Program Development Associates is excited to share with our customers a new catalog of award-winning documentaries on disabilities and healthcare related issues—The Fanlight Productions Collection.
Fanlight Productions is a leading distributor of the most recognized high quality video and DVD resources on the social issues of our time, with a special focus on:
- healthcare
- mental health
- professional ethics
- aging and gerontology
- disabilities
- the workplace
- gender and family issues
Founded over 30 years ago, Fanlight’s goal is to make available a select collection of educational programs which are emotionally and intellectually engaging in their approach and accurate and up-to-date in their content. Fanlight’s videos and DVDs present contemporary perspectives on the issues of concern and challenges faced by our audiences.
The Fanlight Productions Collection includes videos and DVDs that have been honored by organizations as different as the Academy Awards to the Health & Science Communications Association, and from the DuPont-Columbia Journalism Award, to the Assocication on University Centers on Disabilities.
To view the entire Fanlight collection visit www.Fanlight.com.
A Starbucks location in El Paso, Texas, gained less-than-favorable attention this week as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, sued the company for discriminatory hiring practices. The news comes as a shock to customers, many of whom regard the trendy coffee chain as forward-thinking and socially responsible. The incident illustrates firsthand that discriminatory practices are still very much a part of the modern American workplace. Moreover, this lawsuit serves as a wake up call to businesses nationwide: The ideals of a business or brand—respect and responsibility in the case of Starbucks—exist only so long as they are actively reinforced among all levels of employees.
The incident occurred in July of 2009. Nearly 3 years ago, Elisa Sallard applied for a position at a local Starbucks. The job listing was for the position of Barista, the individual responsible for greeting Starbucks customers, taking orders, answering questions, preparing coffee or food orders, and conducting other basic cleaning duties. The listing made no explicit requirements that past experience be necessary; rather, new hires were to be trained to perform all required duties, as is common to other franchise locations.
Elisa was hired by the coffee shop, and soon thereafter she requested a footstool to better help her perform her duties. It was at this moment that Elisa’s physical condition, dwarfism, seemed to be an issue. Starbucks promptly dismissed Elisa’s request, relieving her of her position later that day. The EEOC has taken legal action accordingly, as Starbucks directly violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in refusing to make a reasonable accommodation to better assist Elisa in performing her duties.
Disability Awareness: Training Managers to Make Accommodations
In light of the now-pending lawsuit faced by Starbucks, business owners are smart to reassess their position on disability training in the workplace. Training spreads disability awareness, helps to create best practices that comply with Federal disability laws, and insulates organizations from costly disability-related issues.
First, managers and other workplace decision-makers must be aware of what, exactly, constitutes a ‘disability’ under the ADA. According to the Act, an individual must exhibit each of the following characteristics:
- A mental or physical impairment,
- That is substantially limiting, and
- It is limiting in regard to one or more major life activities.
Should an employee exhibit these three characteristics, they are to be considered as having a ‘disability’ and are thus protected by the ADA. One of the most important protective clauses of the ADA is Title I, a provision requiring employers to provide ‘reasonable accommodation’ to employees with disabilities.
Disabilities in the Workplace: Providing Accommodation Through an Interactive Process
The Training Diversity Blog provides a fantastic guide to workplace accommodation under the ADA. It may be summarized as follows:
Request for an accommodation must be made through an interactive process.
The interactive process begins when the employee, in plain English, expresses their desire for an accommodation that will enable them to perform their job tasks.
The burden is on the employer, or the employer’s agents (on-site management), to remain attentive to an employee’s request for an accommodation.
Employer is entitled to review the request, and he or she may deny the accommodation request so long as it imposes undue hardship.
The interactive process is critical in remaining both attentive to employees as well as compliant under the ADA. Disability training programs, particularly those conducted internally, are fundamental in relaying knowledge of the ADA and its requirements to managers and employees alike. Businesses large and small may benefit from training seminars with disability videos, guest speakers, and interactive tools. Even those businesses with brands built upon principles of responsible, fair trade coffee procurement are poised to fall from the ignorant actions of a select few.
The Disability Training Blog would like to recognize and congratulate CSC on earning a spot on the “Top 50 Employers for Persons with Disabilities” list in CAREERS & the disABLED magazine. Though printing of the official list will not occur until this coming month, January 2011, the news is already rippling across the Web. CSC, a multinational technology solutions company, sets the quintessential example of what it means to value disability in the workplace.
