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Dealing with myths and misconceptions
Most people make assumptions about people with disability. Frequently these assumptions, even when they are well meaning, do not stand up to objective scrutiny.
Below are some of the more common myths and misconceptions about employing people with disability, and the facts that challenge them.
The type of work available in my agency/area is not suitable for people with disability
Like everyone else, people with disability have a diverse range of skills and abilities to offer. Many are tertiary or trade qualified and hold senior managerial positions. People with disability are employed across many occupations
- 37 per cent of employees with disability are professionals, managers and administrators
- 30 per cent of employees with disability are clerical sales and service workers
- 33 per cent of employees with disability are from remaining occupational categories including tradespersons, production, and transport workers as well as labourers and related workers.29
Many people with disability are accustomed to finding alternative ways of doing things. This innovative thinking can be an asset when applied in the workplace.
The principles of employment are the same for people with disability as those without disability. As an employer your main focus should be on whether the individual has the skills and aptitude to do the job.
When employing people with disability, your agency can benefit by:
- attracting and retaining the best of the talent pool
- improving customer service by employing a workforce that reflects and understands the diversity of the community they serve
- strengthening workplace morale by making co-workers aware that your agency values employees with a diverse range of abilities and is willing to respond flexibly to their needs
- developing a reputation for being a good corporate citizen (which also improves employee morale)
- complying with legislative requirements and meeting international standards.
Employing people with disability is too costly—I would need to make modifications to the workplace and purchase expensive technology
In fact, most people with disability require no workplace modifications to be made and if modifications are required they are usually simple and inexpensive.
One of the preliminary findings of a nationwide study30 underway in the USA, for instance, is that more than 50 per cent of workplace adjustments needed by employees and job applicants with disability cost nothing. Of those adjustments that did cost, the results show that the median dollar value was $US600. Such adjustments included, for example, providing flexible hours, rest periods or ‘time out’; allowing more time for training; providing enhanced lighting, or adjusting work stations and seating.
Australian research31 indicates that in relation to the cost/benefit of workplace adjustments for employees with disability, 65 per cent of employers rated the financial effect to be cost neutral and 20 per cent identified an overall financial benefit.
Michael’s story
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to always have laryngitis? Probably not, but for Michael that’s a recurrent part of his life.
Michael is an APS employee with Spasmodic Dysphonia. In simple terms this is a dysfunction of the larynx (or voice box). It means that usually his voice is fine in the morning but fades during the day, especially those days when he needs to talk a lot. There is no cure for the condition, but there is a treatment available which involves having Botox injected directly into his larynx.
As Michael puts it
I have had good and not so good managers in respect to managing my condition. My current manager is aware of the difficulties I often experience in being able to speak in a strong and clear voice. It often sounds very strangled and requires people to listen intently to what I am saying.
My current manager and I have worked on some hand signals to help assist such as when a meeting gets rowdy with lots of small discussions going on and I need to make a point for all to hear I will use the “T” sign for time out and my manager calls the meeting to order so I can be heard. I also try to limit my talking to short bursts rather than long lectures.
Michael and his manager have worked together constructively to develop simple and effective ways to deal with his disability in the workplace. Like most people with disability, the changes necessary to accommodate his disability in the workplace have been minor.
Some types of disability, such as vision impairment, may require an initial outlay on adaptive technology, but even this type of set-up expense is usually cost-effective in the longer term, given that employees with disability have been shown to have, on average, higher job retention and better attendance rates than those without disability.32 In a tight labour market, high employee turn-over represents a much greater risk of expenditure. Estimates vary, but the cost of replacing an effective employee is generally calculated to be somewhere between 70 per cent and 200 per cent of their annual salary, even without factoring in indirect costs such as the effects on the workload and morale of other employees.
Finally, under some circumstances employing agencies can seek reimbursement for these costs under the Workplace Modification Scheme.33
People with disability require more sick leave, are at risk of accident and will increase my insurance costs
In fact, studies have shown that employees with disability take less sick-leave than their colleagues, have fewer accidents at work and significantly fewer recorded workers compensation incidents.34
A study conducted by the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) found that, although the perception that employees have a higher occupational health and safety risk is common, the evidence for Australian workers showed that people with disability do not have a higher risk of occupational injury. Rather, the study found that the incidence of occupational injury is lower in people with disability.35
People with disability will not ‘fit in’ in my workplace
The fact is that you are almost certainly already working with people with disability in your workplace: you just don’t know it. Data from the ABS indicates that a little less than one in five Australians have a disability that will last for a significant period of time, and mental health data indicates that a significant proportion of Australians will experience a period of mental illness in any year.
In most respects working with a person with a disability is no different than working with any other employee. People with disability are individuals—some are easy to work with, others are more complex, like everyone else. In general, though, if you employ a person with disability you are likely to take on someone who is keen to prove that they can do the job and is highly motivated to keep on doing it to the best of their ability.
Rather than being a difficult fit in the workplace, there are in fact many benefits for organisations that employ people with disability. Low absenteeism and staff turnover, low incidence of workplace injury, and employee loyalty create productive and cost-effective work environments.
People with disability bring diversity to the workplace, which has a distinct, positive impact on staff morale.
People with disability are not as productive as other workers
This reflects the perception that ‘people with disability’ are somehow an homogeneous group instead of having just as wide a range of skills and abilities as people in the community generally. People with disability are all individuals, with very different impairments and, as individuals, they adapt to particular disabilities in different ways. Some people's performance will be adversely affected, others will be more motivated to achieve results. In many cases, disability will have no impact on productivity at all.
