20250128 - Tuesday Topics - Employment in 2025.

There is some disagreement about the exact percentage of people who are blind who are unemployed and apparently unable to find work. What is clear is that well over half of those supposedly seeking jobs are not finding them. ACB has set up an employment committee to work on these issues and we will be exploring with some of its members what they have been up to since we last talked with them. We have also invited Patrick Sheehan of the Government Employment affiliate. Without holding anyone responsible for taking actions on all of the issues that are out there, we will consider some questions that we have not asked before. How well is Vocational Rehabilitation doing? Can we make it better? How? How much is artificial intelligence affecting the unemployment rate? Are many people who are blind being denied interviews because they are triaged out of the picture because of lack of experience or their disability or not having a driver's license. What should we do if this is happening? The new administration has taken actions concerning some Federal employees. Do we need to be concerned? If so, why and what should we do about any concern we may have? You probably have questions about employment as well and certainly have experiences you have had job hunting. We will invite you to talk about what happened and we will offer suggestions about what might make things better!