You’re Hired…Success Knows No Limitations! By Shelley Kaplan, Director Southeast Disability & Business Technical Assistance Center Introduction The American workplace has changed for some employees with disabilities due to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and a growing interest in workforce diversity. For some, the inclusion of employees with disabilities in the workplace represents a threat to the integrity of their business and another unfunded mandate to gripe about. For others, this change is welcomed and viewed as a unique opportunity to expand workforce talent to include people with disabilities who remain a largely untapped resource for sustaining our national economy and well being. Unfortunately, workplace barriers often keep people with disabilities from performing jobs which they could do with some form of accommodation. These barriers may be physical obstacles (such as inaccessible facilities or equipment), or they may be procedures or rules (such as rules concerning when work is performed, when breaks are taken, or how job tasks are performed). Accessibility and accommodation are the cornerstones of participation by persons with disabilities in the workplace. Reasonable accommodation removes workplace barriers for individuals with disabilities.i National Disability Employment Awareness Month Public Law 176, enacted by Congress in 1945, designated the first week in October as "National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week." President Harry S. Truman designated the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities to carry out the law. Congress changed the name to "National Disability Employment Awareness Month" in 1988. The responsibility for leading the nationwide recognition was transferred to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office on Disability and Employment Policy (ODEP) in 2001. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao selected “You’re Hired! Success Knows No Limitations!” as the official theme for the October 2003 National Disability Employment Awareness Month. "This theme emphasizes the Bush Administration's position of economic opportunity through job creation," said Chao. "It also builds upon the accomplishments of the President's New Freedom Initiative which has created opportunities for persons with disabilities to be fully integrated into the 21st Century workforce." Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Assistant Secretary Roy Grizzard said, "The selection of the theme will especially help the private sector, federal, state and local governments, and advocacy organizations plan events and programs that showcase the abilities and skills of job seekers and working Americans who have disabilities." As we prepare to celebrate the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 2004, we recognize that employment of people with disabilities continues to be an issue of concern to employers and employees alike. Survey Excerpts New research from the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, “A Survey of Employers about People with Disabilities and Lowering Barriers to Work” (www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/Resources/Publication/89/WorkTrendsXIVRestrictedAccessFinalReport.pdf) once again highlights the enormity of the subjective barriers that still prohibit people with disabilities from effectively participating in the workplace. In this study, over 500 employers where queried about employment practices and people with disabilities. Among other questions, employers were asked to identify the single greatest employment barrier to people with disabilities. * 25% cited employer attitudes as the biggest single barrier o 15% cited employers’ general reluctance to hire people with disabilities. o 5% cited employers’ discomfort and/or unfamiliarity with disability. o 5% cited discrimination or prejudice. * This is supported by a 1999 study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in which 22% of 1400 Members surveyed cited attitudes and stereotypes as a major barrier (to both employment AND advancement opportunities) in their companies. * Related to this, another study of 800 employers by Gallup Robinson revealed that o 15% of them admitted discomfort with the notion of working for, or nearby, a person with a disability. * In a 2002 study by Susan Bruyère of Cornell University on policies and practices that affect the employment of people with disabilities, employers reported that attitudinal changes are possibly the most difficult organizational barriers to change. 35% of them considered attitudinal change “difficult” or “extremely difficult” to accomplish. Rob McInnes captured this issue best. “As a job seeker with a disability, this is truly a daunting notion – that 25% of the people who you will encounter in your job search – the people who read your resume, who interview you for a job – are likely predisposed to discriminate against you based on their own entirely subjective preconceptions”ii. In the words of the Chief Executive of the Employer’s Forum in Great Britain, Susan Parker, “We must now recognize that no amount of factual evidence on productivity and cost benefit can hope to persuade an individual manager who has yet to address the embarrassment, the fear and the deep-rooted negative assumptions about disability which are so often at play.” We at the Southeast DBTAC believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to participate fully within our economic communities and that workplaces are enriched by the diversity of their workforces.  People should be valued for their differences - not in spite of them.  We hope the following resources will assist you in promoting the inclusion of qualified workers with disabilities in employer diversity programs. Resources Business Reasons for Hiring People with Disabilities (A web-based video and text featuring corporate representatives) www.worksupport.com/biznet/membership.html Work At Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation (EEOC Fact Sheet) www.eeoc.gov/facts/telework.html Disability Etiquette (video) www.diversityshop.com/store/ettiquette.htm 10 Commandments of Communicating With People With Disabilities (Video) www.diversityshop.com/store/10comvid.html ADA Basic Building Blocks (online course) www.adabasics.org Employment Opportunities/Recruitment www.sedbtac.org/ada/resources/sourcesLev3.cfm?category=8&subcat=1040 WINDMILLS Attitudinal Training Program (Training Program) http://www.diversityshop.com/store/working.html i Small Employers And Reasonable Accommodation, EEOC, www.eeoc.gov/facts/accommodation.html ii McInnes, Rob, “Attitudinal Change”, Diversity World, 2003, www.diversityworld.com/Disability/DN030401.htm