CAREERS & the disABLED first printed in 1986. To this day, the magazine is the only periodical of its kind. Geared towards undergraduate students, graduates, and professionals, this magazine provides disability career guidance for individuals with a range of mental and physical impairments. For the past twenty years, CAREERS has surveyed subscribers to create an annual list of the top 50 employers for which those with disability would most like to work.
It is easy to see why CSC has been honored with a spot on such a admirable list. When asked about the award, Jeannie Maul, Vice President of CSC’s Managed Services Sector, replied:
CSC is greatly honored to receive this prestigious recognition that highlights our focus and commitment to creating an enterprise-wide culture of inclusion, valuing diversity and providing opportunities for all employees.
The company is no stranger to diversity, with offices in the U.S., Asia, Australia, and Europe. Experience with the global workplace has clearly impacted the culture of CSC, as Ms. Maul explains that disability awareness is very much a part of the company:
[…] we work to create awareness not about the ‘disability,’ but rather about the abilities of our employees. CSC strives to provide a fully inclusive workplace that inspires all employees to be a part of our success, and to provide everyone with vast global opportunities for professional development.
It is inspiring to see a company of such great magnitude value the diversity they recruit. Business leaders are smart to take a page from the CSC operations manual, and not just because of the praise the company has received from Fortune Magazine for being one of the World’s Most Admired Companies for IT. Ms. Maul said it best: CSC inspires each employee to be a part of the company’s success. By focusing on abilities, companies are better able to train, develop, and place employees for optimal performance. Disability training is an integral part of this process, equipping individuals with the knowledge and foresight to build inclusive workplaces.
News source for this article: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101220006346/en/CSC-Recognized-Top-Employer-Persons-Disabilities
Workplace bullying and harassment will derail organizational productivity and cohesion faster than most other negative behaviors. Dispute resolution carries the potential for heavy costs in terms of both time and money. In recent years, harassment litigation has cost organizations anywhere from several thousand dollars to upwards of several million dollars in compensatory damages alone (i). Decreased employee moral and the inevitable cost of hiring and training new personnel make the overall cost of workplace harassment intolerable. It is easy to see why organizations are beginning to implement Workplace Harassment Training as a preventative measure to prepare employees, managers, and other business agents to sensibly handle harassment of all forms.
Prepare for Workplace Harassment
Workplace bullying and harassment is an inevitability that organizations simply must prepare to handle. Individuals who are predisposed to leveraging threats, power, and other forms of status can always infiltrate an organization, no matter how rigorous and thorough the employee-recruiting process. Moreover, individuals may develop these tendencies over time, well after having been recruited, trained, and promoted within an organization. The best way to handle harassment in the workplace is to anticipate its occurrence and train each member of the organization to recognize and diffuse these detrimental situations.
A Costly Proposition DVD
Program Development Associates offers the DVD resource A Costly Proposition to help companies build harassment awareness among their members. This resource provides viewers with six different situations, without narration or conflict resolution of any kind. Viewing the scenes without constructive guidance allows viewers to assess and discuss the situations, building a full understanding of how the situation can be identified and disarmed. After discussion, viewers move to the supplementary material of the DVD and are presented with an abundance of information detailing the losing nature of workplace harassment including potential legal ramifications.
PDA urges organizations to insulate themselves from potential downfall by thorough preparation and training. Workplace Harassment videos are a good start for organizations that aim to develop a harassment policy and best practices for employees. Taking proactive measures now may prevent the occurrence of severely detrimental incidents through the long term life of a business.
(i) http://www.corporationcampus.com/investors/facts.asp
Disability videos are an indispensable tool for any business. Workplace diversity is gaining momentum. The Unnecessary Boundaries study, conducted by Telework Exchange, offers clear evidence that employers are committed to furthering disability employment and equal opportunity for qualified job applicants. However, the study also illustrates that although employers are open to hiring qualified personnel regardless of background, ethnicity, and disability, they at the same time fall short of retaining the range of talent they recruit (i).
A Lack of Infrastructure
The conundrum uncovered by Telework’s Unnecessary Boundaries study is nevertheless hopeful. The study asserts that employers are open to disability employment. Despite the increasing rate of unemployment among persons with disabilities, 71 percent of individuals surveyed reported that their respective organizations makes genuine efforts to recruit and hire prospects from richly varied backgrounds, including those with disabilities (ii). Given this insight, the problem can be reduced to a lack of proper infrastructure to aid in training, assessing, and advancing new hires with disabilities.
