Disability not a disadvantage in the workplace

By Andrea Riddell, 1 June 2010

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When looking to fill vacant positions, businesses want to hire the best possible candidate. Often this means that people with disability are overlooked in favour of those who may appear to be more fit and able. Stereotypical but erroneous beliefs can mean employers miss out on a valuable pool of resources and experience – especially when you consider that one in five Australians has a disability.

Basic assumptions are made – often unconsciously – about what a person with disability can or cannot do. However, research has shown that there is little difference in the productivity between people with disability and those without.

The benefits

There are many benefits in choosing to hire people with disability. The Australian Network on Disability (AND), an organisation that promotes the inclusion of people with disability in all aspects of business, encourages employers to tap in to the diverse range of skills, experiences and abilities of people with disability to gain new perspectives.

‘Organisations that understand the impact of disability on their customers will reach a wider market. Businesses that fail to make their products and services accessible to people with disability, or don’t build their expertise in welcoming customers with disability, risk missing out on a great deal of business,’ says AND spokesperson Rachel Butler.

Hiring people with disability also helps businesses to embrace their corporate social responsibility (CSR), promote a diverse workplace and raise team morale.

Safeway in Rosebud West, Victoria, is one of the many businesses leading by example and hiring people with disability through Disability WORKS Australia (DWA), an organisation that helps to find placements for people with disability.

Assistant store manager Simone Blake says, ‘We wanted to help someone with a disability in our local community. Employing somebody with a disability gives the whole team a lift and helps to positively change the store culture.’

Apart from enhancing the reputation and brand of the business, employing people with disability can also have long-term fiscal benefits. According to a Safe Work Australia study, workers with disability have lower rates of absenteeism, a lower number of workplace injury and, as a result, lower workers’ compensation costs than people without disability.

AND has also stated that people with disability tend to stay loyal and committed to their employer and show higher retention rates than employees without disability. Increased tenure reduces the costs of training and integrating new staff into the business.

‘By accommodating people with disability organisations are gaining loyal and committed employees who will support them in achieving their business objectives,’ says Butler.

It’s easier than you think

Common misconceptions are the biggest barrier that people with disability battle in attempting to gain employment. Employers often believe that the costs associated with hiring people with disability are high. More often than not only simple adjustments are required to make the business disability-friendly.

‘Many adjustments are cost-neutral while research has identified that where costs are incurred, around 80 per cent of those adjustments are under $500,’ says Butler.

Research has even shown that many employers believe the benefits of hiring people with disability outweigh any associated costs. In some cases no adjustments need to be made at all. Disability can come in all shapes and forms and while some disabilities may be obvious to the naked eye, many others are more discreet.

Another method of creating opportunities for people with disability includes job splitting or carving. This involves breaking off certain tasks from other positions that are hard to fill to create new roles for people with disability.

Holden Hill Police Station, South Australia, turned to DWA when they couldn’t find a permanent employee with transcript typing skills willing to perform the repetitive tasks of the position.

Administration manager Doris Andrew hired Sonja Veitinger, who was referred to her by DWA. Veitinger’s vision impairment meant that she could not fill the administration role so Andrew split the task of transcript typing from the general role and employed Veitinger on a part-time basis.

‘By being creative with the role we’re getting retention in this job, providing a solution to one area of skill shortage and proving to be more cost-effective,’ says Andrew.

Veitinger required computer program JAWS and a dual headset to transcribe the police tapes and the police station conducted an assessment of the workplace to identify and make any adjustments.

‘By investing in the right person you will reap the benefits. There is room in generic jobs to carve duties and provide opportunities for people with a disability as well as assisting businesses with areas of skill shortages,’ says Andrew.

Recruiting

There are many organisations dedicated to helping employers recruit people with disability. These organisations can help you to make any necessary adjustments to the workplace and can provide ongoing support.

The Australian Network on Disability (AND) is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the employment of people with disability. AND works with employers to help them become ‘disability confident’ and engage with people with disability as stakeholders, employees and customers. 

