Can We Afford to Ignore 14 Million Job Applicants?
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Can we afford to ignore 14 million job applicants?
Written By: Yoko Heukels, CMP with contribution from Rebecca Ramsey, DES and Robin Troutman
Did you know October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month? It recognizes the accomplishments and contributions of people with disabilities and affirms our commitment to ensure equal opportunity for all. Despite reported labor shortage across industries, employment rates of people with disabilities continues to lag behind, showcasing the persistence of systemic ableism in the labor market. According to the data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, if disabled workers experienced the same employment rate as those without a disability, nearly 14 million more disabled people would have been employed in 2021.
For this piece, I interviewed Julie Greenfield, a fellow meeting industry professional who is hard of hearing and has been seeking employment opportunities. She explained employers often assume Deaf and Hard of Hearing people have the same challenges and overlook the diversity within the disability: someone like Julie who can read lips and communicate vocally may require a different level of accommodations than someone who can’t read lips and has speech difficulties. Access to information is power and equal access to information can only happen if employers embrace the culture of genuine inclusivity, starting with a line item for accommodations in their budget. She has seen that employers tend to delegate entry level or lower-level positions to people with disabilities. Climbing the corporate ladder is often challenging to people with disabilities, even though intellectual ability and professional experience level are not impacted by physical disabilities.
In order to challenge systemic ableism, many organizations are taking measures to create an inclusive culture. Visit Seattle, for example, has instituted a zero-tolerance policy for language and behavior that would exclude people of any ability. In order to design intentional recruiting programs to hire differently abled people, they hired a consultant (who happens to be blind) and a neurodiversity expert. With their help, they are aiming to ensure available jobs are for everybody and there is no barrier to entry for differently abled people. This includes creating safe zones for people with autism and different neuro abilities as well. They are also incorporating the Destinations International Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Assessment Tool to ensure their culture of inclusion is extended into the local community.
Disability: IN is one of the leading resources for business disability inclusion worldwide. Their mission statement says it all: “An inclusive global economy where people with disabilities participate fully and meaningfully.” Their effort is supported by over 400 leading organizations to achieve disability inclusion and equity worldwide.