Disability Videos: Infrastructure for Organizational Growth
Program Development Associates recognizes the need for organizational infrastructure that supports the vocational development of a range of individuals. Diversity in the workplace cannot flourish without internal supports that facilitate growth for many individuals of varied backgrounds. Without tools for disability assessment and evaluation, individuals with a disability cannot be expected to communicate, learn, and develop within an organization. Unfortunately, this often leads to high turnover among those with disabilities, contributing to the recently increasing level of unemployment among persons with disabilities.
The hardest battle has been won. The Americans with Disabilities Act celebrated twenty strong years of disability awareness and advocacy this past July. Disability employment has grown. Organizations must now utilize tools for disability assessment and training to retain persons with disabilities. Moving forward, disability videos, CD-ROMs, and assistive technology are all necessities in maintaining a diverse workplace. Disability advocates agree: Disability unemployment will fall as organizations build the proper infrastructure to leverage the power of diversity.
(i) http://www.teleworkexchange.com/unnecessarybarriers/landing.asp
(ii) see above.
In recent years, businesses have focused on seeking out prospects from unique backgrounds to make their organization rich in culture, talent, and other dimensions. These organizations make proactive efforts to reach out to minorities and persons with disabilities to ensure equal opportunity is presented to qualified prospects. However, attention is all too often focused on the prospecting and interviewing processes, leaving a critical piece of the disability employment puzzle overlooked: maintaining and developing employees into valuable company assets.
Diversity in the Workplace
Diversification alone is unsuccessful in maintaining diversity in the workplace. The increasing rate of unemployment among persons with disabilities illustrates this concept, despite the push for equal employment by major pieces of legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act (i). The Presidential Executive Orders that followed the ADA pushed a similar agenda for equal opportunity, likewise coming up short. According to recent studies, a number of Federal employees say that while their respective organizations have the framework in place to recruit a diverse group of employees, management is incapable of helping a diverse group develop into professionals (ii). Diversification is only the first step in building a diverse workplace. Steps to train, assess, and advance employees must be taken as well.
Disability Training and Assessment
A diverse workplace is composed of individuals with backgrounds and abilities that may differ greatly. These differences are particularly pronounced when the workplace includes persons with disabilities. Differences in individual ability require different approaches to community inclusion, ranging from specific assistive technology requirements to the need for unique communication methods. Disability assessment tools are crucial in training and retaining persons with disabilities, as they expose areas where an individual may need additional training and support.
Disability assessment and evaluation, along with Disability assessment tools, are all critical components that inclusive workplaces must use in building a work environment that will expand upon internal human resources. Properly developing human capital is essential in increasing company productivity, revenue, and longevity. Program Development Associates offers a host of additional disability and diversity resources to help organizations recruit, train, assess, and develop persons with disabilities into business professionals.
(i) http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/stats.htm
(ii) http://www.teleworkexchange.com/unnecessarybarriers/landing.asp
The population of hearing impaired Americans is growing faster than the American population as a whole. Since 2005, the population of the United States has grown by a little over 4 percent. Contrast that with the growth in deafness among Americans: 9 percent. Currently, there are about 35 million Americans with a hearing impairment, and about 25 million do not have a hearing aid or an assistive device of some kind (i). For disability employers, American Sign Language education is an advantageous addition to employee training programs. Training programs that include sign language courses will benefit organizations in at least two ways: internally, in terms of communication among a diverse group of employees, and externally, in terms of accommodating the special needs of a growing population of Americans.
Internal Communication Skills: Employees and Sign Language
In recent months, our Disability Training Blog has focused on the importance of employing a diverse range of individuals. The number of Americans with a hearing impairment is estimated to climb to 40 million by 2025 (ii). Using this data, we can safely predict that an increasing percentage of job applicants are expected to have a hearing impairment of some kind through the coming decades. Organizations are smart to consider this in building their channels for recruiting and training new employees. Expanding employee skill sets to include knowledge of sign language will make an organization’s long-term recruiting methods easier and more successful in achieving diversity.
Sign Language and Public Relations
A second way in which organizations stand to benefit from incorporating sign language courses in employee training programs is in the realm of public relations. The number of Deaf Americans is climbing, evidencing an emerging market with special needs. These needs are both tangible and intangible, ranging from assistive communication devices to social constructs that enable effective communication. Organizations vary in function and cannot all be expected to produce goods for the growing population of hearing impaired individuals. However, businesses of all industries can facilitate communication with Deaf people simply by training their employees to do so. This represents a significant competitive advantage that cannot be overlooked.
