Having a disability and trying to find a job sometimes is a very long and hard process. I still get the cold shoulder even with the Americans With Disabilities Act in place. Talking with others with disabilities, I know it’s not only me.
Companies have asked me how they could better integrate more people with disabilities. From my own experience plus doing some research on the subject, here is 6 steps to take. Some of the following comes from the President’s Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities.
1. Commitment. Let all in the company know of your organization’s commitment to employing, advancing, and retaining people with disabilities. If the boss wants it to happen, everyone else will also. And, don’t just publish it once; make it an often-repeated statement. Remember, workforce diversity includes people with disabilities.
2. Recruitment. Let it be known that you are aggressively seeking job candidates with disabilities. Send your vacancy announcements to disability-related organizations and agencies. State right on the job announcement your interest in receiving applications from people with disabilities. To just state on the announcement that you are an EOE doesn’t convey that you are searching for people with disabilities.
3. Interviewing. Train your interviewers to learn how to screen-in qualified applicants with disabilities. Look at essential functions, qualifications of the individual, and ways to make reasonable accommodations.
Don’t let the disability distract you as you evaluate qualifications. Have the interviewers remember that it could be them on the other side of the desk. Everyone deserves an opportunity to prove themselves, disability or not. Be sure any tests or medical exams are performed in accordance with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
4. Placement. Be sure to test accommodations and adaptations once the person is on the job. Ask the employee with a disability to help guide you in the process. Together you can find solutions to possible problems in accomodations. Rework accommodations and adaptations, as necessary.
5. Training. Any employee’s success hinges on proper orientation and training. Be sure all such programs are accessible to your new employee with a disability. Also, make sure training programs that lead to upward mobility and career advancement are available and accessible.
6. Awareness and Sensitivity. Explain to all workers involved the principle of reasonable accommodations and the particular accommodations or adaptations that have been made.
One thing that strikes me is the number of companies that complain many of their employees don’t really care about their jobs, show up late, or just don’t show up. Knowing as many people with disabilities as I do, that is not a major problem with us. We search high and low for work. We are the largest minority with the highest unemployment rate. Ask your fellow employers what having people with disabilities on their payroll means to them and the one word they’d tell you is dependable.
If you want more proof, watch the upcoming episode of Extreme Makeover on ABC this weekend, November 9, 2008.
