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You can integrate people with disabilities into your workforce
through a six-step process:
1. COMMITMENT
Let everyone in the company know of your organization's
commitment to employing, advancing, and retaining people with disabilities. If
the boss wants it to happen, everyone else will too. Remember, workforce
diversity includes people with disabilities.
2. RECRUITMENT
Let it be known that you are aggressively seeking job candidates
with disabilities. Send your vacancy announcements to disability-related
organizations and agencies. Indicate your interest in receiving applications
from people with disabilities.
3. INTERVIEWING
Train your interviewers to screen qualified applicants with
disabilities. Look at essential functions, qualifications of the individual,
and ways to make reasonable accommodations. Don't let the disability 12
distract you as you evaluate qualifications. Be sure any tests or medical exams
are performed in accordance with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
4. ACCOMMODATION
Be sure to test accommodations and adaptations once the person is
on the job. If the adaptations are no adequately accommodating the employee,
make adjustments or try new ideas. Include the employee with a disability in
the process of finding and implementing reasonable accommodations and, if
necessary, call the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) on 800-526-7234.
5. TRAINING
Every employee's success hinges on proper orientation and
training. Be sure all such programs are accessible to your employees with
disabilities. Also, make sure programs that lead to upward mobility and career
advancement are available and accessible.
6. AWARENESS/SENSITIVITY
Explain to all workers the principle of reasonable accommodations
and why accommodations or adaptations are made. Knowledge is the key to
understanding. Also, have someone knowledgeable speak to co-workers about
disability myths and misconceptions. Your local Independent Living Center or
disability organizations may provide training and orientation to your workforce
(see resources at the back of this book). An educated workforce will be better
able to ensure the success of your new worker with a disability.
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Tomark Industries Inc. of Spartanburg, South Carolina,
makers of rubber and thermo-plastic hose assemblies for barbecue grills, fish
cookers, and soft drink dispensers, hired a few people with visual disabilities
to assemble intricate pump systems. With help from the South Carolina
Commission for the Blind, Tomark Industries installed lighted magnifiers at the
assembly stations, which let the employees with visual disabilities see their
work as clearly as-if not better than-their assembly line fellows. Soon the
company installed the magnifiers on every station to improve product quality
throughout the assembly line and reduce eye strain for those people without
visual disabilities. |
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