Program Development Associates has a range of products to assist business professionals, elementary school teachers, parents, and university professors in learn and teaching American Sign Language. Additionally, PDA has a number of disability training resources to complement the diversification initiatives of most businesses, schools, and universities.
(i) http://www.hear-it.org/page.dsp?area=858
(ii) see above.
Communication skills can make or break a diverse workplace. Organizations that hire persons with disabilities must recognize the fundamental need for improving communication skills, both on a macro and micro scale. Organizational leaders must be attentive to the communication practices between coworkers as well as those that are broadcasted throughout the organization as a whole.
This month, Program Development Associates features the Communicating with Tact, Candor, and Credibility D.V.D. to help organizations improve communication skills among their members. This digital resource explores the use of subtle mediation to effectively communicate with employees, members of interoffice teams, and upper level managers.
The point of difference in this training resource is the methodology it establishes to facilitate communication. This methodology teaches viewers to identify the individual with whom they are communication in terms of four typical conversational roles:
The Escape Artist
The communicator who sidesteps interrogation and often has a finger to point.
The Judge
An intellectual, this communicator uses ethics and morality to frame the actions of her peers.
The Scientist
Intelligent by nature, this communicator likes facts, figures, and statistics, quickly ignoring qualitative data.
The Beggar
Compassionate and empathetic, this communicator means well but often asks for more than they contribute.
By identifying the conversational role of the person with whom they communicate, viewers are better able to understand the motivation and necessity behind messages.
Once viewers learn to correctly identify the communication styles of their coworkers, they are given guidelines to further effective employee communication efforts. These guidelines include: Rephrasing, tactfully constructing talking points, quick message construction, scripting, feathered speech, and reconstructing corporate jargon.
In addition to the Communicating with Tact, Candor, and Credibility D.V.D., Program Development Associates offers a range of resources to foster communication skills. These resources include D.V.D.s, CD-ROMs, and other interactive materials exclusively designed with the diverse workplace in mind.
A lack of diversity and equality may cost an organization billions of dollars over time. The damaging affects of inequality may manifest themselves within an organization in several ways, including losses in productivity, increases in employee turnover, and a dampening of employee moral. The Is It Bias? Making Diversity Work D.V.D. addresses these issues through a critical examination of organization biases, large and small, and how they affect company growth.
However, an organization may take proactive measures to define, recognize, and reduce even subtle biases among employees to pave the way toward long term financial stability.
Organizational Productivity
Increasing company diversity can increase both short and long term productivity. In the short term, a company culture built on equality works with exceptional cohesion. Cohesion provides the groundwork for peer-to-peer collaboration, a necessity for future growth.
Minimizing Turnover
Company diversity slows employee turnover. For example, the greater the variance in worker age, the slower the rate at which organizations lose employees to retirement. This is an issue to which organizations must pay close attention as the baby boomer generation of the 1960s nears retirement. Additionally, workplaces that hold principles of diversity in high regard are better able to retain and develop young employees. Managers, and their organizations as a whole, must instill a sense of equal opportunity among workers regardless of age, ethnicity, and other extraneous characteristics. Failure to do so can cause deeply rooted feelings of resentment, anger, and helplessness, each major contributors to losing human capital.
Inspiring Moral
Great leaders show their followers through action. Organizational leaders who utilize diversity activities inspire moral among their employees by setting estimable precedent. These activities come in many forms, but they each share the same goal: to teach employees to identify and diffuse even inconspicuous biases that lay the foundation for feelings of inequality and other counterproductive thoughts.
Properly utilizing diversity resources is the first step towards safeguarding against loss. Organizations may begin training diversity through many multimedia products. Program Development Associates offers the Is It Bias? D.V.D. to help management define, recognize, and reduce biases among their workforce. Only once biases are uncovered can they be disarmed—a critical step towards an inclusive work environment.
The growth of the World Wide Web has helped businesses reach hundreds of thousands of potential employees through company websites and social mediums. Problematic, however, is the issue of accessibility. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that about 15-20% of the American population have a disability that may inhibit their ability to effectively use technology (i). In a world where employers are increasingly utilizing their online presence to recruit new prospects, this presents a hurdle that needs clearing.
Disability Employment Accessibility
Larisa Thomason, Senior Web Analyst at NetMechanic, Inc., gives valuable insight as to how companies can make their websites accessible to the estimated 750 million of Americans who live with a disability. In an article titled Designing Accessible Web Pages, Ms. Thomason advises tweaking the following aspects of web page code and design to increase their level of accessibility (ii):
- Utilize the Alt tag to provide a description of any photos or videos on the page. This will help explain the image or video through a piece of text, visible when a user hovers their mouse over the element.
