Greater Miami Society

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• Greater Miami Society
• For Human Resources
• Management
• Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
• The Business Argument for Focusing on Abilities
• Not Disabilities
• Presented by Eladio Amores

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Interesting Statistics

• 54 million people in the U.S. have a disability
  or 19 of the population
• 2.2 million in Florida
• A person suffers a disabling work injury every
  nine seconds (National Safety Council 2004)
• Almost 3 in 10 workers entering the workforce
  today will become disabled before retiring
• Over 900 different conditions (unique to the
  individual)

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• Employees with disabilities have been shown to
  have the same absentee and sick rates as
  temporary able body employees
• Since 2000 the number of disabled workers in
  America has increased by 35 according to the SSA
• Chances are that most organizations (know it or
  not), currently have employees with disabilities
• Chances are good that with our aging workforce
  many more employers will have an employee with a
  disability on staff in the future

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Benefits of Hiring People with Disabilities
Equal or Higher Job Performance Added
Diversity Higher Retention Market
Attraction Low Absenteeism Greater
Motivation Tax Credits WOTC
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Avoiding Litigation - Know the LawADA Definition

• A person with a physical or mental impediment
• Has a record of such impediment
• Or is regarded as having a physical or mental
  impediment

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Americans with Disabilities Act

• ADA defines a disability as a
• physical or mental impairment that
• substantially limits one or more of major life
  activity such as seeing, hearing, speaking,
  walking, caring for
• oneself and breathing

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Qualified Person

• A qualified person meets the employers
  requirements, such as experience, educational
  background, etc. for a particular job
• A qualified person is able to perform the
  essential functions of the job with or without an
  accommodation (without causing undue hardship for
  the employer)

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Americans with Disabilities Act

• Job discrimination against qualified people with
  disabilities is illegal
• No quota action obligations
• Must provide reasonable accommodations that
  permit a qualified applicant or employee with a
  disability to participate in a job application
  process or/and to perform the essential functions
  of a job

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Reasonable Accommodations

• Examples of accommodations
• Making existing facilities accessible
• Job restructuring
• Part-time or modified work
• schedules
• Providing assistive technology (AT)

Source http//www.cacp.gatech.edu/Presentations/G
TC_2005/GTC2005.pdf
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Reasonable Accommodations

• Changes or adjustments that do not present undue
  hardships for the employer
• Most accommodations are inexpensive
• and easy to make, less than 500 on the average
• The vast majority of workers with disabilities do
  not require accommodations

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Undue Hardship

• SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTY OR EXPENSE
• FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY
• UNDULY EXTENSIVE
• SUBSTANTIAL DISRUPTIVE
• ALTER NATURE OR OPERATION Of BUSINESS
• CASE-BY-CASE

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• ADA does not contain a list of medical conditions
  that constitute disabilities
• Employers with 15 or more must comply
• Disability claims are rare, 91 of employers had
  no ADA complaints
• People with Disabilities want jobs
• not lawsuits

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Myths and Facts

• ADA is not an affirmative action statute
• No preferential treatment required
• merely on account of the employees disability
• Accommodations which require special
  dispensations and preferential treatment may not
  be reasonable under ADA

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Employment Practices Under ADA Rules

• Recruiting
• Interviewing
• Training
• Leave
• Layoff
• Benefits
• Firing
• Promoting
• Job assignment
• Pay

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Recruiting and Interviewing
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Disability Issues- Employer Tips

• Dos and Don'ts when interacting with applicants
  with disabilities
• Do not focus on a disability unless it is
  necessary
• Do not portray people with disabilities who
  succeed as superhuman

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Common Courtesies

• Make appropriate contact with an individual with
  a disability
• (according to the situation as you would with
  anyone else, e.g., a handshake or arm around the
  shoulder)

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Common Courtesies

• Offer assistance to an individual with a
  disability
• But wait until your offer is accepted before you
  help
• Do not assume you know the best way of helping -
  listen to any instructions given
• Do not make assumptions
• About the existence or absence of disabilities -
  some people have hidden disabilities, e.g.
  epilepsy, diabetes, asthma

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Common Courtesies

• Talk directly to the individual with disability
  person
• Rather than through a companion
• Relax and make eye contact
• Do not be embarrassed about
• using common expressions
• Such as see you later or Ive got to run,
  which may relate to a persons disability

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Watch your Language

• It is important to gain a general understanding
  of words and phrases which may offend people with
  disabilities
• There are no hard and fast rules

