HR Practitioners and business owners have found themselves increasingly involved in the search for employing People with a Disability. This is both due to a requirement of companies to comply with the Employment Equity laws in this regard, as well as businesses recognizing an opportunity to harness the contributions that this section of our population can add, both as employees as well as clients.

Once the definition of disability had been unpacked, HR Practitioners set out to source and employ individuals who meet these criteria, but whom were able to add value to the company in terms of competence. This task is, to many, proving to be more difficult than was initially expected. So the question for many is this: “if there are an estimated 2.5 million people with a disability in the South African population, why are they not responding to our advertised vacancies?”

The answer lies in the harsh reality that there are still many environmental, attitudinal and organizational barriers that prevent the integration of people with a disability. From inaccessible public transport, to stereotypical understandings of what limitations a certain disability imposes, the barriers persist. Whilst many companies are making great progress in terms of removing these barriers through environmental accessibility audits and ‘disability awareness’ campaigns, the struggle to integrate PWD persists. What is needed is greater pro-activity on the part of building and transport regulations, with penalties imposed for non-compliance in terms of accessibility, employers holding their suppliers accountable for removing barriers within their own environment,  and a review of the spirit of inclusion as promoted by the relevant Labour Legislation.

It is important to note that PWD as a group (despite gender, race, ethnicity etc) are recognized as being previously (and to a large extent, currently) discriminated against due to the way society is and was organized. Aside from environmental segregation, this extended within the political, educational and socio-economic realm. Whilst we are making great strides towards integrating educational access from a race and gender point of view, segregation of learners with a disability continues, often with no legitimate explanation. As a result, the labour pool of PWD continues to be very small in terms of sourcing qualifications and experience. So why does it continue to be ‘constitutional’ for public and private employers to only consider the employment of a PWD if they comply with race and gender requirements as well. This reduces the already scarce resource even further.

I put forward this point to ponder : The most effective way of breaking barriers is to source the role models first. This has been a long recognized practice in terms of successfully creating a culture of acceptance of diversity. So consider the following process:

>    Open all your positions to PWD – don’t allow your stereotypical understanding of what certain ‘disabilities’ will or will not allow to dictate what positions you think are suitable.

>    Remember that AA status of PWD ie. Consider the competence or the potential to become competent in a reasonable amount of time

>    Use the ‘reasonable accommodation’ criteria rather than the medical definition of the disability to determine the ‘feasibility’ of the person in the role. Two different people can have exactly the same medically defined disability, however their reasonable accommodation requirements can be worlds apart due to the way they, or their family, have approached the disability.

>    Make sure that the reasonable accommodation measures that are necessary to allow the individual to perform the outputs of the job are put in place before the incumbent begins in the role. Not only does this present the company as genuinely committed to integrating PWD, but it will ensure that productivity is immediately achieved.

>    Be proactive with regard to training initiatives and succession planning so as to achieve representation in specialized areas.

>    Don’t be picky about race or gender within the ‘PWD’ pool – whilst this may be a contravertial viewpoint, the realistically small pool of experienced and/or qualified PWD must be tapped in order to get in those ‘change champions’ that will pave the way for others.

Disability theorist, Deborah Marks, puts it perfectly when she states that :”…to argue that disability is just a matter of bodily impairment is similar to arguing that the experience of racism, can be explained by skin colour alone…”.  The recognition given through the employment Equity act, for employing people with disabilities, does not discriminate between race.

In conclusion, the point is simple. Competence first (or the potential to become competent in a reasonable amount of time), disability second – with a recognition of the need to consider that disability imposes the same segregatory barriers, despite the race, gender or ethnicity of the person with that disability. To put it rather simplistically: stairs don’t discriminate based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other general ‘grouping’!

Written by :

Lesa Bradshaw.

Managing Member of Bradshaw LeRoux Consulting.

Tel: 031 765 2547 and 083 252 6486

info@bradshawleroux.co.za

www.blplacements.co.za

Photos by: accent on eclectics. Used under the creative commons 2.0 license

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 2:52 am and is filed under Industry Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.