EDUCATE TO INTEGRATE
You have addressed what many in this field find to be a very
sensitive and therefore little addressed concern in the field of
Disability & Work. For years now, as a Job Developer with many years
of hard earned experience and expertise helping employers to
create/niche and retain qualified candidates with disabilities to
the workplace, I have been preaching exactly much of what you have
expressed about reframing roles and responsibilities in this issue.
Unfortunately, my words and those of many of my colleagues who hold
the same belief continue to fall on deaf ears.
Yes, it is time for people with disabilities and their advocates
to change their tune for the betterment of our community across the
board. Regardless of the multitude of programs (and this is another
whole concern shoved under the carpet time after time by the powers
that be) that exist here or in the U.S.A., candidates/employees with
disabilities like every other "wanna be" have to be able to
integrate, associate, collaborate and co-operate effectively to
secure and maintain their choice of work successfully. In order to
do so, it is therefore incumbent upon them and their job
developer/advocate/agency to be the type of ambassadors you suggest.
"Foreign Soil" is a choice phrase. I have often said to
colleagues and my candidates that it might serve us better to
perceive employers and their family of employees, et al as having a
disability. This disability being a Complex Cognitive Impairment
brought about through Ignorance, Fear, Lack of Experience &
Education, Systemic Barrier-building and inept Government
Legislations, Policies and Procedures. Over the past thirteen years,
this is the method of approach that I have adopted and have passed
on to my clients and their support workers with great success for us
all, including our employers.
Obviously, the foregoing attitude is not the total solution...our
candidates still must possess at least the entry level technical
skills and abilities, as well as the personality fit to the type of
work environment. Again, I continue to see so many Job
Developers/Placement Specialists trying to fit square pegs into
round holes simply because they are so ill trained and experienced
to perform their roles. A lack again brought about through
misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the role of a Job
Developer/Placement Specialist in the field of Disability & Work.
Most individuals I have met in this field, and they number
legion, entered into the profession with a passion to help people
with disabilities achieve true equality in their community,
including the right to work and contribute. However, of that same
number, most are also social workers with very limited
understanding/experience in Human Resources Development and or
Business to be able to conduct proper Job Development/Placement for
candidates in the mainstream workforce. Candidates who for the most
part are not just like everyone else when it comes to competing in
the mainstream, otherwise why would there be Special Measures, Equal
Opportunity, Workplace Equity, etc. etc.; and, more importantly,
programs that are continuing to fail our people so abysmally even in
this 21st Century of claimed ultra-civilizing of Humankind through
technology & global interconnectedness because crucial elements are
obviously missing.
Yes, people with disabilities have the same dreams and should
have the same right to achieve their desires and ambitions like
everyone else. But, without doubt, whichever way we want to cut it,
the fact remains that we cannot achieve, overnight, what thousands
of years of benevolent systemic barrier-building created for people
with disabilities. Much work needs to be done, much more
aggressively and with far more willingness on the part of people
with disabilities, their agents, and government to help employers
and the public in general to become more educated about and
understanding of a significant population of people. A people who
represent a brother, sister, spouse, parent, child, friend or
co-worker...because People with disabilities are not an alien
specie. They are already in our Mainstream...be they Anglo Saxon,
Chinese, French, Afro-Canadian, First Nations/Native...they exist
within a family within our community. However, it would indeed serve
us well if we adopt ed the same approach to that of a "foreigner"
being assimilated and welcomed into our country because
socio-economically it made good business sense to employ their
special talents/abilities regardless of perceived language/cultural
barriers.
Of course, it obviously has not helped the cause in Canada, and I
am sure the U.S.A., by us having a continued and distinct lack of a
proper holistic approach to getting candidates with disabilities up
and running. Because of the incredible maze of bits & pieces of
programs & services working not in tandem but so separate and apart
that the left hand rarely knows what the right is trying to achieve,
job seekers with disabilities are continuously dis-serviced.
Sometimes, it almost presents as programs and services vying against
each other to perpetuate the "benevolent sheltering" of the
individuals that they are clamoring to serve and to want to help
achieve their dreams. Again, I believe this is due to a continued
and historical oversight of the real complex issues and concerns,
lip-service by the political who's who without any true interest
in/commitment to the same, and resultant lack of education, training
and support for those who serve/advocate for peo ple with
disabilities in this arena.
