Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a recent National Council on Disability report [1] indicated that only 35% of working-age people with chronic illness and disability are employed comparing to 78% of those without disabilities. Two-thirds of the unemployed persons with chronic illness and disability indicated that they would like to work but could not find jobs. Disturbingly, the employment rate of people with disabilities has been hovering around 35% for the past two decades [2]. While these data are not specific to cancer survivors, at this point, there is no reason to assume that this group differs. In fact, while cancer survivors make up a small percentage of these cases [3], this may be a general observation in those with various types of chronic illness.
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Acknowledgments
Preparation of this chapter is supported in part by funding from SPR, Inc., an Information Technology services film, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. We would like to thank Mr. Patrick Maher, manager of the nAblement Division of the SPR, Inc., for his extraordinary efforts and contributions to the success of the employer perceptions project funded by SPR, Inc. Furthermore, we would like to thank Macmillan Cancer Support (UK) for supporting and funding this research conducted in the United Kingdom.
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Amir, Z., Strauser, D.R., Chan, F. (2009). Employers’ and Survivors’ Perspectives. In: Work and Cancer Survivors. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72041-8_3
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