“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” That’s a quote from Stevie Wonder, who didn’t let lifelong blindness stop him from becoming one of the most successful pop musicians in the world. However, given that his fellow disabled Americans currently have a labor force participation rate of only 20 percent (compared to 70 percent for non-disabled Americans) and an unemployment rate of 14 percent (compared to 7.6 percent for their non-disabled counterparts), it’s a good bet that there’s a lot of talent going to waste due to a lack of outreach and accommodation by companies that may never know what they’re missing out on. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is trying to change this via its partnership with the U.S. Business Leadership Network to highlight “inclusion practices related to disability employment.”
Last week, the two organizations hosted their second annual disability summit, which highlighted companies that can serve as models for the rest of the business community for their efforts in attracting and retaining disabled employees. “Leveraging the skills, talents and experience of workers with disabilities is not only essential to our workforce competitiveness, but it’s also the right thing to do,” said Chamber CEO Thomas J. Donohue, in announcing a new report (titled Leading Practices in Disability Inclusion) that summarizes what those companies are doing.
The report doesn’t contain anything truly groundbreaking, but it does serve as a good reminder of the importance of reaching out to organizations that work with disabled people to ensure they know about job opportunities and the resources available to help them succeed in those jobs. The companies profiled include Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurer, which since 2006 has participated in Disability Mentoring Day. During the event, disabled participants are paired with a mentor to experience a “day in the life” of working at the insurer and are then matched with recruiters who provide them with career advice to assist them in their job search. Florida Blue also provides various internship programs for people with disabilities and tries to help its non-disabled employees understand what it’s like for their disabled counterparts via a voluntary program where they experience having a disability in a simulated work environment.
IBM, meanwhile, partners with the American Association for the Advancement of Science to provide internships and full-time job opportunities for the disabled and provides its recruiters, employees and managers with disability awareness training. It also provides consulting services to other companies that seek to “integrate accessibility solutions” into their corporate activities. Microsoft, like many of the companies profiled, offers an employee resource group that serves disabled employees as well as the parents of disabled children. The technology company also developed a “disability tool kit” for its recruiters to ensure they engage in effective and respectful communication when working with disabled job candidates. Here at HRE, we’ll also be focusing on disability in the workplace with a three-part series beginning with our November issue that will profile companies that are standouts for going the extra mile to reach out to disabled workers.
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