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The Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE), a newly-formed collaborative of leading disability and business organizations, has launched "What Can YOU Do?", a national effort designed to promote the hiring, retention and advancement of people with disabilities and dispel negative stereotypes about disability and employment. This public outreach campaign strives to show employers that it pays to foster an inclusive and flexible work culture that considers the needs of all employees - including employees with disabilities.
Every day, people with disabilities can and do add value to America's workplaces. However, in both good economic times and bad, people with disabilities have far fewer job opportunities than the general population. What can YOU do to change that? CDE encourages employers and others to recognize the value and talent that people with disabilities bring to the workplace, as well as the dividend to be realized by fully including people with disabilities - because at work, it's what people can do that matters.
Employers have much to gain by having a workplace that is open to everyone. Such universal thinking not only helps recruit skilled employees, but also enhances corporate continuity efforts by helping employers retain the talents of an aging workforce. And when it comes to doing business, being inclusive of people with disabilities - in recruitment, retention and advancement - can offer companies a competitive edge. People with disabilities are known to be experienced problem solvers with a proven ability to adapt. What's more, they mirror an important and increasingly expanding customer base.
It's easy for employers, and others, to participate in the What Can YOU Do? Campaign and drive positive change. For example, the Campaign's Web site, www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org, offers users the chance to learn, engage in disability employment efforts and share their employment experiences. The site also features grassroots tools and tangible ideas for supporting the Campaign's goals.
So, what can you do? We invite you to shift from a focus on the "disability" to a focus on ability. In the workplace, we look for good workers, and a good worker is a good worker. Yet apprehension about how to communicate with and about a person who also happens to have a disability can make it difficult to shift away from thoughts about the disability. Therefore, a good place to start is to learn more about how to have easy and effective communications, especially in the workplace.
It is natural to be concerned about the "right" way to have such communications and that concern may at times pose an unconscious barrier to employing a person with a disability. Therefore, we invite you to consider the following valuable advice from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy:
Effective Interaction:
Communicating With and About People with Disabilities in the Workplace
"As children, we are curious - pointing to anything unfamiliar and asking questions. We have few, if any, inhibitions. As adults, we learn to censor our queries, feeling uncomfortable with anything unfamiliar. This is true when we are faced with new technologies. It is true when we are faced with tackling new projects for which we may not feel prepared. It is often true when we meet people who speak a different language or come from a different culture.
It is human nature and not unusual, therefore, to be concerned about interactions with people who use wheelchairs, who are blind, who are deaf, or whom we find difficult to understand. We may be concerned that we will say the wrong thing, ask an inappropriate question, or unintentionally offend. We do not want to appear uninformed or insensitive.
Tips for Speaking or Writing about People with Disabilities
A key to any effective communication is to focus on the communication itself - what information needs to be transmitted and how best to transmit it. Positive language empowers. When writing or speaking about people with disabilities, it is important to put the person first - to focus on the person, not the disability. Group designations, such as "the blind," "the deaf" or "the disabled" are not empowering. It is important to use words that reflect individuality, equality or dignity - the person who is blind, the child who is deaf, the individual with a disability, for example.
Following are examples of appropriate and inappropriate phrases to describe persons with disabilities.
Positive Phrases:
- Person with an intellectual, cognitive, developmental disability
- Person who is blind or visually impaired
- Person with a disability
- Person who is deaf or hard of hearing
- Person with multiple sclerosis
- Person with cerebral palsy
- Person with epilepsy or a seizure disorder
- Person who has muscular dystrophy
- Person who uses a wheelchair; wheelchair user
- Person who is unable to speak, person who uses synthetic speech
- Person with a psychiatric disability
- Person with a physical disability, person who is physically disabled
- Person who is successful, productive
Negative Phrases: - The retarded; mentally retarded
- The blind
- The disabled; handicapped
- The deaf; deaf and dumb
- Someone afflicted by MS
- A CP victim
- An epileptic; person with fits
- Someone stricken by MD
- Person confined, bound or restricted to a wheelchair
- A mute
- A crazy person
- Person who is crippled, lame or deformed
- Person who has overcome his/her disability; person who is courageous
Tips for Interacting with People with Disabilities
Appropriate etiquette when interacting with people with disabilities is based primarily on respect and courtesy. Below are a few tips to help you communicate effectively.
* When speaking with a person with a disability, talk directly to the person, not his or her companion. This applies whether the person has a mobility impairment, a speech impairment, a cognitive impairment, is blind or deaf and uses an interpreter.
* Extend common courtesies to people with disabilities. Extend your hand to shake hands or hand over business cards. If the individual cannot shake your hand or grasp the card, he or she will tell you, and direct where you may place the card.
* If the person has a speech impairment and you are having difficulty understanding what he or she is saying, ask the individual to repeat, rather than pretending to understand. Listen carefully, and repeat back what you think you heard to ensure effective communication.
* If you believe that an individual with a disability needs assistance, go ahead and offer the assistance - but wait for your offer to be accepted before you try to help.
* If you are interviewing a job candidate with a disability, listen to what the individual has to offer. Do not make assumptions about what that person can or cannot do.
* If you are speaking to a person who is blind, be sure to identify yourself at the beginning of the conversation and announce when you are leaving. Don't be afraid to use common expressions that refer to sight, such as, "See you later."
* If you wish to get the attention of a person who is deaf, tap the person gently on the shoulder or arm. Look directly at the person, and speak clearly in a normal tone of voice. Keep your hands away from your face, and use short, simple sentences. If the person uses a sign language interpreter, speak directly to the person, not to the interpreter.
* If you encounter an individual with a service animal, such as a dog, please do not touch or distract the animal. Service animals are working, and it breaks their training to interact with others when they are on duty. When the animal is not working, some owners may allow interaction.
* If you are having a conversation with a person who uses a wheelchair, if at all possible put yourself at the person's eye level. Never lean on or touch a person's wheelchair or any other assistive device. A person's assistive device is part of the person's personal space, and it is jarring or disturbing for anyone to have his or personal space invaded.
* If you are speaking with an individual with a cognitive disability, you may need to repeat or rephrase what you say. If you are giving instructions on how to perform a task, you may also need to give the instructions in writing.
Relax. Whether conducting an interview or day-to-day workplace communications, focus on the subject matter and not on disability related issues. Treat the individual with the same respect and courtesy that you extend to all job candidates and employees. Any initial concerns will quickly disappear as you focus on effective communications.
References
"Guidelines for Reporting and Writing About People with Disabilities," produced by the Research and Training Center on Independent Living, University of Kansas.
"Ten Commandments of Etiquette for Communicating with People with Disabilities," October 1995, National Center for Access Unlimited, Chicago, IL.
The above list of resources is not meant to be exhaustive. Any listing of non-governmental resources in this fact sheet should not be construed as an endorsement of the entities, their services or products by the Office of Disability Employment Policy or the U.S. Department of Labor.
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The Campaign for Disability Employment is a collaborative effort between the:
- American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD);
- National Business and Disability Council (NBDC);
- National Council of La Raza (NCLR);
- National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC);
- Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM);
- Special Olympics (SO); and the
- U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN).
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The Campaign is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), receives technical assistance from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) and is supported by the Disability Policy Research Center (DPRC) at West Virginia University.
For more information, visit www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org .
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