Ready-to-Publish Articles

Need editorial content for your website, print publication or e-newsletter? We can help! Simply choose from the following “drop-in” articles about the Campaign for Disability Employment, which are ready for you to adapt and publish.

Should you choose to run one of these articles, kindly let us know by emailing info@whatcanyoudocampaign.org. We’d like to know where and when it was published, and the estimated readership of your publication.

Article #1:
National Campaign Challenges Public to Improve Disability Employment Landscape
What can YOU do to help raise awareness and improve employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities? Quite a bit, say the organizers of the Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE), and it all begins with promoting positive messages to employers and others about the skills and talents that people with disabilities bring to America’s workplaces and economy.

Funded and led by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the CDE has been trumpeting such messages to the masses since 2009. It is the force behind the award-winning What Can YOU Do? Campaign, and five powerful public service announcements (PSAs) that have aired hundreds of thousands of times on television stations nationwide.

If you watch TV, there’s a good chance that you’ve spotted one of the CDE PSAs. Its flagship production, “I Can” features seven people with disabilities stating what they can do at work when given the opportunity. “Because” targets those who influence the career aspirations of youth with disabilities, demonstrating that all of us have a crucial role to play in helping young people set goals and dream big. “Who I Am” showcases nine people who are not defined by their disabilities, reinforcing that for many, if not most people, work is fundamental to identity. “Working Works” explores the many reasons people work, including after injury or illness. And “Mental Health at Work: What Can I Do?,” the campaign’s latest PSA, addresses the roles we all can play in promoting workplace wellbeing.

Of course, there’s much more to the CDE than its PSAs. Its website, WhatCanYouDoCampaign.org—available in both English and Spanish—features a range of tools and tangible ideas for supporting the campaign’s goals, such as CDE support badges that users can display on their own websites, posters, and ready-to-publish news briefs and ads they can run in their own publications. The CDE also engages its followers through regular Twitter chats, photo-sharing campaigns and a robust social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

While ODEP leads the CDE, the campaign is a highly collaborative effort among leading business and disability organizations who urge employers to capitalize on the talents of people with disabilities through inclusive employment practices that benefit everyone. CDE members include the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Disability:IN, the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA), the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN), the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), the National Organization on Disability (NOD), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Special Olympics (SO) and The Viscardi Center. These groups meet regularly and are currently in the process of strategizing the CDE’s next media products.

Learn more by visiting WhatCanYouDoCampaign.org.

Article #2:
Join the Movement: The Campaign for Disability Employment
Campaign Features Downloadable Support Badges and Other Tools to Advance Disability Inclusion

At work, it’s what people CAN do that matters. That’s the simple message behind the Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE)—a U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored public awareness campaign that highlights the value and talent people with disabilities add to America’s workplaces and economy.

A collaborative of leading disability and business organizations, the CDE offers a number of tools and resources to support its efforts to promote the hiring, retention and advancement of people with disabilities. These include CDE support badges that users can display on their own websites and blogs, an award-winning series of television public service announcements (PSAs), posters, discussion guides and more. Users can access these features by clicking JOIN THE MOVEMENT on the navigation bar of the CDE’s website: WhatCanYouDoCampaign.org.

If you’re interested in joining the CDE movement, here are seven things you can do, right now.

1. Get Social. Follow the CDE on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other platforms.
2. Subscribe to the CDE. Stay up to date on CDE news, products and events by subscribing to its e-alerts. You can do so on the home page of its website, WhatCanYouDoCampaign.org.
3. Play and Distribute Its PSAs. Embed the CDE’s flagship media products on your website, share them via social media and use the sample letter on the website to request the PSAs air in your hometown.
4. Download and Use CDE Resources. Check out the free posters, web banners, print ads, ready-to-publish articles and discussion guides designed to help you facilitate conversations about the CDE’s powerful PSAs.
5. Engage in CDE Dialogues. From Twitter chats and blogs to photo-sharing campaigns, the CDE engages in a number of interactive conversation-starters. Join in!
6. Become a CDE Supporter. Adopt the CAN-do spirit and proactively engage in CDE outreach. “Supporters” of the campaign may be recognized on the CDE website.
7. Foster Disability Inclusion. Take steps now to support the hiring, retention and promotion of employees with disabilities. Visit the CDE website for links to valuable tools and resources designed for employers, people with disabilities, family members and educators.

Learn more at WhatCanYouDoCampaign.org.