So, in concurrence with your comments, this too is my belief...to
bridge the gap more effectively and in lieu of truly efficient
government employment programs and services, we and our clients must
seize every opportunity to act as ambassadors on the foreign soil of
the workplace until that better day. A painful job but hey, who will
be the losers here if we don't grab the baton?
Even within our community there are distinct people claiming to
be different culturally e.g. the Deaf and the Blind. Not only do
they have to educate so-called mainstream about their unique culture
as a people with disabilities but, so too, do they have to educate
and integrate with the rest of the community of people with
disabilities. Point is, what makes them any more unique and
different than say individuals living with the effects of an
acquired brain injury, people with schizophrenia, or any other
mental, physical disability? It's the fact that over hundreds of
years through universal need and given the vast numbers of their
people, they united to develop and create a culture that allowed
them to bond, unite and learn towards achieving international
recognition then acceptance.
Today, the Deaf Community is particularly recognized and
respected as a distinct culture internationally. And, this was
achieved only through a united front that set out to educate in
order to integrate....the wonder of it all is this culture which is
perceived as having limited communication could have communicated so
effectively to the rest of the world to bring about so much for
their people. Let us therefore adopt this people's attitude across
each and every area of disability....Educate to Integrate. Let us
exercise the same compassion, understanding and empathy that we
expect from "the other side". Let us practice true equality by
offering to do our share of bearing the burden for the rite of
passage to the Full and Final Emancipation of People with
Disabilities across the globe. Join the "A" Team...Achieve through
Acceptance of Accountability and Responsibility Always.
- Ilsa Abraham, Community Head Injury Resource Services, Toronto,
Canada (jobdevelopment@chirs.com)
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INDIVIDUAL VS. SOCIETAL CHANGE
I read your feature article in the November issue. While I think
there is value for disabled job seekers to learn to be effective
communicators and present themselves in a favorable light to
potential employers, there is also value in changing the employers'
attitudes.
I think it is important to recognize and support the disability
rights model that has created so much positive change in the U.S.
Prior to the early 1970s people with disabilities were expected to
fit in. If they were not able to find a way to participate that was
unfortunate. The example I use is when I went from third to fourth
grade. The elementary school I attended had the first three grade
classrooms and kindergarten on the ground floor while fourth and
fifth were on the second floor.
As a student I was expected to climb the stairs if I wanted to go
to the fourth grade. I spent much of second and third grade learning
to use long leg braces and crutches so I could go to the fourth
grade. Because of this individual focus no one, not my parents,
teachers, or administrators, thought to move the fourth grade to the
ground floor when I needed to be in those classrooms.
Once the disability rights movement gained power we were able to
put into place accessibility laws and civil rights to help level the
playing field. Employment is one of our toughest issues. It is
important for us to continue working to chance the attitudes of
employers and government officials to create an environment that
welcomes people with disabilities.
- Anthony Tusler, About Disability, Cotati, California (ATusler@AboutDisability.com)
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TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR DISABILITY
I have worked with Rehab many years and strongly supported the
ADA and all that meant in attitude changes. However, I do still
strongly feel that a disabled person needs to take responsibility
for their disability as much as possible. Many people I work with
interpret ADA to mean 'here I am, take me as I am' and to a certain
extent this is true. However, if you need to take meds, schedule
doctor's appointments, stay in treatment, etc. to function the best
you can, then you need to do these things and not expect the
environment to accommodate everything.
- Sharon Bale, California (SBale@dor.ca.gov)
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EMPOWERING
Thanks so much for sending me these articles. They are
empowering! And, for all of us who have disabilities, seen and
unseen, it is a confirmation that our voices are being heard.
- Shelly Barteaux, Oregon (shellyb@cascadiabhc.org)
***************
THEIR WORDS AND ACTIONS AFFECT… THOSE WHO COME AFTER
You make a really good point. Those with obvious disabilities
carry the burden, directly or indirectly, of opening doors for other
persons with disabilities. As much as they're entitled to their
feelings and unique dispositions, their words and actions affect the
opportunities for those who come after. This is due to the tendency
of employers and others who have little experience interacting with
people with disabilities to not see their individuality. I enjoy
your perspective.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To
change something, build a new model that makes the existing model
obsolete." -Buckminster Fuller
- Kevin Ionno, Department of Labor, Vocational Rehabilitation
Program, Georgia (Kevin.Ionno@dol.state.ga.us)