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Disability Language

• Many individuals with a disability find the word
  handicapped offensive as it carries
  connotations of cap in hand
• Instead, say person with a disability or
  individual with a disability
• Medical labels are undesirable and often
  misleading, as no two people are alike, they say
  little about people as individuals

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Disability Language

• Do say wheelchair user or person who uses a
  wheelchair
• Do not say wheelchair bound or describe someone
  as confined to a wheelchair
• Remember that a wheelchair can represent freedom
  to its user

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Disability Language

• Do say individual with a disability or person
  with a disability
• Do not say invalid (this can be construed as
  not valid)
• Do not equate illness with disability

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Meeting People with Mobility Limitations

• When talking to a person in a wheelchair try to
  put yourself at their eye level, i.e., sit in a
  chair rather than remain standing
• Do not grab the back of someones wheelchair to
  push them along
• Wheelchair users can get around under their own
  power

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Meeting People with Mobility Limitations

• Leaning on a persons wheelchair is similar to
  leaning on a person and is disrespectful and
  annoying the chair is part of a persons personal
  body space
• Do not touch/remove a persons mobility aid
  without the persons consent, for example
  crutches

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Meeting People with Mobility Limitations

• If a person with a mobility difficulty is
  attending a meeting or interview, check the
  following
• Are there suitable parking arrangements?
• Is there a ramp or step-free entrance?
• Are there suitable toilet facilities?
• Is reception alerted to provide assistance?

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Meeting People with Vision Impairments

• Identify yourself clearly and introduce anyone
  else who is present, including their relative
  position to you
• When offering assistance to a person with a
  visual difficulty, ask them if they would like
  assistance and how you can help

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Meeting People with Vision Impairments

• When guiding a person with a visual difficulty,
  give him/her clear instructions, e.g., This is a
  step up or step down - not merely a step
• When offering a seat, place the persons hand on
  the back or arm of the chair
• During a group conversation refer to the person
  you are talking to by his/her name

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Meeting People with Vision Impairments

• Do not leave someone talking to an empty space
• Inform them when you are ending a conversation
  or departing
• In welcoming a person who is visually impaired to
  a room they have not been
• in before, give a brief synopsis of the
  geography (shape, size, windows)
• and contents (furniture and people) of the room

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Disability Language

• Say he/she is deaf/hard of hearing, or he/she
  is blind/has a vision difficulty
• NEVER say deaf and dumb
• Remember that there are differing levels of
  deafness and blindness

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Meeting People Hard of Hearingor with a Hearing
Impairment

• When meeting a person who
• reads lips
• Look directly at them and speak slowly and
  clearly
• Do not shout or exaggerate lip movements as this
  will distort understanding
• Speak with facial expressions, gestures and body
  movements which emphasize the words you use (only
  3 out of 10 words are visible on the lips)

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Meeting People with Hearing Impairments

• Do not make assumptions about a persons mode of
  communication
• Always ascertain method of communication the
  individual prefers
• to use
• If a sign language interpreter is working with a
  person who is deaf, always face and speak to the
  individual

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Meeting People with Hearing Impairments

• When speaking to an individual who is deaf or
  hard of hearing, remember not to shout
• Facial expressions and gestures help individuals
  who are deaf to understand you, face the source
  of light and keep hands, cigarettes and food away
  from your mouth when speaking

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Meeting People with Hearing Impairments

• To obtain the attention of an individual who is
  deaf, tap him/her on the shoulder or wave
• Do not shout
• If you are with an individual who is deaf, and
  the telephone rings or someone knocks on the
  door, tell the individual, then excuse yourself
  and answer the phone/door

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Meeting People with Hearing Impairments

• In group conversation, inform the individual who
  is deaf what the topic is so he/she can
  contribute
• Hearing aids amplify ALL sounds so attempt to
  keep excess noise to a minimum

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Social Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship
Programs
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Resources

Florida
Vocational Rehabilitation
www.fljobconnections.com
Able Trust
www.floridabln.org
Job Accommodations Network
www.jan.wvu.edu/soar

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Resources
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Conclusions

• Any one of us, can become a person with a
  disability
• Always treat others as they would want to be
  treated
• Each individual is unique
• The word normal has no real meaning if we are
  all different

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We could learn a lot from crayons
Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are
dull, Some have rare names, and all different
colors, but they all have to live in the same
box!!
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Closing Thought

• Accept Difference
• Value Difference
• Teach Difference
• Till Difference Doesnt
• Make a Difference

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Eladio Amores Corporate Consultant Florida
Department of Education Division of Vocational
Rehabilitation
941-359-7811 Eladio.Amores_at_vr.fldoe.org www.fljo
bconnections.com