VCU to study employment of people with disabilities

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia Commonwealth University will use a $4.4 million federal grant to study the employment of people with disabilities.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (https://bit.ly/2flR5Vx ) that the grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will fund work over the next five years.

The grant will be used to conduct four studies examining why business hire or don’t hire people with disabilities. VCU will partner with Bon Secours Virginia Health System for the largest and most significant of the four studies.

Paul Wehman is a professor in the VCU School of Medicine and VCU School of Education. He will be the lead researcher.

Wehman says the study is important because close to 60 percent of persons with disabilities are unemployed in the U.S.