Disability WORKS Australia (DWA) is a national body that facilitates the provision of employment for people with disability. DWA is a point of contact for employers looking to recruit people with disability. You can alert them of any job vacancies you have and they will match the position to an appropriate worker with disability.

With long-term benefits not only to the business but also to society and the economy, hiring people with disability is an investment in the future.

The Importance of Community

By: Sandy Lahmann

Is there a disability community?

Some people have told me they don't think so. But oh, yes, there is. It's fragmented, but it's there.

No, there's no disability community in which people who use wheelchairs, people who are blind, people who are deaf, and people who have traumatic brain injury, etc., etc., all join together for common goals.

The disability community is fragmented but people who have similar disabilities can be found gathering together at every opportunity. The Deaf community is it's own culture, a culture rich in it's own traditions and values.

I'm a member of the adaptive sports community, in which athletes with disabilities gather together to ski, bike, play basketball, etc., in our own unique ways. And everywhere there are support groups, where people with specific types of disabilities gather together to encourage each other, support each other and offer wisdom.

Adults with disabilities always find each other. We need each other, so we find each other.

When kids have disabilities, the focus is on inclusion, that they are given the opportunity to learn with their non-disabled peers. This is important because as adults we are always working and interacting with our non-disabled peers and we want the same opportunities they have. So inclusion is important, but can it be carried too far?

There is danger in isolating children with disabilities from their peers with similar disabilities. They need each other. Let me explain.

When a person with a disability, child or adult, is interacting with their non-disabled peers, it is always a performance. Their non-disabled peers are generally looking to see if the person with the disability can do “it.” Can she open the door by herself? Can he push his wheelchair up the hill? Can she pass that test? Can he manage his job adequately? Their non-disabled peers often assume the person with a disability will not be able to do many things, so they are frequently wondering, “Can he or she do it?”

Then the person with the disability is often in the position of having to prove they can do it, whatever it is. God forbid we stumble. God forbid we hesitate. If we hesitate they will think we can't do it. This is a performance. We are being watched, so do it well and do it quickly. (And please don't let me start spasming while I'm doing it!)

This can be exhausting.

So I am always eager to join my disability community, which is the adaptive sport community. Finally, a break from the performance. I don't have to prove myself here. I can just be me because all my friends with disabilities already know I'm a capable, worthwhile, wonderful person, even if I stumble, hesitate or fall flat on my face.

My friends with disabilities similar to my own get it. They understand me and the world we all must deal with. Big sigh of relief. So I can go ahead and play wheelchair basketball and it doesn't matter if I make the basket or not. And it doesn't matter to my friends if I start spasming or not. Some of them are spasming as well. I'm home.

So when we raise children with disabilities, make sure there are plenty of opportunities for inclusion, because they need the same opportunities as every other kid. However, don't forget to give our children with disabilities the chance to be around each other, because they will encourage each other and support each other. And only then will our children breathe freely.

Yes, there is a disability community. It's alive and well and critically important. 

Don't Write about Me Just Because I'm with disability

According to Statistics Canada's 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey, there are 4.4 million people with disabilities in Canada. Despite representing such a large percentage -- 14.3 per cent -- of the Canadian population, people with disabilities often feel isolated, in part because they seldom see or hear people like themselves in the mainstream media.

The media as a whole plays a key role in shaping and perpetuating public attitudes and values. However, more often than not, people with disabilities are viewed as objects of fear and curiosity rather than as productive members of society.

The media has the power to be a platform for social change. Historically, the media has encouraged debate and supported those who stand against oppressive practices. By continuing to stereotype people with disabilities, however, the media perpetuates myths, isolates millions and neglects to present an accurate picture.

The way people with disabilities are covered is problematic because it suggests attention is merited only when a person with disabilities can be portrayed as a superhero or a victim.

Don't feel sorry for me

For example, I was labeled a superhero. In an article that appeared in Kamloops This Week in May 2007, shortly before my graduation from Thompson Rivers University's social-work program, the reporter portrayed me as "a climber of a Mayan temple." He said I had been climbing pyramids since the day I was born.