- Make navigation more intuitive by including a text link for all image links. For example, a company logo image that links to a page with more information about the founding of the organization would be complemented with a line of text that reads Company Background, or something similar.
- Avoid relying solely on color to categorize items. Instead, categorize items into lists and head the lists with descriptive lines of text.
- Be mindful that not all browsers support JavaScript. Do not rely on Java to display critical elements of the page. Always employ alternative means of displaying page elements.
Making web pages more accessible is a strong step forward in terms of opening the door for diversification. However, businesses should not diversify merely because they have to. It’s simply good business. The popular drugstore giant, Walgreen’s, provides an excellent example of the less-than-limiting effect diversifying your employee base may have. A store location in Anderson, South Carolina, took on 42% employees with disabilities and surged to become 20% more productive than their other distribution centers (iii).
Businesses will have to start considering all that entails diversification of employees. Not only in terms of accessibility in the physical and virtual world, but also sustainability. Employers must consider utilizing disability training and education programs designed to gauge worker competency, design appropriate work supports, and aid in career development. Program Development Associates recommends the Becker Work Adjustment Profile, or BWAP, as an excellent and intuitive tool for hiring departments and HR professionals. Additionally, PDA carries several diversity training resources to further complement such initiatives.
(i) http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/Diversity/Articles/Pages/RecruitingSitesAccessible.aspx
(ii) http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/design_no17.htm
(iii) see (i).
The desire to employ persons with disabilities is growing. In honor of the recent twentieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Program Development Associates Disability Training Blog is proud to present a look towards the diversified businesses of the present. This coverage will be completed in two installments.
In this article, titled Modern Business Training: Assistive Technology Products, we will take a closer look at the assistive technology that is enabling persons with various mental and physical disabilities to gain employment. Next week, we will follow up with Modern Business Training Part II, a look at the Universal Design for Learning and its application in complementing assistive technology and broadening the scope of employment opportunity for those with disabilities.
Assistive technology can be considered any of a variety of instruments used by individuals with disabilities to perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or altogether impossible (i). This is a broad and somewhat conceptual definition that has many applications. For example, mobility devices including manual wheelchairs, power wheelchairs, power scooters, and walking aids are all consider assistive technology. In this example, the technology is somewhat primitive compared to digital gadgetry but nonetheless enables the mobility of an individual who would otherwise have some degree of difficulty moving about.
Assistive technology goes beyond mobility devices to also include hardware, software, and other information technologies. For example, consider that individuals with physically impaired hands or fingers can utilize custom designed keyboards and computer mice to operate computers. Individuals with moderate to severe visual impairments can likewise overcome their unique sensory deprivation with software that reads digitally displayed messages aloud, like emails and other lines of text on a computer. In both of these examples, individuals are able to overcome their unique disabilities and perform work specific tasks.
Without these kinds of enabling technologies, these individuals would be hard pressed to find work environments in which they could actively pursue objectives, contribute as team members, and develop into working professionals. The expanding application of assistive technology, however, provides the groundwork for individuals with disabilities to do just the opposite. Indeed, the proliferation of assistive technology establishes the opportunity for businesses to diversify their workforce and cultivate the talents of a range of individuals. Moreover, employers are better able to retain valuable human capital; individuals who spend years learning, training, and contributing within a specific company can more easily retain their position should unexpected, devastating accidents occur. This adds a tremendous value for businesses rich in human capital; unexpectedly losing capital for any period of time can be costly, derail growth strategies, and undermine core business objectives.
Disability employers must know, however, that assistive technology is just that: technology. The effective application of assistive technology hinges on the ability of a disability or diversity employer to consider access. Technology is of no use if it is not accessible to the users for which it is intended. This is particularly important when considering the application of assistive technology, as it is specifically designed for persons with unique mental and physical impairments. Nuances that make one piece of assistive technology accessible to one individual may not make that instrument equally accessible to another individual with a similar impairment.
Since effective application of diversity training depends largely on accessibility, it is of great importance for employers to consider the needs of each of their employees. In the second installment of Modern Business Training, we will investigate how employers can best identify the unique needs of each employee to make assistive technology, and the workplace in general, more accessible.
(i) http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?109
A movement towards disability studies has begun to build momentum. Over the past decade, graduate study programs at universities across the nation have started to develop specific courses of study to better understand mental and physical impairments. From Georgetown University to the California Baptist University, these courses are being defined as a holistic study of the phenomenon of disability through a multidisciplinary approach (i).
