Bias against intellectual disabilities
Outdated employer stereotypes and a welfare system that penalizes people with intellectual disabilities for working means these Canadians are nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than the general population, according to the Canadian Association for Community Living.
“People have just assumed that this is a group of people who don’t belong in the labour force, if they think of them at all. This is based on our age-old stereotypes that people with intellectual disabilities really are vulnerable people who need to be taken care of by society. They’re not seen as contributing members of society,” said Michael Bach, executive vice-president of the Canadian Association for Community Living. “We’ve got to shift that perception.”
The association’s 2009 annual report card, Inclusion of Canadians with Intellectual Disabilities, found just 25.5 per cent of working age people with an intellectual disability are employed, compared to 75.5 per cent of the general population.
This has led to an overreliance on social assistance as their primary source of income, said Bach.
“We’re basically paying enormous dollars as a society to keep people sidelined from the labour market,” he said.
Also, 73.2 per cent of people with intellectual disabilities who don’t live with family members live in poverty while just 23.3 per cent of the general population live below the poverty line.
But the income gap can be closed, even for people with significant disabilities, if they are given the supports they need, said Bach.
“Intellectual disability itself is not the barrier, it’s lack of support, lack of an enabling environment, that is the barrier,” he said.
While the welfare system wasn’t intended to be a primary source of income for people with disabilities, it does provide disability-related supports, such as health care and attendant care, which an individual would have to pay for out-of-pocket once employed, said Bach. This is a big disincentive to employment, he said.
Studies show people with intellectual disabilities make great employees. Ninety per cent of employers that hired individuals with an intellectual disability said they were very reliable and dedicated employees, according to an Employment Nova Scotia survey of 32 employers in 2006. Employers also experienced fewer challenges than expected when employing a person with an intellectual disability.
Also, employers find workers with intellectual disabilities contribute to the social context of the workplace by drawing out valuable qualities, such as empathy and team support, in their co-workers, said Bach.
“When a person with a disability is hired and is working alongside of those folks without a disability, the whole culture in that workplace changes and it becomes a much more positive workplace,” said Barb Penner, employment initiative co-ordinator for Community Living B.C.
For example, the owner of a Harley Davidson shop in Langley, B.C., was worried about how an employee with an intellectual disability would fit in with the rough biker types who worked in the shop, said Penner. But his worries were unfounded.
“He said it was absolutely amazing how those guys embraced this kid in the workplace,” she said, and one of the workers is even helping him build a go-kart.
When hiring a person with an intellectual disability, employers need to focus on an individual’s abilities instead of his disability, said Penner. Once the employer knows what skills the individual brings to the table, the employer can create customized employment by taking specific tasks from other jobs that match the individual’s skills, she said.
This has the added benefit of allowing other workers to focus on the higher-skilled tasks of their job.
Once employers shift perceptions about people with intellectual disabilities, reaching out to this population requires a different mindset than general recruiting. Newspapers and websites aren’t very accessible for many people with intellectual disabilities, said Penner.
To overcome that, employers should keep job ads clear and simple and partner with local agencies that provide services to people with intellectual disabilities.
Performance management still important
Once on the job, performance management is just as important for people with intellectual disabilities as for other employees, said Penner.
“People with disabilities must go through performance management. They are employees like anybody else. They need to have goals and they need to be thinking about career aspirations and opportunities within the workplace. We certainly don’t want anybody to be stuck,” she said.
HR and managers need to ensure they use simple and clear language during the process and they might want to bring in a worker’s job coach to ensure the communication is clear.
“Human resource professionals have a really important role to play in developing awareness that people with intellectual disabilities have career interests and should be supported to develop career expectations just like anybody else,” said Bach.
A worker with an intellectual disability will need support to be successful on the job, but the type of support varies from person to person, said Bach.
Generally, supports include one-on-one support for job training as well as specific training tools, such as visual aids for someone who doesn’t read well. They can also include having a support worker, or job coach, come on-site to help the individual learn the job and build relationships at work, said Bach.
“People with disabilities tend to stay about five times longer in a position than a person without a disability, so it’s worth that training,” said Penner.
Also, studies show people with intellectual disabilities aren’t any more likely to be absent or be injured on the job than someone without a disability, she said.
Even if employers overcome the stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities, for this population to achieve equal employment with the general population, there needs to be a major shift in income support policies, said Bach. This includes providing employment counselling and raising the earned income exemption so people don’t lose needed disability supports when they start working, he said.
