By Craig Rose
In today’s society people with disabilities are in high unemployment rates even though the benefits of employing the disabled in businesses can improve the workplace. Of the 1.3 billion people in the world that have a disability, 15% were born with it and the other 85% acquired it at some point in their lifetime. Raising awareness about accessibility in workplaces in each area of the country can ensure long term development of people’s talents which can lead to long term employment. This helps reduce turnover times in replacing employees and can bring down unemployment. If employers set low benchmarks for the employees with disabilities, this can lead to poor representation. By employers creating an inclusive environment and recognizing the wide range of diversity in disability in the workplace, there’s a shift in perspective of those with disabilities.
In the Canadian workforce, hundreds of thousands of employees are limited in their daily activities because of a physical or mental disability. Nonetheless, they participate actively, often holding jobs that match their qualifications. Despite positive stories and experiences of employees with disabilities, they still remain less likely than others to be employed in Canada and other parts of the world. Some individuals’ disabilities are so severe they can not hold a job however, many others are unable to reach their goal of employment for reasons unrelated to their condition, such as workplaces that are physically inaccessible or discriminatory hiring practices.
These situations can leave individuals feeling exhausted, make them give up looking for work and leaving them unemployed, confused and feeling worthless. This can lead to problematic situations both for for people with disabilities and more generally for society and the economy. Individuals without a paying job are deprived of the benefits of labour market participation which is a key component of social integration. In addition, society is deprived of this unemployed talent and the contributions to the economy that may represent a large opportunity cost in the context of rising retirements.
Various levels of government have implemented numerous programs and policies to deal with such issues. These policies have enabled access to employment and education to citizens with disabilities and help them break down the social and physical barriers they face. These programs look at factors associated with lower employment participation among citizens with disabilities. Attention is given to the individual’s severity of the disability and their level of education, which can significantly affect employment. Employment rates are similar between university grads with mild disability and those without a disability. Citizens with more severe disabilities are associated with lower employment rates.
When comparing university grads with and without disabilities, those with disabilities are more highly concentrated in sales occupations. In today’s workforce, employers sometimes hesitate to hire citizens with disabilities for various reasons. These may include a lack of knowledge on topics on disability and accommodation issues on their part, cost-related apprehensions, and legal obligations. Studies prove that numerous citizens with disabilities have perceived discriminatory attitudes from employers at the time of hiring or during employment.
Studies have also shown that people with disabilities are less likely to be employed. Nonetheless, additional findings have shed light on the labour force participation of people with disabilities that have illustrated that they could be a target for a number of policies that relate to employment access and labour force participation. Furthermore, education significantly reduces the differences between people with a mild or moderate disability and those without a disability. Amongst university graduates, people with mild or moderate disability had employment rates identically matching university graduates without a disability.