Topics addressed include the social, cultural, and political role disability has played in society. Students learn the role people with disabilities have played in the development and implementation of several disciplines, from literature to social policy. Such programs aim to arm students with a knowledge base that will increase disability awareness and, ultimately, promote social change. The emergence of disability studies programs is important for at least two reasons.
First, disability awareness will only grow as these professionals enter society after completing their courses of study. Georgetown University explains that a critical component of their Master of Professional Studies in Disability Studies program is to provide students with the tools to educate and increase awareness across various audiences (ii). Graduates will attain the skill of communicating disability awareness and tolerance to a variety of audiences upon graduation, an invaluable skill necessary in spreading the message for any subject. In this way, graduates will have the ability to communicate awareness and tolerance to demographically or otherwise starkly differing groups of people. This promotes the proliferation of disability education by increasing the effectiveness with which it is taught. More effective disability education, in short, paves the way for awareness and understanding.
More importantly, however, it is a sign that large scale social change is on the way. The near future will see a growing population of working professionals with a deep understanding of different disabilities, across a range of different societal and historical contexts. These professionals will be instrumental in helping to assimilate those with disabilities into the workforce, in counseling persons with disabilities and their families, and in furthering the field of disability education and research. Moreover, the growing number of disability studies courses and the bodies that fill their lecture halls illustrate a growing interest and empathy for persons with disabilities, a critical component to spreading awareness.
The trend in disability studies programs is indicative of a growing number of working professionals with substantial disability training and education. This translates to narrowing the gap between those with a disability, and those without. Graduates will have the resources and experience to collaborate with individuals with disabilities, helping them to become active community members. Business owners must take note of the growing number of disability studies programs and their resulting societal implications. These graduate schools, for example, represent prime recruiting outlets for Human Resource departments, managers, and other professional positions. Disability study program graduates serve exemplary consultants, as well, for businesses looking to implement inclusion training to solidify their company culture.
(i) http://www.sps.cuny.edu/programs/spscourses/programdescription.aspx?pid=6&sid=DSCP
(ii) http://scs.georgetown.edu/departments/32/disability-studies
Creating an inclusive workplace fosters a variety of talents that increase productivity and keep companies on the forefront of innovation. The success of the inclusive workplace, however, hinges on the ability of business owners and managers to correctly identify the strengths, weaknesses, and unique talents of each employee. This managerial ability becomes even more important when the employee has a disability. The Becker Work Adjustment Profile, or BWAP, provides an observer rating assessment of the vocational ability of an employee with a disability, and it is an essential tool for managers of any business with a diverse culture of workers.
The Becker Work Adjustment Profile gauges the work readiness of an individual by measuring their habits, attitudes, and skills, collectively recognized as vocational competency. Moreover, this tool identifies where additional supports are needed with respect to different work areas, and to what degree. It is a reliable test, appropriate for teenaged children over 15 as well as adults. Its application is suitable for workers who are learning disabled, physically disabled, emotionally disturbed, economically disadvantaged, or mentally retarded.
The primary advantage of the BWAP is in its nature as an observer rating instrument. A professional who has had experience observing the subject in their work environment administers the test, greatly reducing the potential for subject-driven error. In addition, the BWAP is exceptionally comprehensive. Vocational competency is ascertained by measuring 63 different items allocated to four separate sub scales, or domains: Work Habits/ Attitudes, Interpersonal Relations, Cognitive Skills, and Work Related Skills (i). After the employee is evaluated, areas of dissonance between ability and work behavior are identified. Additional, task-specific training is then administered, working to eliminate the dissonance between ability and behavior.
Administering the BWAP is easy and intuitive. Evaluators utilize three main materials including a Questionnaire Test Booklet, an Individual Profile Form, and a User’s Manual. The observer uses the Profile Form to rate the subject with respect to the behavioral items listed in the Questionnaire Booklet. The Score Summary and corresponding Vocational Competency of the subject is recorded on the Profile Form as both a raw and derived score for each domain. These values are then cross referenced with the BWAP Manual to determine the level of work readiness and necessity of work supports for the subject.
Keeping a business productive, efficient, and ready to innovate requires strong attention and appreciation for human capital. Paramount to effectively integrating human capital is the capacity for personnel managers to assess each employee as an individual with unique abilities. The need to measure the work readiness of each employee and construct appropriate supports is particularly critical for workplaces rich with persons of varying abilities. The Becker Work Adjustment Profile, or BWAP, is an industry standard for such assessments. The instrument, when coupled with ongoing disability training and education programs, provides a foundation for placing and retaining employees with disabilities.
