Employees
with
Disabilities: The Problem-Solvers
To their credit,
organizations and individuals that advocate and work to
increase workforce participation rates for people with
disabilities are continually seeking new ways to make a
convincing “business case” for hiring people with
disabilities – essentially, compiling compelling reasons for
employers to more readily consider hiring from this talent
pool.
Typically, these
business cases include considerations such as:
-
Demographic
statistics about the shrinking labor force and the
largely untapped labor pool of people with disabilities.
-
Data on the
cost-effective “return on investment” from accommodation
expenditures.
-
Statistics on the
huge customer base (market segment) represented by
people with disabilities.
-
Data attesting to
the reliability, productivity, safety, and high
retention rates of employees with disabilities.
In recent years, I
have noticed a new assertion emerging in business case
dialogues – that people with disabilities possess
highly-developed problem-solving skills, honed through their
unique life experience, which make them stand out from
non-disabled employees. Consider some of these quotes
(gleaned from various sources online):
“People with
disabilities bring unique perspectives and problem
solving skills to the work place. This is a factor
in improved productivity and creativity. “People with
disabilities are very creative and knowledgeable about a
variety of issues, because they have to be in their
everyday lives.”
“Employees
with disabilities possess valuable problem-solving
skills. They are dependable, dedicated, hard-working and
productive people.”
“People with
disabilities bring their unique perspective and innate
problem solving skills with them into the
workplace.”
“…workplaces
will benefit from the diverse thinking and
problem-solving skills these workers (workers with
disabilities) bring to their jobs.”
“Employees
with disabilities learn to persevere and develop
problem solving, planning and people skills as part
of managing a disability.”
“In living
their day-to-day lives many disabled people develop
transferable problem solving skills that are
invaluable in the workplace.”
“People with
disabilities possess valuable problem-solving
skills because they are experts in finding creative ways
to perform tasks others may take for granted.”
I know that I am
dating myself when I say this, but each time that I
encounter these kinds of statements, red lights flash and
“Danger, Will Robinson!” echoes in my mind (From 1960’s
Lost in Space). While it is alluring as a novel and
seemingly valid assertion, it alarms me because I believe it
is both invalid and insidiously harmful to the very cause
that it seeks to advance.
Not “Innate”
I certainly don’t
believe that problem-solving is an “innate” quality of
people with disabilities. “With your order you get your
Disability, but wait… There’s more! With every order of
disability, you get a free Problem-Solving Skills
Enhancement Kit!” I don’t think so. Disability doesn’t come
as a two-for-one offer accompanied by problem-solving
skills. There are a lot of great problem-solvers with and
without disabilities – just as there are a lot of poor
problem-solvers in both camps.
Not “Unique”
While I can believe
that some people with disabilities have an opportunity to
exercise and develop some exceptional problem-solving skills
in dealing with the challenges they encounter due to their
disability, those problem-solving skills aren't be any more
exceptional than those developed by non-disabled people who
face other ongoing challenges in their lives (e.g. single
parents living in poverty, new immigrants facing language
barriers and racism, entrepreneurs building small businesses
from the ground up, etc.). It is ongoing challenges that
invite problem-solving. Having a significant disability can
be one form of challenge that would invite this.
Erroneous as a
generalization
While some
individuals with disabilities do possess great
problem-solving skills, have groomed them throughout their
disability experience, and can honestly add them to the
skill set that they offer an employer, it is just wrong to
assert that all people with disabilities enjoy heightened
problem-solving skills... just as it is wrong to assert that
all people with disabilities are “dependable, dedicated,
hard-working and productive”. Sorry folks, but people with
disabilities don’t possess commonly-held special talents,
expertise or powers. They aren’t “The Problem Solvers”.
No better, no
worse
As a group, people
with disabilities are just that; “people with disabilities”.
(Read this like “people with dogs”, “people with sports
jackets”, “people with iPods” or “people with small ears”.)
Their disabilities are add-ons. At the core they are just
people – people subject to the same individualized mix of
strengths and weaknesses, talents and abilities, likes and
dislikes, and hopes and dreams that are the “stuff” of all
of us.
