KEES Guest Blogger Spotlight: Kathy Carmody

KEES invites Guest Bloggers to share important news, facts, and information. In this article, Kathy Carmody, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities, talks about Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (March 2026).

March is a time established to raise awareness, promote inclusion, and highlight the contributions of people with developmental disabilities through Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (DDAM).

DDAM provides an important opportunity to shine a spotlight on the benefits that people with disabilities and neurodiversity bring to the workplace. Having worked with, on behalf of and alongside people with disabilities for four decades, I have seen so many examples of a strong work ethic, company commitment and positive attitude that people bring to the workplace.  While the return on investment of hiring people with disabilities is irrefutable, there is still a staggering unemployment rate among people with disabilities across the country, especially people with an intellectual disability and/or neurodiverse learners.

Yet despite the clear return on investment, the employment gap remains significant, particularly for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and neurodiverse learners.

The 2026 report “The Case for Inclusion,” published by United Cerebral Palsy and the ANCOR Foundation, reported that only 23.5% of people with intellectual/developmental disabilities who received employment or day services were engaged in competitive integrated employment. This reflects a slight increase, though the rate has held relatively steady since 2013. Currently, only 9 states report at least 33% of people with IDD working in competitive integrated employment.  In that same report, Illinois ranked 45^th among states for this measure.

Knowing how valuable capable and committed employees are to businesses across every industry, Disabilities Awareness Month invites us to ask what can be done to improve these statistics and ensure that every person who wants to work in competitive, integrated employment has the support, information, and opportunity to do so.

Some considerations generated by the Provider Committee of the Employment and Economic Opportunity for People with Disabilities (EEOPD) Task Force that I co-chair, along with my colleague, Casey Burke, Supported Employment Administrator for the Division of Developmental Disabilities in the Illinois Department of Human Services include:

• • Expanding the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, which has proven successful for people with serious mental illness (SMI) and was piloted in Illinois for people with IDD
• • Assure that all youth transitioning from a special education setting to adult services have employment counseling, exposure, experience and a plan in place to be supported by an adult service agency (if necessary) to obtain and maintain competitive integrated employment.
• • Funding for Soft-Skills training which for many people, can be a significant barrier to maintaining employment even when the person is able to perform the technical tasks associated with the position
• • Eliminate Performance Based Contract Disincentives that make it more challenging for people with significant needs to receive the depth and duration of support they may need
• • Assure that state policies impacting employment options and resources for people with IDD include consideration of the broad spectrum of ages, interests, and support needs within the population.

Just as every person’s employment goals are unique and may evolve over time, so are the services and resources they may need in order to achieve those goals.  During Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, we are reminded that state policies and practices must promote flexible, responsive, and customizable resources and services are essential to increase opportunities for people requiring support in order to achieve those goals.

Kathy Carmody is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities (The Institute), whose 80+ members provide direct services and support to over 30,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) across Illinois. The Institute is Illinois’ largest statewide association focused exclusively on people with I/DD and the community agencies that support them. To learn more, please visit The Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities.