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AAPD says internships, training and AI initiatives are expanding employment pathways for people with disabilities
Summary
Maria Town described AAPD’s long-running internship program, payment and expense supports, and new efforts to center disability in entrepreneurship and AI tools during an HTV interview. AAPD reported 75% of internship alumni employed full time and cited partnerships with employers and federal agencies.
Maria Town, CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, described the organization’s internship and employment programs on HTV’s Focus on Abilities, saying AAPD pays interns’ travel and housing costs, covers personal attendants when needed, provides technology and food stipends, and pays interns $18 an hour.
Town said the summer internship runs 10 weeks and the fall program 14 weeks. She said the program has operated since 2002 and that AAPD’s impact assessment shows about 75% of internship alumni are employed full time; she added that alumni earn an average of about $35 an hour. “The best predictor of a young person with a disability becoming an economically successful adult is paid employment when they’re young,” Town said.
The internship placements include offices in Congress and executive-branch agencies; Town cited placements in Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office and other Capitol Hill offices and said internships include mentorships matched to interns’ professional and disability-related interests.
Town and host Lex Bridal also discussed post‑COVID changes that expanded telework, telehealth and other remote-work opportunities that can benefit people with disabilities. Town said AAPD has a program called Start Access focused on accessibility in AI-driven businesses and highlighted a private-sector example, Inclusively, which uses automated matching tools to help people with disabilities find compatible jobs.
Town described steps AAPD has taken to bring disability into federal economic policy discussions, including hosting the first U.S. Department of Commerce National Disability Leadership Summit and working with the Patent and Trademark Office and small-business resources to support innovators with disabilities.
Bridal asked about resources for people who want to apply; Town said the summer application had just closed and that information about the fall program is available at AAPD.com. She also supplied AAPD’s contact: communications@AAPD.com.
The segment covered program details (wages, stipends, duration), measurable outcomes reported by AAPD (75% employment rate among alumni), and emerging work to ensure AI and entrepreneurship are accessible to people with disabilities.
