Scene Two: March 23, 2007:
Including and Engaging People with Disabilities: Don't "Dis" Abilities!
Engage Employees and their expertise!
The second session of the Series focused on what people can do to raise their personal awareness around disabilities. It provided both employees and employers tools and strategies to effectively include and engage people with disabilities in the workplace.
Below is a quiz created by Access Umbrella, Inc. on disability issues.
Flash Card Quiz Questions
By Kurt Kuss and Barbara Ceconi
- What is the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) definition of a disability?
Answer: An individual with a disability is a person who:
- Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
- Has a record of such an impairment; or
- Is regarded as having such an impairment.
A "major life activity" means functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, and participating in community activities. (U.S. House of Representatives 1990)
- How many people in the U.S. have a disability?
Answer: According to the American Community Survey, 2003, there are 77 million Americans with disabilities. This includes children over the age of 5, adults, and elders. Not included in this number are military personnel and people who live in institutions.
- What is the employment rate difference between people who do, and do not have disabilities?
Answer: This is the largest gap between people with and without disabilities, 35% vs. 78%. An employment gap of 43 percentage points.
The more severe the disability, the less likely a person is to be employed. People with slight disabilities are more than eight times more likely to be employed than are people with very severe disabilities.
According to the N.O.D. 2004 Harris Survey on Americans with Disabilities.
- How do people with disabilities get to where they need to go?
Answer: People with disabilities view transportation as a problem, 31% vs. 13% of the non-disabled population. Of this 31%, 17% consider it a major one. Contributing factors include the poverty rate and income of people with disabilities, and the inaccessibility of much public transportation. The other is a lack of public transport in rural and suburban communities.
- What kinds of adaptive equipment do people with disabilities use?
Answer: Almost half (48%) of people with disabilities use adaptive equipment related specifically to their disability, such as walkers, wheelchairs, canes and hearing aids.
Most people with disabilities use adaptive modifications to access mainstream technology such as on-line banking, cell phones, and television. They use tools such as synthesized speech output, tactile adaptations, and closed-captioning.
(N.O.D/Harris 2004 Survey of Americans with Disabilities)
- What is the average cost of a "workplace accommodation" for an employee with a disability?
Answer: The majority of accommodations cost under $500.
- Who pays for the accommodations used by people with disabilities in their workplace?
Answer: According to the Americans With Disabilities Act, employers are responsible. In many states, agencies cover the cost of adaptive equipment and provide training on that equipment. Tax incentives are available to employers. Most employers report financial benefits for providing accommodations due to reductions in training costs, a reduction in the cost of insurance, and an increase in worker productivity.
Accommodation costs for workers with disabilities are often more than offset by the reduction in the costs associated with employee turnover and re-training.
- What is the rate of discrimination experienced by people with disabilities in the workplace? How does the discrimination manifest itself?
Answer: Respondents to a Harris poll indidated that the overall rate of discrimination has dropped from 36% in 2000 to 22% in 2004.
The most prevalent form of discrimination reported is still not being offered a job for which one is qualified due to a disability. However, the survey indicates that the experience of this form of discrimination has dropped from 51% to 31% since 2000. Other improvements involve being being denied a workplace accommodation from 40% in 2000 to 21% in 2004; and being given less responsibility than coworkers from 32% in 2000 to 14% in 2004.
N.O.D/Harris 2004 Survey of Americans with Disabilities
- How much do people with disabilities spend on travel for both business and leisure activities?
Answer: The disability market spends $13.6 billion per year on travel, including transportation, hotels, and restaurants.
More than 21 million adults with disabilities traveled for pleasure and/or business between 2003 and 2005. There was a marked increase in certain sectors despite ongoing barriers to access, according to The Open Doors organization and the Travel Industry Association of America study, 2005.
Who is the most prominent figure in our society you can think of who has a disability?
Barbara Ceconi and Kurt Kuss of Access Umbrella, Inc. were the presenters for the second session, March 23, 2007, on including and engaging people with disabilities in the workplace.
Scene Two was the second session of the 2007 NW Diversity Learning Series held in Seattle Washington, Life theater - Inclusion and Engagement: Challenging and Expanding My diversity Competency: Moving Beyond My Comfort Zone. The Series is organized by The GilDeane Group, publishers of DiversityCentral.com.