Disability & The

Workforce
TYPES OF DISABILITIES
 Definition

 A person having a permanent physical or

mental impairment that substantially limits
that person in one or more major life
activities
 Physical
 Mental
 Medical
 Types of Disabilities
 Visual Impairments
 Mobility Impairments
 Hearing Impairments
 Seizure Disorders
 Age Related Impairments
 Psychiatric Disabilities
 Visual Impairments
 Visual Impairments range from low vision to
blindness and may
 Examples include color blindness, tunnel vision,
haziness, dimness and total blindness
 Implications – almost all jobs from technical to
industrial require sight. For instance the
computers most of us use everyday would not
be compatible because of text size and color.
 Mobility Impairments
 Mobility impairments impede one’s physical
ability. This is as a result of
 Muscular weakness and loss of control
 Amputation and loss of control of limbs and digits
 Example: Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis,
amputation of limbs
 Implications: Unable to coordinate muscular
activity from typing on a keyboard to operating
forklifts
 Hearing Impairments
 Hearing impairments range from deafness to
inability to distinguish sounds. In addition, this
can result in cognitive and language
impairments.
 Examples: Dyslexia, difficulty remembering and
problem solving, difficulty perceiving sensory
information
 Implications: Not only may there be an inability
to hear instructions, but also a problem
understanding because of cognitive and
language impairments
 Seizure Disorders
 Seizures are A sudden attack, spasm, or
convulsion and can be caused by specific
patterns of light of sound
 Example: Epilieptic and other disorders
 Implications: Employer will have to weigh
the liability of putting an employee with
seizure disorders in charge of machinary
or other functions.
 Age Related Impairments
 Age Related Impairments are conditions that
arise naturally as one ages
 Examples: Deterioration of eyesight, loss of
motor coordination, arthritis and stiffening of
joints and other degenerative effects.
 Implications: When competing against younger
candidates, the elderly are normally overlooked
because of the assumption that elderly are
unable to contribute due to the natural
conditions
 Psychiatric Disorders
 Psychiatric disorders are mental illness that
result in a disruption in a person's thinking,
feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others.
illnesses that
 Examples: phobias, social anxiety, mood
disorders, personality disorders, substance
disorders, impulse control and dissociative
disorders.
 Implications: This disruption in abilities are
internal and can not be seen, so need
awareness of illness.
PROBLEM
 The national unemployment Employment Rate f or People with Dis abilities
rate is currently 5%
 The current unemployment
rate for disabled persons is
60%
 In most cases, people with
disabilities are willing to work;
however, due to assumptions,
inabilities and/or discrimination
60 out of 100 people with
disabilities are unemployed.
 Contributing Factors
 Effects of Disability: In many cases, the
disabilities people have do not allow them
to function effectively in the workplace.
Not that they are inadequate, however
when a manager is faced with the
decision, they are more likely to decide on
the person who will be more productive.
 Contributing Factors
 Stereotypes: This factor contributes more
to the problem. Many people are not
aware that people with disabilities can be
as productive as other employees in the
workplace. This may need additional
devices to assist with their duties like
wheelchair accessible desks, mobility
devices and ergonomical accessible
stations.
 Services
 Counseling and guidance
 Counselors help people in choosing a career path and
developing a work plan
 Job search skills training
 Help creating resumes, training for interviews and
filling job applications
 Additional Training Programs
 On the job training and work adjustment training that
are focused on employed clients. These programs
can help an employer reduce their initial investment
costs in a new employee.
 Services
 Job Placement
 This is the most important service they
provide. The organizations develop
relationships with businesses in the
community and this opens up employment
oppertunities for the clients. There are
various businesses that repeatedly employ
disabled people because of these relationships
 IDEAS
1. One way to combat this problem in our
community is to educate people on the plight of
this population. As mentioned before one of the
hindrances is people’s erroneous perceptions.
This could be done through workshops and
educational seminars for people of the
community that give a clearer picture of the
need and the abilities as well as the disabilities
of people with disabilities. These organizations
already have workshops but they are only for
the disabled population and not to the rest of
the community.
2. Incentives for hiring: These are incentives for local
businesses if they hire people with disabilities.
These incentives could be monetary or other forms
but it would be with the aim of getting more
businesses to contribute to the elimination of this
problem. As stated earlier, there are a handful of
businesses that do have relationships with local
organizations – but if there were more companies
willing to hire those who qualify (through the
Vocational Rehabilitation program for instance), this
would create more jobs for this population. Since
there are workshops that provide training and
equipment/tools for disabled employees, the
companies would not have to worry about investing
ridiculous sums of money to accommodate one’s
disability (another false perception)
3. Lastly, if there could be organizational resources for
each type of disability. A lot of times all types of
disabilities get lumped together in one category and
chronic back pain is equated to anxiety disorder – when
in reality, they are two totally different areas. Along
with the other initiatives to help eradicate the problem,
organizations (or departments with local organizations)
like LARC and Voc Rehab could offer extensive resources
on the different types of disabilities. That way, an
employer would know who to contact if they had any
questions or concerns and they would not feel as
anxious. In addition, an employer could potentially deal
with one department. For instance, if they hired an
employee who was blind. If they had equipment
installed to help that employee with that job, in the
future they could hire another person with the same
disability because they have already fashioned the
workplace. So in this sense they could work closely with
counsel who would know about visual disabilities.
 Final Thought

 There is still a lot of work to be done,

however, there are competent
organizations on the scene. The demand
for services is just greater than the supply
these organizations can offer.
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Real Examples
and Case Studies
 Case Study 1
 A client has had a stroke that limits the usage of
his right hand. As a result he has difficulty
grasping and holding objects as well as difficulty
completing essential job tasks consistently
SOLUTION: The client was advised of a job in a
kitchen cutting fruits for salad. With the help of
a cutting board-fruit peeler and slicer, they were
able to gain employment
 Case Study 2
A client with spinal cord injuries who uses
a wheelchair for mobility and has limited
uses of upper arms and hands works has
customer service, data entry and other
office duties.
SOLUTION: Provide the client with an
accessible workstation allowing him to
perform the tasks
 Case 3
A client who is a long tie employee
working on an industrial sewing machine
suffers from cumulative trauma disorder
and is unable to perform essential job
tasks.
SOLUTION: Provide the client with an
accessible sewing station and eliminate
stressful and painful job tasks as well as
provide counseling to the client