The Disability Talent Pool Is a Gold Mine: Here Are Some Ways to Tap It
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and I’ve never been more optimistic about the career prospects for people with disabilities and the vital contributions disabled people can make in the workforce.
I see it every day: Companies are realizing the benefits of hiring people with disabilities—a vast and underutilized talent pool that has never been better educated, trained, or prepared to thrive. For employers, it’s like discovering gold in the backyard.
Over the past three decades the Americans with Disabilities Act has elevated educational access for people with disabilities to unprecedented levels. Workers with disabilities have core talents as diverse as any segment of society, many of us are natural innovators, and many have developed specific abilities because of our disabilities. People who are blind, for example, can absorb written material quickly: Screen reader users typically read two to three times faster than most of us, and many consume digital text even faster than that!(1) Assistive technology has never been better. The momentum is real.
This has all become so obvious, I don’t even have to sell people on it anymore. Rather, there is a different challenge: Despite seeing the opportunity, many companies and hiring managers are unprepared. Recruiting, hiring and staffing infrastructure often is not set up to tap into the gold—neither to find talent, nor accommodate it.
Here are some practical tips for companies eager to tap into the pool of talented people with disabilities:
Partner with the disability-talent pipelines. There are superb educational institutions that specialize in accessible education, from Perkins School for the Blind to Gallaudet University to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology, to name a few. They are eager to work with employers and recruiters. Disability:IN already partners with more than 500 corporations and 650 universities and other sources of talent to help people with disabilities participate fully in the economy. The talent is out there—and so are institutions that want to help companies find it.
Assess functions, roles and facilities. Take a good look at the tools and systems required for entry level roles at your firm. How accessible are they? You may find that some roles are highly accessible and ready for disabled new hires, where others are not. Prioritize investments in accessibility, as well as in an accommodations team to provide productivity tools that level the playing field for disabled people.
Perform an internal assessment of hiring processes. This is a wide-ranging task, but here’s a tip on one specific segment of it: Ask all applicants whether there are any accommodations or productivity tools they require or would benefit from. We have seen a big increase in the number of applicants willing to disclose their disabilities, so why not ask? Make the process as inclusive, simple, and elegant as possible.
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Support remote work. The pandemic taught us that we can work remotely when we need to. Even though the advantages of returning to the office are clear, both things can be true. Return to work can be supplemented with remote working opportunities for new hires with disabilities. Companies might push to get everybody back into the office, but let’s not make the mistake of being so focused on returning to the office that we sideline disabled people who are at their best working remotely.
The great news: I think this opportunity is still growing and has a way to go. I believe disability inclusion is a perpetual motion machine. As more and more disabled people find jobs and accumulate work experience, disability emerges as a consumer segment unto itself. Companies that notice modify the way they design, develop, deliver and market their products and services. Doing that authentically requires hiring more disabled people, which adds to the purchasing power and influence of the consumer segment. This causes even more companies to notice, and so the cycle repeats itself. I believe this “disability inclusion perpetual motion machine” will continue like this until the unemployment rate for people with disabilities converges on the unemployment rate for everyone else. Until then, celebrate with us by getting into the game if you are on the sidelines, or getting deeper into the game if you are already here. Society becomes healthier as a fuller range of its citizens get to participate and thrive.
?How are you seeing disability hiring practices evolve where you work? What are the benefits that you see?
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(1) text Resource Center, ‘Screen readers: hearing the unseen,’ Maciej Walaszczyk, June 28, 2021
Views expressed are as of the date indicated and may change based on market and other conditions. Unless otherwise noted, the opinions provided are those of the author and not necessarily those of Fidelity Investments.
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Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Leader
1 年Great article, Hale! This part is so true: "Despite seeing the opportunity, many companies and hiring managers are unprepared. Recruiting, hiring and staffing infrastructure often is not set up to tap into the gold..." I'd add development and career path opportunities to this list of tools that hiring managers need in their toolbox. We need to promote understanding that it's not enough to get people with disabilities in the door, but that we need them in all areas of our organizations, especially in leadership! This means that some development and leadership training programs that might not be traditionally accessible should be reevaluated. Love your LinkedIn content!
Wealth Management Service Support Specialist
1 年Accomodations are not special perks for special people but a necessity to thrive and perform better!
Consultant l Coach l Facilitator l Instructor l Transformational Leader l Change Management l Workforce Development l Career Coach l Executive Coach l Nonprofit Board l Organizational Development & Dynamics
1 年These are simple, practical & respectful ways to engage and hire incredibly talented and overlooked professionals who might add value to organizations #inclusion #disability #inclusiveworkplace
Food Service Worker at Sedexo
1 年I am extremely passionate about this. Because I do believe there is an untapped market for a variety of people with disabilities, some are more functional than others. Some are better workers than others. But everybody has a pland everybody has a function that they can do. I just wish there was a way to lobby for this. I wish there was a way to go into schools Sedexo But there are other companies out there. That also will wrong with people. And yes, sometime sometimes we need reasonable accommodations. Incompetence need to be aware of that. I'll use myself as an example, you can't yell. You can't scream at me. You can only put so much pressure on me. If you go over those limits, my anxiety kicks In and when I go over the top. With the anxiety, I can't Function Function also I do still have my struggles. But because the government says I'm high-functioning and I make too much money. I get to help that I need. Which is very frustrating cause. I really do need some extra help and nobody will give it to me. So we still have ways to go. But I would love to navigate for people like me. So that we can get the help we need. No matter how much money we make, And no matter how high-functioning we are, it's not right, and it's not Fear
Food Service Worker at Sedexo
1 年As a person with a disability. It at times can be very difficult. Define people that understand. That's just because we have a disability and don't process information. The Same way most people do. Does not mean that we are not good, workers are capable of being great workers. Sometimes we need some help. Sometimes we need some minor accommodations. Sometimes we're not as fast as other people. But we are just as capable as anyone else of doing a job. And a lot of cases that I have seen personally we want to work. But people Hear the word disability, and they think the worst case scenario. That's not necessarily true. You need to look into the person themselves and see what's behind what you visually See, don't owe me, don't always judge a book by its cover. And I've seen this happen in my own personal life more than once. I am very proud to work for a company. That in my opinion, walk the walk. And talks the talk. You do not see that very often.