By Rob McInnes
A while ago, I had the privilege of hearing an animated
panel discussion that featured three professionals with
disabilities. The session focused on the disability-related
career experiences of the three panelists – and their
career-related advice to other people with disabilities. All
of the panelists were smart, witty, and straightforward.
They freely offered personal anecdotes and insights that
were extremely helpful – for both people with disabilities
and to their employers. In this article, I want to share
just a few of the “nuggets” from that lively dialogue…
The issue of “disclosure” – when and how to disclose your
disability to a prospective employer is one of the most
prominent and personal questions that every job seeker with
a disability has to decide for themselves. Asked about it,
panelist Deborah Norling, offered her personal approach to
the issue. Deborah is blind, in mid-career, and has worked
at many different companies – most of them smaller companies
with workforces from 100 to 500 people. Throughout her
career, she has held a variety of jobs including; technical
writer, product support, customer service, and software
engineer.
“When I apply for the job, I don’t say anything about my
disability… in fact I take great pains to get hold of the
application, take it home and get it filled out without them
(the employer) knowing that I have a disability. I’m very
secretive about it. Once I have been called for an interview
I say: Oh I have a disability, it would be easier for me to
have a phone interview.” Deborah believes that an initial
phone interview, where her specific disability isn’t at all
evident, is a great way to establish rapport and credibility
with the interviewer; “...so they already get a sense of who
I am before they find out what my disability is”. If Deborah
is then invited to an in-person interview she contacts the
company, by email or phone, and explains that she is
visually impaired and that she needs specific instructions
on how to get to the interview by public transportation. She
further explains that she would plan to use public
transportation to get to the job. She always adds; “I don’t
want you to be startled about my being visually impaired. I
want you to be very open and ask me any questions that you
have about my disability.” Deborah says that the interviewer
might be surprised to also encounter her guide dog when she
arrives; but she feels that by disclosing in this way, she
goes to an interview confident that she has done her part to
prepare the interviewer for a comfortable meeting.
Confidence like that is the real key to a successful
interview according to Jon Gundersgaard. Jon is a technical
recruiter with Seagate Technology, Inc. According to Jon, he
has had multiple sclerosis for the last 20 years. Throughout
many career moves in that period, he was unemployed for only
about 6 months. “Typically, if my disability wasn’t an issue
for me, it wasn’t an issue for my employer. I’ve been hired
at 10 or 12 different places since I’ve been disabled. It
all came from a place inside me where I knew I was okay.”
Jon is a recruiter himself and he knows the importance of
self-confidence in the interview. “It is interesting hiring
people with disabilities. Some people come in and they are
obviously really insecure; but it is really impressive when
someone comes in who is totally disabled and they don’t let
it bother them at all… they’ve got a smile on their face and
they fully bring who they are into the situation.” Jon’s
advice to job seekers? “When it comes to b eing disabled and
getting a job, the important thing is what you’ve got within
yourself. You’ve got to feel within yourself that ‘I’m
okay’.” He offers similar advice to job developers and
career counselors; “If you work with people who have
disabilities, that is what you have to get across to them.
As long as they are confident in themselves then they can
move along in their career. If not… then that’s going to
hurt them.”
Once someone with a disability is hired, they have to
learn to assert themselves – both to make sure their
accommodation needs are well met and to make their
career/advancement aspirations known. Deborah explained that
she was once stuck in a customer support position for a long
time and her supervisor ignored Deborah’s desire to advance
to a position as a technical writer. According to Deborah,
she felt trapped by the widely-held notion that “…blind
people are good in customer support positions”. Shea said;
“I had to fight to become a technical writer.” Only with
persistence and the strong support of co-workers, did
Deborah eventually become a technical writer – a job that
she excelled in. Kevin Foster was quick to support Deborah’s
concern that people with disabilities who don’t assert their
needs and desires can easily be overlooked. Kevin has a
visual impairment has been with Motorola for over 10 years.
He is currently in corporate Human Resources. Kevin
recounted how he had come to meet a fellow employee who was
Deaf. Kevin asked people who worked with the man about his
job performance and was told that the man performed really
well at his job – and he had been doing so for many years.
Kevin also learned that the man only occasionally had a sign
language interpreter available – so he seldom communicated
directly with others on the worksite. When Kevin hired an
interpreter and spoke with the employee one-on-one he
discovered that the employee had a strong desire for a
promotion to a technical position. Because the employee
hadn’t asserted his need for communication-related
accommodation, he had not made his aspirations clear and had
been overlooked for promotion opportunities Within a few
weeks, with Kevin’s support, the man was promoted to a
position as a Preventative Maintenance Tech where he
immediately excelled. This was a lesson for everyone in that
workplace. In Kevin’s words; “We challenged the comfort zone
for the Management Team around him… and where he had been
great at his former job, he really excelled at his new one.”
Kevin also shared some of his personal story. Early in
his career he had been reluctant to assert his accommodation
needs in the workplace – particularly for internal training
opportunities offered by the company. “I had an overwhelming
reluctance to ask for accommodations initially. I was
concerned about the cost. I was concerned about rocking the
boat.” Over time Kevin realized that he just wasn’t getting
the resources that he needed to be most effective. “A
training department isn’t just for full-sighted people; but
for everyone in the workforce. As I’ve grown in my career,
I’ve become vocal in making sure that I am getting what I
need to do my job well.”
Effective communication and working relationships are
critical to the success of any company. Employers need to be
proactive about informing and training their employees in
the area of disability. Some non-disabled employees can be
uncomfortable with disabilities – and that discomfort
shouldn’t be ignored or overlooked. Kevin foster feels
strongly about this; “Someone’s discomfort with a disability
can shut down communication. It can impact how you interact
as a team. I’ve been a very strong advocate for
(disability-related) education and awareness and I’m very
open and out with my disability.”
Commenting on the disability-friendliness at his place of
work, Jon explained that he works at the headquarters of a
$6 billion corporation that employs 44,000 people worldwide.
“Some of the top people in the company I feel are friends of
mine. I don’t think my disability affects how high I’ll go.”
With a little levity, Jon added; “I did almost run over our
CEO with my scooter once – and that could have been
career-limiting!” On disability issues in the workplace, Jon
does believe that solid leadership is the key; “If you get
good people that are at a high level in a company, then that
company is going to be good because you have a lot of class
coming down from the top.”
This panel was such a wealth of information and insight
for both job seekers and employers alike! The job seekers
that attended were particularly thrilled with the practical
advice and encouragement that they received. Career paths
can be a lonely and daunting journey for people with
disabilities. As one of our readers once commented; “ People
with disabilities (in the workplace)… are also pioneers with
all of the attending challenges. They rarely see anyone like
themselves to help them and each new situation is uncharted
waters fraught with danger… I am so alone on this journey in
corporate America." It is really unfortunate that more
panels of this kind don’t take place all over the continent
– that there are so few opportunities for people with
disabilities to network and support each other in a
professional context.
October is Disability Employment Awareness Month in the
United States… if you aren’t already planning some kind of
special event… maybe this kind of panel is one to consider.
© Rob McInnes, Diversity World, September 2004
(If not used for commercial purposes, this article may be
reproduced, all or in part, providing it is credited to "Rob
McInnes, Diversity World - www.diversityworld.com". If
included in a newsletter or other publication, we would
appreciate receiving a copy.)
