The Purpose

The purpose of Kansas EmployAbility website is to provide employers in Kansas an on-line resource about employment and hiring people with disabilities – one location that has accumulated the key resources needed to make good business decisions. 

For example, some employers want more information about how this will impact their profit margin, how hiring people with disabilities is a good business decision.  There are many prominent companies that have tried this and found their profits better.  One company in particular - Walgreens, shares four years of data and study completed by their top executives. For more key examples, see the Resources section headers…


The Mission

Simply put, we hope to state resoundingly the business case for employers to hire people with disabilities. We know that it's good for all of us when everyone is part of the workforce. And we want employers to hear that message loud and clear.

We aim to bust the overarching misconceptions about people with disabilities in the workplace by arming employers with the tangible benefits and abilities that people with disabilities bring to their jobs.

We'll accomplish this by reaching out to a target audience—employers— that's not hearing this message often enough or loudly enough. We'll give businesses the information they need to hire people with disabilities and the tools necessary to integrate them into their workforce.  We'll also connect employers with resources in their area to help tap into this talented segment of the labor pool.

The Sponsors

Think Beyond the Label started as a national media campaign in 2010 as a partnership of state health and human service agencies with federal Medicaid Infrastructure Grants.  The Kansas partnerships included Working Healthy with the Kansas Health Policy Authority (now Kansas Department of Health and Environment)  and Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns.   Although the Kansas grant for this website and staff concluded in June of 2011, the Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns continues its support of this website and the Think Beyond the Label campaign.