‘Including people with disabilities in the workplace: How employers can do more’ - fastcompany.com
Thirty-two years of ADA is a remarkable achievement. It remains a landmark law for people with disabilities, setting out a pathway to full societal inclusion as an absolute right. But we can do more.
[Photo Credits: Adobe Stock / freeograph]
The U.S. just marked the 32nd anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a singular piece of legislation that gave people with disabilities the right to occupy public spaces—including workplaces—with the same ease as people without disabilities.
There is much to celebrate in this 32nd year, but there is also much to be done. My specialty is market-based workforce development: matching businesses that need skilled workers with people actively seeking work. Right now, I’ve noticed there’s a very real concern among business leaders about the skills shortage. Every day I hear business leaders say, “We simply can’t find enough skilled people for the job.”
But I can tell you—skilled workers are out there. Every day, I meet eager and enthusiastic job seekers keen to build a career and a life, including people with disabilities. And despite 32 years of the ADA, people with disabilities are underemployed.
According to the National Organization on Disability, almost a million workers with disabilities lost their jobs by July 2020 because of the pandemic. In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that not even one in five people with a disability were employed, and a third of them were in part-time work (whereas about two-thirds of people without a disability had jobs, and just 16% of them worked part-time).
FINDING SUCCESS WITH PARTNERSHIPS
I believe there’s no reason for so many people with disabilities to be unemployed. One way success can be achieved is with partnerships. A wonderful partnership was recently kicked off between the California Department of Rehabilitation, the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation America, and other stakeholders seeking to help Californians with disabilities access exciting full-time career opportunities. The mentored apprenticeship program has begun in Orange County, where the target is to place 100 apprentices in the health care field. There are currently opportunities for people interested in becoming apprentice spectacle-lens dispensersfacilitated by the California State Society for Opticians.
SHIFTING EMPLOYER ATTITUDE
In my experience, many employers believe accommodating people with disabilities is just too hard. They think they’ll have to remodel the office, buy expensive equipment, or provide excessive support to employees with disabilities. But this just isn’t true. Most employees with disabilities require modest accommodations to thrive at work, including an accessible space and accessible technology so they can use the same resources as their peers without a disability.
And there’s plenty of help. The Department of Labor has a website and resources specifically aimed at employers who want to accommodate employees with disabilities. Under the Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, the Job Accommodation Network offers free, expert advice and guidance on complying with the ADA and providing accommodations for people with disabilities in the workplace.
FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF OTHERS
Employers can also follow the example of companies that already include people with disabilities in the workplace successfully. We highlighted several of these companies in our report, including UPS, whose Kentucky office partnered with a local disability services provider to provide a pre-employment training course for people with disabilities. Since the program started in 2012, 87% of trainees have been hired for competitive positions at UPS.
Another high-profile employer successfully reaching out to people with disabilities is Australia’s ANZ Banking Group, which started ANZ Spectrum in 2018 to bring people with autism into the workforce. The key to the program is tailoring the company’s recruitment process so people with autism can showcase their skills. After they’re hired, employees with autism receive support from an Autism Spectrum Consultant who identifies potential barriers to success and finds solutions before small issues become big problems. One hundred percent of Spectrum participants stayed in the program or transitioned into other employment at ANZ Bank.
The ANZ program does highlight a basic requirement for building a more inclusive workplace, because while including people with disabilities in the workplace may not be difficult, it does require commitment. We’ve found that companies that make inclusion a top priority provide training to company employees at all levels—from the mail room to the C-suite—to cement inclusion as a desirable and achievable goal. They also make sure employees with disabilities receive ongoing support from mentors, coaches, supervisors, and co-workers.
Thirty-two years of ADA is a remarkable achievement. It remains a landmark law for people with disabilities, setting out a pathway to full societal inclusion as an absolute right. But we can do more. And employers looking for skilled workers can especially do more—there’s a motivated, skilled workforce ready and waiting.
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