The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has impacted the workforce for many people across the U.S. but data shows workers with disabilities were impacted at a higher rate.
Since March, one in five workers with disabilities were laid off, compared to one in seven in the general population, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
John Kitrilakis said his daughter Danielle was a part of that statistic.
“With the pandemic, the aquarium and especially the food department where she was working. She was serving pizzas and stuff like that and they laid her off. She’s thirty-two years old and has Down Syndrome,” Kitrilakis said.
He said since she lost her job, she fills her time by hanging out with her friends and with the Special Olympics but it’s not the same.