Campaign for Disability Employment Announces Online Video Contest
Collaborative of Leading Disability Groups Seeks Creative Online Video Spots to Help Improve the Disability Employment Landscape

WASHINGTON, DC — June 9, 2009 - Today, the Campaign for Disability Employment, a newly-formed collaborative of leading disability organizations, announced that it is launching an online video contest to promote the talent and skills that people with disabilities bring to America’s workforce and economy.  The top videos will play a key role in the campaign’s late summer launch and will be featured on its Web site.  The overall contest winner will receive a prize worth $1,500.

The Campaign for Disability Employment is sponsoring the contest as part of its soon-to-be-launched national effort to increase employment of people with disabilities.  Every day, people with disabilities can and do add value to America’s workplaces.  However, in both good economic times and bad, people with disabilities have far fewer job opportunities than the general population.  The Campaign for Disability Employment’s goal is to promote hiring, retention, and advancement of people with disabilities and dispel negative stereotypes.      

“Our video contest is an opportunity for young – and young at heart – filmmakers to be a part of a groundbreaking campaign to advance America’s promise of opportunity for all,” said Louis Orslene, co-director of the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a member of the Campaign for Disability Employment.  “It’s their chance to drive positive change by illustrating that at work, it’s what people CAN do that matters.”   

About the Campaign for Disability Employment Video Contest

The Campaign for Disability Employment is looking for creative, fun, compelling video public service announcements, of all genres, that will create positive images of people with disabilities at work and help viewers re-think their assumptions about people with disabilities and employment.  The deadline for entry is July 15, 2009.

Videos must be 60 seconds or less and reflect one or more of the campaign’s key themes, which are outlined on the contest Web site, www.jan.wvu.edu/videocontest.  Individual and group entries are encouraged.  Applicants must be U.S. citizens to enter. 

The winner will receive a prize worth $1,500 and a chance to participate in the Campaign for Disability Employment’s launch.  Several selected videos may be showcased on the campaign’s Web site.  More information and the official contest rules are outlined on the contest Web site. 

About the Campaign for Disability Employment

The Campaign for Disability Employment seeks to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by encouraging employers, and others, to recognize the value and talent that people with disabilities bring to the workplace, as well as the dividend to be realized by fully including people with disabilities at work.  The Campaign is a collaborative effort between the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); the National Business and Disability Council (NBDC); Special Olympics (SO); the U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN); and the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).  It is funded under a contract from the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U.S. Department of Labor. For more information, contact JAN at videocontest@jan.wvu.edu.

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The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country's largest cross-disability membership organization, organizes the disability community to be a powerful voice for change - economically, politically, and socially. AAPD was founded in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To learn more, visit the AAPD website: www.aapd.com.