(i) http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-71316809/measuring-rehabilitation-outcomes.html
Disability awareness propagates in the wake of President Barack Obama’s most recent Executive Order to increase the Federal employment of individuals with disabilities. The order, released Tuesday July 26th, was issued just one day after the Americans with Disabilities Act reached its twentieth year since enactment. In those twenty years, despite previous presidential orders and Federal initiatives, the unemployment of Americans with disabilities has only risen (i). President Obama, however, hopes to reverse that trend. Different from prior initiatives, Mr. Obama’s Executive Order focuses primarily on retaining individuals with disabilities and learning impairments. An emphasis on disability training and education for Federal agencies and personnel is to be the point of difference that primes this Executive Order for success.
Recognizing the Federal Government as the largest employer in the nation, Mr. Obama begins by addressing the need for government to lead by example. In opening the Order, Mr. Obama states that the government has an important interest in reducing discrimination against those who live with a disability, eliminating the stigma associated with disabilities, and in encouraging individuals with disabilities to seek Federal employment (ii). The importance of these interests cannot be understated. Reducing discrimination and the stigma associated with individuals who have a disability is an important first step in reducing the unemployment rate. The ideal workplace for individuals with disabilities to prosper has core elements of regular disability education, inclusion training workshops, assistive technology integration, and mutual respect among coworkers. In achieving these core elements of an inclusive workplace, Federal agencies will establish strong paradigms that will work to welcome those with disabilities as potential employees.
Mr. Obama’s Executive order moves on to state specific requirements Federal agencies must meet in providing opportunities for persons with physical and mental impairments to gain employment. Most noteworthy, the President calls for the mandatory drafting of strategies to hire and recruit those with disabilities within 60 days of the Order’s enactment (iii). An essential part of these strategies includes outlining disability training programs for Federal Human Resource departments and other hiring professionals. This portion of the Executive Order aims to better prepare agencies to promote job availability as well as to provide hiring professionals with the disability education needed to recruit and train workers with disabilities.
Most importantly, the Executive Order sets the groundwork for long term success by setting standards for retaining workers with disabilities. Mr. Obama charges the Office of Personnel Management, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, with the responsibility of identifying and assisting agencies in implementing strategies to retain Federal workers with disabilities. Paramount to the success of this initiative is the ability of the agency to conduct thorough disability awareness training internally, developing an inclusive workplace that will help those with disabilities develop into industry professionals. The President’s Order will help in this regard, specifically detailing the duties of the Office of Personnel Management to include helping with internal training, using centralized funds to provide reasonable workplace accommodations, increasing access to the appropriate assistive technologies, and ensuring the accessibility of the physical and virtual workplace (iv).
In the twenty years that have passed since the enacting of the Americans with Disabilities Act, unemployment among individuals with disabilities has actually grown. Despite Executive Orders, initiatives, and disability awareness programs, the American public is ill equipped to recruit, train, and develop into professionals those with disabilities. Disability training resources are a necessity in reversing this trend. As Mr. Obama’s Order makes clear, responsibility lies in the hands of company owners, internal managers, and other business professionals to utilize inclusion training and other techniques to hire and keep workers with disabilities. Disability awareness training is a vital first step towards creating business environments in which this goal is attainable, and the Federal government’s push to lead by example is inspiring.
(i) http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/stats.htm
(ii) http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-increasing-federal-employment-individuals-with-disabilities
(iii) http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-increasing-federal-employment-individuals-with-disabilities
(iv) http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-increasing-federal-employment-individuals-with-disabilities
Rapidly evolving technologies and an ever-changing political landscape make today’s business environment a dynamic challenge. In the face of such volatility, organizations thrive on the depth and diversity of their employees. A workforce rich in racial, cultural, and ethnic tradition keeps ideas fresh, varied, and constructive. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and never before has generating multiple solutions to a wide variety of problems been so valuable.
Finding unique individuals to help carry a group to an end goal is a difficult challenge. Fortunately, the Civil Rights movements of the early and mid 1900s revolutionized the cultures of businesses large and small. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities increasingly gained recognition for their inherent value, deepening the talent pool from which organizations could draw. The archaic ideals of the 1800s and early 1900s have become footnotes in the history books. No longer are men the breadwinners, women the homemakers, and the minorities the disadvantaged. Further, advances in technology have made the workplace more accessible, particularly for individuals with mental and physical impairments.
