April 2010

“Ready and nAbled” Blog

• The ADA at 20 - Are we Being Taken for a Ride?
  A 20th anniversary is a big deal. Twenty years in a personal relationship. Twenty years with the same employer. Twenty years of service to a great cause.  All can be reason for celebration, reflection and, unfortunately, in the case of the Americans with Disabilities Act,  at least some concern. I was in Washington, D.C. at a celebratory reception for the AD […]
• LinkedIn as Patronage Networking — It's Nothing to Blush About!
  As I was considering the right term to characterize the real value of having a strong and current profile and network on LinkedIn, I kept coming back to "patronage", whether I liked it or not. In dictionary.com there are eight unique definitions of patronage. The majority cast a negative light on the term as you might expect, but there is one that […]
• Nose rings, body ink and selling our true selves
  I was recently in a FedEx/Kinko's over the weekend to fax some time-sensitive information related to our home mortgage, so I had a chance to peruse the small offering of career-related books for sale. My eyes immediately gravitated to a short text titled, Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? (Ellen Gordon Reeves, 2009), and I pulled it from the she […]
• Are Millennials Charting a Path for Professionals with Disabilities?
  I’ve had a great opportunity to begin working with some very skilled facilitators within Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) principles over the past year. One of my colleagues within the Illinois Technology Foundation’s advisory board, Elaine Robbins Harris, is a very experienced facilitator and curriculum developer within D&I. Her current passion is in r […]