Disability Employment Awareness Month | Emory School of Medicine

2023 Features

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Each Affinity Month, we unveil a new set of Zoom backgrounds for use by affinity group members and allies during their respective affinity month. Zoom backgrounds for Disability Employment Awareness Month are available at the link below.

Making Employment Accessible Access, Equity and Inclusion

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits employment discrimination of individuals on the basis of their disability.

Here at Emory, there are many resources available to students, faculty, staff and visitors to ensure an inclusive and accessible environment. You can learn more about the many resources and programs available through the Department of Accessibility Services (DAS), including Accommodate, a portal system that allows faculty, employees and learners to manage accomodation-related needs and information.

Smiling students in a classroom with one blind student

Elizabeth Thompson SOM Communications - Dean's Office

My worlds collided when participation in an Emory FSAP (Faculty Staff Assistance Program) Health Fair ten years ago, uncovered that I had Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). At the time, I was working in Research Communications and since then I have taken every opportunity to participate in diabetes research. I am hopeful that volunteering as a research participant will help others living with diabetes, especially children and their parents. Diabetes carries a stigma. If I cannot discover the cure, fighting the stigma is the least I can do – though I am not always brave – sometimes it is too hard and I cover my devices or I am too tired to explain diabetes. Most people do not understand the odd bumps through my clothes from my insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor or there alarming beeps or the need to strategically time a walking meeting or always needing a snack nearby or the importance of my daily workouts or politely declining unplanned snacks. Luckily, I’ve only experienced strange looks and uneducated questions, not the discrimination I’ve heard of from others with T1D. I know that working for this supportive academic medical center has provided a bubble of protection.

Through my research experiences, I’ve seen the need to broaden awareness around T1D as an autoimmune disorder, because mental health is an important part of maintaining physical health. There are no breaks when you have a chronic illness. My social and economic privileges (including my employment at Emory and health benefits) help me care for myself with the highest-tech devices and elite health care providers. I want everyone with T1D to have this care experience and I am here to advocate for equity for all patients no matter their age or health coverage. There is more I can do, but I hope that speaking up will help others. Honesty makes it easier to make healthy choices since this disease demands constant attention and consideration during every life moment. I am proud of my 15-year career at Emory and the family and community I built while working and maintaining my health. I admire everyone who lives with disabilities, both visible and hidden. It is so hard, and we must persist!

family portrait with Elizabeth Pittman-Thompson