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June 15, 2007
By Sylvia Thompson

We need to raise the expectations that people with disabilities have regarding their ability to work. So says Andrew Imparato, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

Imparato believes that society itself - businesses, organisations, the public sector, families and friends of people with disabilities - also need to raise their expectations of the capacity for work of many people with disabilities.

He suggests that prime-time television advertisements highlighting the potential of this group of workers would be a good place to start.

Increasing baseline computer skills and specialist programming skills for key individuals would also help, according to Imparato. He mentions a successful information technology programme run by the AAPD in assocation with Microsoft, which gives people with disabilities work experience in US federal government agencies, which can then lead on to jobs.

In the US in general, Imparato says that emloyment rates for people with disabilities have not increased since the 1980s, in spite of the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

He says that the AAPD is encouraging global companies to integrate disability into their diversity strategies. "Unfortunately, we can't point to one company that is benchmarking their progress on diversity strategies usuing disability.

"What we need is for companies to have 'disability confidence' so that they have enough understanding of the issues when dealing with employees and customers," says Imparato.

"This would lead to more employment of people with disabilities, and a greater comfort level on the issues."

He adds that employees themselves need to become effective self advocates, so that fellow workers can learn and appreciate different ways of working. In Britain, only 50 per cent of people with disabilities are in employement, compared to 81 per cent of people without disabilities.

The Employers Forum on Disability, which was established in Britin in 1986, is a not-for-profit employers' organisation focused on disability in the workplace. Much of its work involves showing companies how reasonable adjustments made to working practices can make jobs accessible to people with disabilities.

Interestingly, a recent survey found that over 60 percent of all workers would be more productive with greater use of IT accessibility features, designed to assist people with disabilities.

"In some companies, there is a willingness to employ people with disabilities, but there is an assumption that these individuals will be wheelchair users or will be blind. The varity of disabilities, from diabetes to epilepsy to mental health problems, is often overlooked," says Bela Gor from the Employers Forum on Disabiity.

She says that employers often don't feel supported and don't know where to go for help and advice. However, some companies - financial institutions in particular - are actively recruiting people with disabilities.

Others have put in place reasonable adjustment policies, so that technological adjustments can be made quickly for individuals who need them.

In Ireland, a recent report on Disability and Word found that only a small minority of employers in Ireland have employees with a disability. It also found that relatively few companies have made changes to the job or workplace to facilitate disabled workers, and 50 per cent of employers are unaware of the grants and supports available to employ disabled workers.

In the Report, the National Disability Authority (NDA) in Ireland made a series of recommendations which would help to increase employment rates among people with disabilities. These include increasing specific recruitment drives for people with disabilities both in the private and public sectors, and informing employers about grants and supports for workers with a disability. Tackling social welfare benefit traps is another issue that has arisen in both Britain and Ireland.

The NDA suggests that the State should meet the extra costs of disability without tying that help to subsistence-level incomes. One scheme, the Fas Supported Employment Programme, which encouraged people with disabilities to work for a minimum of 15 hours a week with job coaching, has had limited success. But the risk of losing state benefits remains a barrier to increasing hours.

Worldwide, there is growing awareness of the spending power of people with disabilities. In the US, disabled people are the fastest growing minority customer market which in Britain, one survey found that over 80 per cent of people with disabilities took their business to a more accessible competitor in the last year.

If you consider that one in three people have a disability or is close to someone who has, then there are many people already working with hidden disabilities.

Advocates for people with disabilities in the workplace believe that by encouraging a more open-minded culture about these workers, companies could understand their markets, their employees, their partneres and their competitors better and also increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities.