Sign language interpretation and closed captioning illustrated the importance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month last night, at the kick-off event in the MBNA Career Center.

"I think [events like this] are important because I have family members that are disabled and I want to learn about their rights," said Brenda Pimentel (senior-finance and international business). "It is a topic that touches me. You never know when a situation could arise."

Most people agreed being aware of disabilities rights is not only important to those who are disabled but to everyone.

"Able bodies can become disabled at anytime," said Ellen Houser, assistant director for career information. "This is a group that many of us will belong to if we live long enough."

Disabilities are not limited to physical impairments, Ken Lehrman, director of affirmative action, said.

He said a disabled individual is any person who has a physical or mental impairment that is substantially limiting.

"The law seeks to clarify the very nature of the way disabled individuals are perceived," Lehrman said. "Although these laws are in the book, they are slowly beginning to make a change."

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires almost all businesses in the United States to make its facilities accessible to disabled employees, he said.

Chris MacGill, associate director for programming at Career Services, said, "We all find ourselves in situations where we don't have things that we need to have or we need some assistance in order to get what we need done. You can't be your best at work if you feel like you can't connect with people, or you can't communicate or work as your best at work."

Lehrman said statistics show employees with disabilities have lower turnover rates and lower absenteeism in the workplace, yet the number of employees with disabilities is still low.

"Since 1995 the employee rate for men actively seeking jobs, who were not disabled, has been 94.96 percent, and men with disabilities actively seeking employment was 36.21 percent," he said. "The employee rate for women actively seeking jobs, who were not disabled, was 80.6 percent, and women with disabilities seeking employment was 33.6 percent."

Aimee Anderson (graduate-rehabilitation counseling) said the event showed her that more progress needs to be made for disabled people in the workforce.

"I came because I am looking to pursue a job with vocational rehabilitation, and I came to support the efforts that are being made towards that," Anderson said. "It is surprising how common it is that people don't disclose their disabilities [for employment]."

Lehrman said many employees still avoid mentioning impairments when applying for jobs because they are afraid their job may be in jeopardy.

"That is why our mission here in career services is to empower the student, to provide the necessary tool to make life career decisions," said Maritza Ledee, event coordinator and career counselor. "We believe that Americans work best when all Americans work."