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March 19, 2008
A Learning Moment for Employers
After thinking about all the media coverage I've read
and seen about David Paterson becoming governor of New York and watching his swearing-in ceremony, I've learned some things about him I didn't know at first.
I hope employers remember these 10 points about the man who happens to have a visual impairment and to be an African-American. They may tell us what kind of chief executive he'll be for the Empire State.
First, Gov. Paterson is not a "super crip," an exception. Like all of us, he’s not perfect.During the 1990s, we began to hear stories about "super crips," those of us with disabilities who surprised others with what we could do at work.
Those surprises or even smidgens of success in a mainstream job sometimes yielded "super crip" stories about us at work -- a context others perhaps used to reconcile our apparent physical disabilities with our abilities to meet common expectations for properly applying mainstream work skills.
Thanks to technology and education and diversity efforts, there are many "super crips" nowadays in all walks of life, so the term has become irrelevant.
Second, Gov. Paterson learned to live in the mainstream by attending regular public schools in the '60s.
Learning how to adopt to the world the way it is instead of asking the world to always make an exception for yourself is an important early lesson to learn for us all. But, for those of us with disabilities, it is a particularly important milestone.
Third, as a person with a visual impairment, Gov. Paterson has learned that he can't afford to forget or overlook details.
That’s just one of the side benefits of having a visual impairment in a sighted world.
Fourth, Gov. Paterson's a listener and has learned how to ask questions as a means to gather information sometimes missed by others.
Fifth, Gov. Paterson addresses myths and fears about visual impairment with self-deprecating humor –- as you could see in his swearing-in speech.
Six, Gov. Paterson has learned how to be patient and use persistence.
Seventh, Gov. Paterson has had to develop his problem-solving skills to find ways that work best for him.
Eighth, Gov. Paterson realizes, like anyone else, he's one of a kind, remarking, "I never met anyone who is kind of like me." And, he takes that for granted.
During his swearing-in speech, he said: "To many of you, I am an unknown quantity. But that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is what we are able to accomplish today, tomorrow and all the days ahead. It's Monday and there's work to be done."
Ninth, Gov. Paterson knows his limits. He has lived with personal vulnerability, but that may not mean, as one commentator said, he's "not tough enough" to bring reform to the State Capitol.
Tenth, Gov. Patterson is inclusive, realizing the importance of bringing together people of differing races, abilities, income, and religions.
Many of these qualities have grown out of Gov. Paterson's experience of learning how to live well with a disability. They are attributes employers may want to seek in other individuals with disabilities as a way to diversify their work forces.
Through his personal experience, Gov. Paterson can continue to demonstrate the value of diversity to workplaces in particular and to society in general.
I hope employers, by watching Gov. Paterson during his administration, will realize our individual vulnerabilities are valuable -- to our society as well as individual organizations, companies and governmental agencies -- because they stretch our ability to be adaptable as human beings.
In the competitive business world, that kind of reasoning is often lost. An all able-bodied workforce, for instance, can become flabby in terms of creativity and problem-solving, precisely because it lacks diversity and does not include individuals who look at opportunities just a little bit differently than the rest of us.
Individuals with disabilities can be valuable
employees because they bring a creativity to the
workplace based on what they've learned in solving
problems which stem from their personal
vulnerabilities.
And, although they may need help occasionally, they
have most likely learned to be self sufficient on a
mature, adult level.
That's my two cents. Now it's your turn.
learn from Gov. Paterson's example?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 03:47 PM | Comments (8)
Different Services for Those in Different Career Stages
My name is Cheryl Cumings. I currently run Our space Our Place, Inc. a Boston based non profit which provides a year round after school and career exploration program for blind youth.
Prior to this, I worked at the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. While there I created a Summer Internship Program for blind college students. It soon became evident that in order to successfully implement this program, we would have to make a few changes to the way the agency operated. Working with the Director of Technology we were able to shorten the time for a technology assessment and to ensure that a student had the equipment he/she needed to do the tasks for the Internship. I have always wondered if there is a disconnect between the assistance a blind job seeker would like to receive from his/her state agency and the type of services the state agency provides.
Therefore, I would like to invite you to share your ideas, your experiences, your opinions about the type of services you would like to receive from your state agency while job hunting and whether these are the services which are available. Should a state agency offer different services to job hunters who are just starting out versus someone who is seeking assistance to switch jobs?
Posted by Cheryl Cumings at 10:56 AM | Comments (11)
March 12, 2008
Options for Positioning Your Disability
In referring to the employment rate among people with
disabilities, which hasn't shown much improvement
since 1990 when the ADA was enacted, Elaine writes:
on putting people with disabilities into jobs at
disability agencies. The needle of full employment
for persons with disabilities is never going to
start moving unless the (career) counselors, rehab
counselors, and government workers begin to look at
all aspects of the labor force as potential
locations of work for people with disabilities.
and am on e-mail lists from the Dept. of Labor and
other lists. ALL of them are focused on putting
persons with disabilities into work settings related
to disability.