In my view, receiving a social-work degree is something anyone can do. I was doing what I wanted to do. It wasn't something that should enable me to be elevated to a higher pedestal. My portrayal in the story made me feel everyone was placing expectations on me and I had to accomplish them. I could have inspired other people or I could have made them feel they were not capable of accomplishing the same. (On the other hand, sometimes I feel as though I have climbed many mountains, so it is a bit of a contradiction.)

At other points in my life, such as when I was featured in an article in the Elliot Lake Standard, I have been portrayed with pity as well as having superhero status: "Though bound to a wheelchair, unable to move her limbs, her voice silenced by a severe form of cerebral palsy."

When I see myself portrayed this way, I feel uncomfortable because I do not want people to feel sorry for me. I do not feel mentioning my disabilities was necessary. By stating I was wheelchair-bound, the reporter made it sound as though I'm not able to participate in daily activities.

The media places much emphasis on portraying people with disabilities as victims and heroes, which causes people with disabilities to feel they might not be normal unless they fit into one of these stereotypical categories. Others probably view people with disabilities the same way. This creates a distorted picture of our society.

A 2000 study conducted by British researchers Caroline Cooke, Liz Daone, and Gwilym Morris, entitled "Stop Press -- How the Press Portrays Disabled People," recorded the number of times negative words were used in news media to describe disabled people. Negative terms were often used in stories involving people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities. Words regularly used included handicap, cripple, wheel-chair bound/confined and sufferer. Other words used included vulnerable, abnormal, damaged, retarded, hopeless and afflicted.

It is essential the media portray people with disabilities fairly and properly in order to educate and change society's perceptions. Triumph over tragedy has a place but journalists should be selective in the areas in which this frame is used. People with disabilities should be portrayed accurately and not over-the-top.

Below are a few suggestions open-minded journalists can use to write engaging stories involving disability issues:

Replace passive words with active words. Avoid using terms like (the) handicapped, afflicted by, suffers from, victim of, confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair-bound, mentally handicapped/subnormal, cripple, invalid, the disabled, able-bodied. Use instead, disabled people, has (the condition or impairment), wheelchair user, has a learning disability, disabled person, disabled people, person who has cerebral palsy, non-disabled.

Mention a person's disability only if it is necessary to the story. Explore the context. Beware of accenting negativity and loss.

The same is true when it comes to medical details. There's nothing wrong with discussing when someone is experiencing difficulties, but try to avoid exaggeration and assumptions.

Speaking of assumptions, journalists should never assume their assessment of a person's disability is correct. Ask the person directly.

The British study also found disabled people and disability issues were not recorded accurately or objectively. When people with disabilities were portrayed in the media, their medical conditions were often sensationalized, again placing people with disabilities on a pedestal.

The study found national newspapers tended to focus on health, medical research and legal issues while local newspapers emphasized stories dealing with fundraising in connection to people with disabilities. The most common categories were the "brave disabled person raising money for a worthy cause" and "the family member advocating on their behalf." In the brave disabled-person category, subjects were seen as heroes with superhuman qualities or individuals needing charity.

Missing from the press was any exploration of why disabled people and their families were forced to fundraise for necessary services or equipment in the first place. None of the papers paid much attention to issues like education or employment.

A cancelled conversation

What society needs to realize is that people with disabilities are concerned about their everyday happenings like everybody else.

From 1998 to 2007, the CBC produced Moving On, which was broadcast across Canada and reported how issues like the workplace, health, technology, relationships, arts, sports and recreation related to disabled people in their everyday lives. At its prime, the program's weekly audience averaged 200,000 viewers.

But, after a decade on the air, CBC cancelled the program, attributing the decision to low ratings. The Canadian Media Guild, which represented workers with the show, said the cancellation reflected other factors including how far off the public agenda disabilities issues had fallen.

By reporting fairly and accurately and knowledgeably, journalists can play a major role in reshaping the way people with disabilities are viewed by themselves and by others in the community and returning the issue to the public agenda. It absolutely needs to be done.