For this reason it is difficult to make broad comparisons between the productivity of employees with disability and employees generally, and the available research on the subject is not conclusive. For example, in the USA in 1990, DuPont conducted a survey of 811 employees with disability and found 90 per cent rated average or better in job performance compared to 95 per cent for employees without disability.36
A similar 1981 DuPont study, which involved 2,745 employees with disability, however, found that 92 per cent of employees with disability rated average or better in job performance compared to 90 per cent of employees without disability.
In Australia, a study conducted on behalf of Telstra Australia in 199937 found that there were no significant differences when comparing people with disability to people without disability in the areas of performance, productivity and sales.
In contrast, the results of a study of 634 Australian employers published in 200238 showed that employees with disability rated lower than ‘average’ employees on speed and accuracy, although they rated higher on attendance, sick leave and recruitment, safety and insurance costs.
The study also found that a high percentage of employers reported significant benefits to the organisation as a whole as a result of employing people with disability.
Taken as a whole, the literature suggests that there is little difference between people with disability and other people when comparing levels of productivity.
Nonetheless, where there are concerns about the productivity of an individual, agencies may be able to address this in a cost neutral way under the Supported Wage System.39
People with mental illness are too big a risk to employ, as they may become violent
While mental illness affects many adult Australians, it remains greatly misunderstood in the community.
One of the common myths about mental illness, perpetuated to a degree by the way it is portrayed in the news media, fiction and films, is that people with mental illness have an exaggerated tendency to be violent.
In fact, people being treated for a mental illness are no more violent or dangerous than the general population. Mental illness is associated with only a small percentage of the violence that occurs in society, and people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
When people with mental illness are violent, this is usually when they are not receiving treatment or taking medication as prescribed, when there is drug or alcohol abuse, or where there is a history of violent behaviour.40
Employing people with disability will mean extra work for my staff, as people with disability need more training
People with disability do not necessarily require more training than people without disability. The amount of training required, including on-the-job training, depends on the type of job and the knowledge, skills and experience of the particular employee.
As with any other employee, on-the-job training, coaching, mentoring and learning and development programmes can assist employees with disability achieve their potential. Employees with disability need the same opportunities for learning and development as anyone else.
You will need to discuss with an employee with disability whether there are any reasonable adjustments they need in order to fully participate in learning and development programmes, and make sure that if you are engaging external training providers they are able to make the necessary adjustments.
If you employ a person with disability through a specialist provider, such as a member of the Disability Employment Network or a Vocational Rehabilitation Service, they will generally be willing to provide free assistance, including on the job training and support for the employee and disability awareness training for their co-workers.
As a manager, people with disability will require too much of my attention
Every employee has their strengths and weaknesses. Every employee has their share of idiosyncrasies that require the individual attention of their managers.
People with disability will require individual attention from their managers from time to time, just as other employees do. It is intrinsic to the notion of reasonable adjustment that managers may have to do things for people with disability that they would not have to do for other employees. In some cases this will mean extra effort, just as some employees without disability can put extra demands on a manager’s time. In most cases the research shows that it imposes no cost other than, perhaps, some care, courtesy and consideration; as the APS Values do for every employee.
It is too difficult and time consuming to alter recruitment processes for applicants with disability
Making reasonable adjustments in the selection process to allow applicants with disability to compete on an even footing is not difficult. It may require a little extra thought when preparing for a selection, but in most cases any necessary adjustments will require only common sense, courtesy and consideration.
As examples, the sort of straightforward adjustments that may be required include ensuring the set-up for work tests does not disadvantage applicants with disability, providing height adjustable furniture, providing selection documents in alternative formats if requested (such as audio cassettes or audio files, large print or Braille), allowing extra time to lodge applications where that is reasonable, or making sure that interview rooms are accessible to applicants with disability.
If people with disability apply for jobs you have advertised, the best way to establish whether you need to make any reasonable adjustments to the selection process is to talk to them. They will usually know exactly what they require in order to present their claims without unfair disadvantage.
On the other hand, failure to make reasonable adjustments during a selection process will expose an employer to the risk of complex and expensive litigation.
Antonia’s story
Antonia is a hip disarticulation amputee—her leg has been amputated from the hip—and uses a wheelchair in the office.
As a person with disability in the workforce, her biggest challenge so far has been finding an employer who was prepared to give her a go.
Prior to winning her job in the APS she had been actively seeking work for several years. Although she had used that time to improve her education and update her skills, she felt that her disability posed a problem with prospective employers.
Of course none of the employers said this, but people give quite a lot away with body language and attitude. I wouldn't tell my prospective employers about my disability until gaining a face–to–face interview as I found when I did disclose information I would not get to that interview.
Off I went to these interviews with the positive thoughts of making my future employers as comfortable with my disability as I was. Knock back after knock back until I found myself at a real low point in my life and could have easily thrown in the towel sat on the lounge and collected disability support pension for the rest of my life.
Antonia started to make real progress towards her goal of employment when she signed up with CRS Australia. With their encouragement she began to apply for jobs in the APS.
While she wasn’t immediately successful at finding an ongoing job, and even missed out on one selection round that involved a very large field of applicants, her performance was good enough for her to be invited to apply for a non-ongoing role in her agency. This time Antonia was successful.
I jumped at the opportunity and was successful; I was on top of the world. I have since moved on from my original role and have become an extremely happy ongoing employee and am grateful that my agency is an equal opportunity employer.
I have been employed since May 06, and loving it, I might add.
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