Allowing people to work remotely or in hybrid-working models opens opportunity for more people with disabilities to participate in the labor force, said Disability Equality Index Co-chair Ted Kennedy Jr. "It will make it easier for them to accommodate somebody, for example, with a mobility impairment for whom it is difficult to travel to and from work ... Many employers are now looking, because of the tight labor market, are looking to this great untapped labor pool of people with disabilities," Kennedy said.

The ideal online learning courses are continually relevant, highly curated, engaging and concise, said Tyson Chaplin, chief learning architect for Tovuti LMS. Chris Dornfeld, president of Whistle Systems, said that advances in technology and hybrid work mean online professional development is expected to explode in the coming years.

A consumer survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows expectations for the job market are brightening, with many respondents saying they expect to be offered a job in the next four months. The survey notes a tendency for workers to shift jobs more often, while expectations of higher wages have increased sharply in the past 12 months.

Gary Semerdjian, auto shop teacher at a California high school, says he hopes to help more students pursue careers in the transportation industry. Semerdjian says he is working with Allan Hancock College to better align the high-school curriculum to support students' education.

Risk is unavoidable when enhancing a career, so professionals should ensure they're taking calculated risks, entrepreneur Sukhinder Singh Cassidy says in this interview. "Risk-taking should be regarded as the opposite of 'one time, big, and binary' and instead as a continuum of choices and impacts, some of which are smaller and some of which may be larger, but all of which have value," Cassidy says.

“Bobert” -- not his real name -- was a typical 17-year-old teenager. He loved junk food and video games and argued regularly with his mother about the cleanliness of his room. He talked about being a game developer one day.

I thought of Bobert today when I read the top story about workers with disabilities. Bobert had Asperger's. He was extraordinarily bright but struggled to get along with others and occasionally made questionable decisions. (He once parked his car on his neighbor’s lawn because he couldn’t find a space in front of his house.) But he knew how to work and prized his job. Social relationship challenges aside, Bobert was an excellent employee.

Bobert would benefit from a workplace that offered remote and hybrid work options. He wants to contribute and his brains and creativity are exactly what we need to solve the big questions in the world today. Kudos to the employers who offer these options and gain the benefits of this untapped talent pool.

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