The assumption that all individuals with a
disability would necessarily have the skill set,
knowledge base, desire and internal capacity optimal
for doing this is itself partly misguided thinking."
Elaine brings up some interesting choices those of
us with disabilities have in deciding how to focus
our job marketing campaigns.
Do we tap our disability experience as an attribute
and use it to find jobs in sectors which have a
disability connection?
Or, do we extract more general attributes (such as
problem solving skills) from our disability
experience and position them to match job
qualifications outside the disability field?
Or, do we consider our disability experience as
irrelevant and compete in the job market without
reference to our disability?
Or, do we combine all three options in a mix that
changes continually, based on the job and employer
we are currently targeting?
Please give me your views about this issue.
disability to your best advantage in conducting
your job search or managing your career?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 12:56 PM | Comments (16)
March 05, 2008
Creative Ways to Level the Playing Field
eSight member Barney Mayse, disability advocate, The
Whole Person, Inc., sent me a note Monday, highlighting some of his comments that Diversity World has recently published.
Here is some of what Barney told Diversity World:
"What I find most interesting as a person with a
disability and as an advocate is that, with all of
the agencies, vocational rehab counselors and other
folks out there, the needle for employment of people
with disabilities is not moving. From what I can
tell, and numbers are a moving target, and employment
among people with disabilities has remained
consistent since the ADA was passed. Is there
anything wrong with this picture?
"…Many employers assume (we know what that does)
that they know what a disabled person can
accomplish. I challenge them to tell me what they
want to have done and watch me figure out how to do
it.
"I realize that the transformative change which I
would like to see will not occur with a single
article, but I personally believe that all of the
studies and conferences and other irrelevant
activities are not truly helping people with
disabilities take back their financial independence,
get them off the benefit roles and permit them the
self-esteem which goes with work.
"There is too much time spent telling everyone at
what level the water is in the glass. Analyzing the
problem is not solving the problem. If the time
spent in analysis were spent in solving individual
problems and getting people back to work, the number
of starfish remaining on the beach would be smaller.
"The disabled community needs proactive people who
will not accept the answers we so frequently get.
The American business sector needs to understand
that the risk in not hiring people with disabilities
is greater than the risk of hiring them. The
disabled community needs to understand that the
world does not owe them and they will have to
compete. Permit the competition to occur on a level
playing field…"
Barney's comments prompted me to review the links I've bookmarked recently which show creativity in helping individuals with disabilities find meaningful work -- six initiatives that I find interesting.
Here's my quick list:
First, the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce
Recruitment Program (WRP) connects federal and
private sector employers with highly motivated
post-secondary students with disabilities who are
eager to prove their abilities in the workplace
through summer or permanent jobs.
Read stories about Amanda, Jessica and the WRP.
Second, the Oregon Business Leadership Network (OBLN) and the Oregon Business Plan are co-sponsors of "Look at my Ability," a new two-minute video about the work ethic and skills employers can find among job seekers with disabilities.
Select one of a variety of links to the video, with or without captions.
Third, in another video, "Talk," The UK's Disability Rights Commission turns the tables on non-disabled
people, who experience first hand what those of us
with disabilities frequently experience as job
seekers.
Note that this video is highly visual with little
dialogue and no description.
Fourth, in a FederalTimes.com article, Karen M. Czarnecki, acting assistant secretary of Labor for disability employment policy, urges agencies of the U.S. federal government to increase the employment, retention and promotion of people with disabilities through use of a new recruiting database, customized employment, and Schedule A hiring authority.
Fifth, Pricewaterhouse Coopers is promoting disability
equality in the workplace. This is example of an
industry taking the initiative to promote awareness
training about how to add individuals with disabilities to the accounting field (and preparing for upcoming labor shortages in some job sectors due to baby boomer retirements).
Check an article about the leadership role Pricewaterhouse Coopers is takling.
Sixth, HirePotential says it helps the best companies hire the best people.
"We can help you expand your diversity initiatives by
enhancing your recruitment and retention efforts
within the Untapped Workforce," it explains.
Also see information about HirePotenntial's quest to "accommodate the changing face of today's workforce."
Those of us at eSight picked up most of these six
resources just by browsing the Net during the last few
weeks.
Like Barney, I think our main challenge is gaining an
understanding of key disability employment issues
among hiring decision makers.
I believe most of the barriers job seekers with
disabilities face in the job market seem to stem from
lack of information or knowledge about disability
employment issues -- not prejudice.
That means we can overcome that lack of information in
a variety of creative ways.
One of them is using the full capabilities of the Internet
to gain interest and promote awareness about job seekers
with disabilities, an under-tapped resource throughout
the world.
What interesting initiative have you found recently
for helping people with disabilities find meaningful
work?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 12:19 PM | Comments (3)