Oregon disability employment action center

Help Oregon lawmakers hear, clearly and fast, why disability employment matters.

OWOA is a statewide advocacy hub built around one outcome: helping Oregonians find their legislators and send a focused message that advances the Oregon Workforce Opportunity Act.

Send a message now Read the bill explainer

Employment gap

22.5% vs. 65.8%

In 2023, the U.S. employment-population ratio for people with disabilities was 22.5%, compared with 65.8% for people without disabilities.

Oregon poverty rate

27.7%

Working-age Oregonians with disabilities experienced a 27.7% poverty rate in 2022, compared with 12.6% for Oregonians without disabilities.

State hiring target

The draft act sets a minimum benchmark that at least 3% of state agency positions be filled by qualified people with disabilities.

Campaign mission

Expanding opportunity for all abilities

The strongest advocacy sites do one thing well: they turn urgency into action. This one is built to help a first-time visitor understand the issue, trust the message, and contact their lawmakers without friction.

Match your district

Enter your Oregon address and instantly see the representative and senator who can move this bill.

Preview your message

Choose the issue frame that best fits your voice and get a constituent-ready email drafted for you.

Send and follow up

Use the one-click send flow, then call the office with the matching script if you want to add pressure.

Visitor-first action flow

Start here if your goal is simple: find your lawmakers and send the message.

The action center below is the fastest path through the site. Everything else helps you go deeper, but this is the core action.

Step 1

Tell us where you vote and what message you want to send

We will match your address to the correct Oregon House and Senate districts, then generate a constituent-ready email you can send in one click.

Your full nameYour emailOregon addressIssue focus

Close Oregon's disability employment gap

Frame the bill as an economic and anti-poverty intervention that addresses the persistent employment gap facing Oregonians with disabilities.

What happens next

We find your representative and senator.
We generate a message grounded in your selected issue.
You preview it, send it, and optionally call right after.

Advocacy preview

This panel becomes your district-specific outreach kit

We use the same public ArcGIS district source the Oregon Legislature links to, then turn your address into a representative, a senator, a ready-to-send message, a call script, and the official links you may want for follow-up.

Why this matters

The message is stronger when it sounds local, specific, and urgent.

OWOA frames disability employment as workforce policy, anti-poverty policy, and public accountability all at once.

Findings and declarations

People with disabilities are a valuable and underutilized part of Oregon's workforce.
Oregon's draft bill directly ties disability employment to poverty reduction, economic growth, and community inclusion.
The findings name barriers in interviews, training, accommodations, employer understanding, and digital accessibility.

Definitions that shape implementation

The bill explicitly defines disability, reasonable accommodation, supported employment, competitive integrated employment, universal design, digital accessibility, neurodivergence, and episodic disability.
Shared definitions matter because agencies need a common operating language before they can hire, train, measure, and report consistently.

State employment initiative

The act creates a workforce development task force with agency leaders, disability advocates, businesses, educators, and people with disabilities.
The task force is charged with recruitment, hiring, retention, advancement, mentorship, peer support, and accountability.
A statewide 3% hiring benchmark anchors implementation with a measurable public target.

Training and accountability

The draft requires training on ADA compliance, accommodations, digital accessibility, equitable interviews, neurodiversity awareness, trauma-informed practice, and universal design.
State agencies would report on hiring, promotion, accommodations, retention, accessibility improvements, and employee satisfaction.

Stay connected

Join the campaign infrastructure

Supporter signups make it possible to organize follow-up asks, district actions, and future story collection.