U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) What’s Your Connection

Situational Analysis

In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Disability.Gov website, U. S. Department of Labor Assistant Secretary Kathleen Martinez launched the unique, social media disability awareness campaign What’s Your Connection? to illuminate  connections everyone has with disability. The goal was to increase disability awareness in the workplace, marketplace and communities. However, to fortify impact, the campaign needed higher-profile engagement with the entertainment and corporate sectors. Disability.gov is managed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, in collaboration with 21 federal agency partners.

Results

As a GSA Federal Contractor specializing in market research and analysis, EIN SOF was tapped to select and generate these 12 dynamic submissions to the What’s Your Connection? portfolio, designed to increase traffic to social media sites in order to underscore the power and importance of Americans with disabilities, showcasing the campaign’s idea. EIN SOF chose AGTG for project management:  To read submissions, click on each name below:

John Hawkes, The Sessions; 

Geri Jewell, Facts of Life, Deadwood, I’m Walking As Straight As I Can;

Pam Dixon, Past President of Casting Society of America;

HeathCliff Rothman, Everyone Matters;

Ray Bradford, formerly with SAG-AFTRA/The Bradford Advocacy Group;

Alan Muir, Executive Director, Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD);

Angela Rockwood, Producer/Star of Sundance Channel’s Push Girls;

Justin Nelson, National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce;

Lee Mabie, Father and Marketing Director, AT&T;

Robert David Hall, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;

Allison Gilkey, producer of the ITVS/PBS documentary Lives Worth Living;

Alissa Materman, Director, Executive Education, UCLA Anderson School of Management for Leadership Institute for Managers with Disabilities.

EIN SOF Insights

Because this segment of the DOL campaign had to appeal to a broad tapestry of the public, EIN SOF and AGTG carefully selected participants from a wide range of entertainment activities: actors, producers, casting director, educators, executives, activists. It was also vital to reach across age ranges, gender and societal biases. Therefore, the content from these thought-leaders invoked subtle messages of disability-inclusive diversity in their work, underscoring the client’s goal of increasing disability awareness.

Click here to read the U.S .Department of Labor’s announcement for What’s Your Connection?