Black EOE Journal www.blackeoejournal.com 117
The employment rate for working-age Black Americans with disabilities was
20.5%
compared with
31.3%
for individuals with disabilities of all other races.
Credit: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Most people with disabilities will not win a medal at the Paralympic Games, but that should not stop us from winning the medal in our lives. With a new normal mindset, I then founded the Paralympic Military Sport Program which helped wounded, ill and injured military per- sonnel use sport as a tool for their rehabilita- tion. I ensured the population knew about pro- grams and how to access them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population 2020 Survey states that the rate of disability among Black Americans was 13 per- cent compared with 11.6 percent for all other races, and the employment rate for working- age Black Americans with disabilities was 20.5 percent compared with 31.3 percent for indi- viduals with disabilities of all other races. The Black Lives Matter movement, mental health challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic saw marginalized communities, specifically disabled veterans and the African American hoods. Black patients lose limbs at a rate triple that of others. We need a point of reckoning. The point of reckoning comes when we realize we do not get back what we desire to have back. Once we understand that we do not get back what we desire to have back, we graduate from the reck- oning moment to the transformation moment. This is when we begin to have a dream of what is possible. The transformation moment ends with a commitment to a vision. So, my question is, when will we rise and say yes to a new vision - to a world where, accord- ing to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in four U.S. adults - 61 million Americans have a disability, will be more in unison and see equity in healthcare, employment and access to resources? My hope is we forge a new normal with grace, commitment and courage to hurdle our own adversities in a world changing rapidly, and in need of truth, to overcome our own hurdles. When our truth outweighs our fear, we will commit to a courageous life. - John Register community with disabilities needs being sig- nificantly overlooked. As an amputee who happens to be Black, I want to change the narrative. The disability population, the largest of all marginalized, still inds itself on the outside of societal belonging. According to ProPublicas The Black American Amputation Epidemic , Despite the great scientific strides in diabetes care, the rate of amputations across the country grew by 50 percent between 2009 and 2015. Diabetics undergo 130,000 amputations each year, often in low-income and underinsured neighbor-
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