Think about abilities not disabilities
When recruiting, firms should look at what the disabled can do rather than what they cant, says Richard Donkin
What proportion of your workforce is disabled? Do you have any idea? I recently suggested to delegates at a conference that they pose this question in an email to their human resources directors. If the answer was: I dont know, the follow-up question should be: Why not?
But you would know the answer, wouldnt you? Any self-respecting HR function has a designated disability champion in its team whose job is to ensure that the company is actively recruiting people with disabilities and providing for their needs in the workplace. This may include extra training, technological assistance or flex- ible working arrangements.
The reason employers do these things is not because they are charitable, but because they know what good value they can get by employing someone with disabilities. Research shows that they usually perform well in their jobs, have
better attendance records and
display higher levels of loyalty to their employers.
While HR may know all this, it seems that others dont. There are about eight-and-a-half million disabled people in the UK. Only three million of them are in work while three million are sitting at home receiving incapacity benefit. Some have been pensioned off by their companies when they could have been rehabilitated and redeployed elsewhere. For those who havent done the sums covering disabled employees, it might be about time to start.
Readers will already know about all the issues surrounding the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 amended last October to include all employers when previously it applied only to those with workforces of more than 15 people. While this law is probably necessary, I worry that it may deter smaller employers from taking on someone with a disability. Another way to encourage companies would have been to have issued incentives or tax breaks. Some European countries, like Germany, impose quotas, which has concentrated a few minds.
Disability should not be about corporate conscience. It is part of the diversity argument yet, in spite of the high profile enjoyed just now by diversity, this group tends to be one of the neglected minorities. Perhaps it has something to do with confused attitudes. Our instincts tend to be charitable. But disabled people dont want charity, they want inclusion. They are not some separate species. In fact, they are not they at all but us and we will all know that one day, if we live long enough. We will all find ourselves categorised somewhere as disabled.
A few weeks ago I had a glimpse of this future as I was standing on a busy Tube train. I saw a younger chap making signs at me, trying to catch my eye. I could read his lips. He was saying: Do you want my seat?
I looked around for the little old lady he must be speaking to, but no, he was addressing me. This had never happened to me before and my initial reaction was one of shock followed by anger. I felt like punching his lights out. OK, my hair is prematurely grey and someone might easily assume mistakenly that I am over 50, but surely you have to be in your 70s to get offered
a seat?
I recalled this story when I was trying to put myself in the shoes of someone with a severe disability being constantly offered help by do- gooders. Those with obvious disabilities (many are not obvious) are in an impossible situation, wanting to do their own thing in the face of well-meaning people who just want to help. Even more frustrating for people with disabilities is that on some occasions they may need help.
Transfer these issues to the workplace and you begin to understand why some employers go hopelessly wrong when dealing with disabled employees and job candidates. A common mistake in an interview is to focus on a persons disabilities rather than their abilities. I have encountered the same thing in appraisals when a manager has spent more time on my weaknesses than on my strengths. Just as you dont employ someone for their weaknesses, you dont recruit someone because of their disabilities but for the things they do well. Perhaps thats the answer. Switch from disabilities to abilities and we begin to see the light.