That is the
message that we need to clearly communicate to employers –
not that people with disabilities, as a group, are in some
way better than employees without disabilities, but that
they are no better and no worse than employees without
disabilities. That is where the truth lies and
that is where, ultimately, our success will lie… when
every person with a disability can go into an interview
confident that the employer has no biased opinion about them
(positive or negative), no preconceptions about their
ability/inability to do the job, no hesitation to fully
explore their qualifications, and every intent to make a
hiring decision based on their individual merit.
~ Rob McInnes
©
Rob McInnes, Diversity World, June, 2009 (If not used for
commercial purposes, this article may be reproduced, all or
in part, providing it is credited to "Rob McInnes, Diversity
World - www.diversityworld.com". If included in a newsletter
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Some useful sites on
the Business Case for hiring employees with disabilities:
disabilityworks:
www.disabilityworks.org/default.asp?contentID=143
US Department of Labor/ODEP:
www.earnworks.com/BusinessCase/index.asp
Oregon Business Leadership Network:
www.obln.org/BUScase.htm
WorkAble Solutions (Canada):
www.workablesolutionsbc.ca/site/
workable_solutions/resources/toolkit2.asp
Disability Business Case Tool (Employer’s Forum, UK):
www.realising-potential.org
The
Campaign for Disability Employment is sponsoring a video contest – inviting
submissions of 60 seconds or less designed to make people think and
challenge their opinions about people with disabilities and employment. Top
videos will then be featured on The Campaign’s Web site, planned for launch
in August 2009. Also, the overall contest winner will receive a prize worth
$1,500 and may have the opportunity to meet with disability, business, or
government leaders and be honored at a Campaign event in Washington, DC.
The
Canadian Abilities Foundation has partnered with the Workopolis NicheNetwork
in launching a new on-line job board - jobs.abilities.ca. Workopolis.com is
Canada’s largest job site with nearly 4 million users a month and more
Canadian employees and employers trust Workopolis to make their career
connection than any other service online or off. The Canadian Abilities
Foundation acts as a forum for the exchange of information to promote an
inclusive society and provide inspiration and opportunity for people with
disabilities.
The
Institute for Community Inclusion is collecting and
cataloguing state-level policies and practices that promise
to improve and expand employment opportunities for people
with intellectual disabilities. 
This
80-page report by the National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for
Youth and the Workforce Strategy Center examines the efforts of community
colleges to function as intermediaries in meeting the local workforce
development needs of employers and promoting career opportunities and job
attainment for students, including those with disabilities. It reveals some
disconcerting concerns about the supports available to students with
disabilities and makes some well-reasoned recommendations for improving the
effectiveness of these institutions in making employment/career outcomes
more successful for students with disabilities. Two examples of the report’s
findings are: 
America’s
Heroes At Work have made many additions to their website over the
past year. One of these is the “Success Stories” that they have been
collecting of both individual veterans with disabilities who have
successfully transitioned to civilian careers and of outstanding
companies who have proactively hired veterans with disabilities.
Stunts-Ability
was founded by R. David Smith, a native San Diegan. Even though David was
born missing the lower part of his left arm, it never stopped him from
becoming stuntman and actor over 24 years ago. Along with some of
Hollywood's top stunt coordinators, David offers professional training
courses to all disabled and able-bodied participants. Stunts-Ability also
places trained amputee stunt actors in movie and television roles.
Receiving
a copy of this Montana-based quarterly magazine was one of the
nicest surprises I have had in years. Issues of this full-size,
professional-feeling, glossy magazine are about 50+ pages long and
chock full of terrific information for and about people with
intellectual disabilities. The content is probably best-described on
the magazine’s website: “Finding a good restaurant. Landing a job.
Shopping for a cell phone. Buying your first home. In our
experience, people affected by intellectual disabilities often have
been left out of these decisions. Apostrophe will give them the
information they need to make these choices for themselves.” Anyone,
anywhere, living with a developmental disability, having a family
member with a developmental disability, or working with folks with
developmental disabilities deserves to have the quarterly shot of
optimism, celebration and right-thinking about citizenship and
inclusion that Apostrophe is steeped in!
Video:
The Job Accommodation Network
NEW
DVD:
Ahead
2009 Global Access
USBLN
2009 Conference
ATIA
2009
CAREERS
Conference 2010