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employers, disability management specialists, and human resource and employee assistance program (EAP) personnel as they address the issues associated with the impact of depression in the workplace.18
President's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities (in the U.S. Department of Labor)19
The goal of the President's Committee is to develop employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Created in 1955, the President's Committee works with approximately 600 individuals representing employers, training and rehabilitation specialists, educators, labor leaders, medical and health professionals, service organizations, community leaders, as well as people with disabilities and their organizations and advocates.
The ADA has been a cause célèbre of the President's Committee. Prior to the ADA's passage the President's Committee helped to organize nationwide hearings on disability and discrimination. The testimony at these hearings provided key data on this type of discrimination and helped to propel the ADA's passage. Since the passage of the ADA, the President's Committee has maintained its support for this statute by organizing ADA employment summits and conducting a series of teleconferences across 50 states to review ADA implementation. Over the last five years, the President's Committee has concentrated on ameliorating the negative images and perceptions associated with psychiatric disabilities by forming organizations such as the Coalition Against the Discrimination of People with Psychiatric Disabilities and Job Accommodation Network.
The coalition against the discrimination of people with psychiatric disabilities (CADPPD)
CADPPD involves 42 national leaders and numerous organizations concerned with media images of mental illness.
CADPPD work groups are developing language guidelines and position papers on such issues as civil rights, and it has prepared a list of workplace accommodations. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the National Association of Psychiatric Survivors, the National Mental Health Consumers Association as well as mental health professional associations are represented in CADPPD.
Job accommodation network (JAN)21
JAN provides very practical services. It supplies information and referrals on workplace accommodations to employers, rehabilitation and social service counselors, and people with disabilities. JAN receives over 4,500 inquiries each month and represents one of the most comprehensive sources of information concerning job accommodations currently provided by the federal government. Prior to the passage of the ADA, JAN answered few calls concerning psychiatric disabilities. Currently, over 8 % of the calls each month focus on these conditions. It is estimated that approximately 41% of these psychiatric calls are from businesses. Since the passage of the ADA, JAN has begun to increase its in-house expertise on accommodating people with psychiatric disabilities. JAN also has a list of mental health services which provide useful information to employers, employee assistance programs, and human resource departments.
National institute for occupational safety and health (NIOSH)
NIOSH was established by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. It is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is in the Department of Health and Human Services. It is the
