clinton’s administration in 1999 as part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, celebrated every October. Since CDS brought Disability Mentoring Day activities to Delaware in 2009, participation has greatly expanded, and this year saw the involvement of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Labor’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Education, Christina School District, Smyrna and Woodbridge high schools, the Better Business Bureau of Delaware, the Delaware Business Leadership Network and Easterseals of Delaware & Maryland Eastern Shore.

Efforts underway to empower people with disabilities to join the workforce come at a time when their participation rate is only 21 percent, according to October 2017 data gathered by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The participation rate among people without disabilities is 69 percent.