Even more daunting than finding a talented workforce is the task of managing workplace diversity to maximally achieve that end goal. This difficulty is faced by a host of different leaders in various organizations, from collegiate coaches to Fortune 500 Executives. However, recruiting talent is only the beginning. Distributing, uniting, and retaining talented individuals is a long term process that will graduate mere managers to the level of wildly successful, esteemed leaders.
While a richly varied talent pool in an organization’s culture is of paramount importance, a leaders ability to unite and retain that talent is the critical it factor. Diversity awareness and respect is the foundation on which any endeavor to unify a diverse mass must be built. Herds of unique individuals with equally unique ideas and solutions are of little value if the herd cannot move together. In this way today’s business leader is under more pressure than ever to educate employees of their coworkers’ differing backgrounds, ideologies, and lifestyles.
Diversity awareness training fosters an understanding of the multitude of differences that make each person a one-of-a-kind individual. With awareness comes education, and with education sprouts the opportunity for appreciation. To further encourage appreciation among employees, leaders within an organization can engage in regular workforce and employee diversity training. Diversity training seminars and workshops offer an invaluable occasion for individuals to learn about one another and cultivate a respect for ethnicities, ideals, and traditions that differ from their own.
The ultimate end goal for any diversity training program is to perpetuate a feelings of reciprocal awareness and respect among employees. Without both awareness and respect, leaders cannot hope to have employees work effectively. In a business environment laden with dynamic challenges, organizations simply cannot afford to have anything other than a unified and diversified talent pool. Disability and inclusion training D.V.D.s, C.D.s, and other resources offer a vital first step towards developing diversity awareness programs to bring employees together, maximizing output, and enrich their work experience.
A planted seed cannot grow without the nurturing power of sunlight and water. In the same way, employees cannot grow without the support of their organization. In our previous article, we explored a study conducted by the Federal Managers Association that had an alarming message: managers are perceived as ill equipped to foster a work environment where employees with disabilities can develop into valuable professionals.
Unemployment for individuals with disabilities has risen, despite the strong legislative push to abolish discriminatory hiring practices.[i] A clear reason for this contradictory outcome is a general lack of the proper disability education and advocacy among managers, an argument advanced by the Federal Manager Association’s Unnecessary Boundaries study.
Fortunately, the hardest hurdles have been cleared. The Federal government has led by example through the 1990s, starting with the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. President Clinton furthered efforts with his Executive Order 13163, a commitment to award 100,000 Federal jobs to persons with disabilities by 2005. Organizations are now responsible to follow suit, not only by equitable hiring practices, but also by establishing inclusive work environments where persons with disabilities receive the supports necessary to advance and grow.
The first and most essential step in providing support for an employee with a mental or physical impairment is to evaluate their level of competency. The mysterious and complex nature of mental illness coupled with a personalized manifestation per individual places extreme importance in management’s ability to assess employees and their varying abilities before attempting to create environmental supports to encourage their growth. A multitude of tools are available for gauging competency and can be classified by how employees’ abilities are measured. Self-report instruments, for example, rely on the employee’s ability to display aptitude through written questionnaires or workplace simulations. Observer rating instruments, on the other hand, rely on an observer to rate an employee’s aptitude based on how well he or she displays an ability to perform specific tasks, either through written questionnaires or simulated work situations.
Self-report instruments are most useful when a mental health professional is helping a person develop social skills across a variety of social contexts.[ii] While a work environment is considered a social context, self-report instruments are not ideal as they require the involvement of a trained mental health professional. Observer rating instruments, by contrast, work well in the business context. The observer need not be a professional counselor or psychologist. They must, however, have a substantial opportunity to observe and learn about the employee and his or her condition prior to administering an assessment.[iii] Managers and other Human Resources personnel are ideal candidates for the role of an observer as they have ample opportunity to get to know new hires before administering an observer-rating assessment.
Once the competency of an employee with a disability is ascertained, management can begin to tailor the company culture in a way that maximizes the employee’s ability to participate, communicate, learn, and develop. Disability job and career development tools are available to help organizations assess the competency of their workers, and they represent vital tools in creating an inclusive work environment. Other disability training and education resources can be utilized to spread awareness in a diverse organization, a necessary complement to helping persons with disabilities develop as professionals among their peers.
[i] http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/stats.htm
[ii] http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-71316809/measuring-rehabilitation-outcomes.html
[iii] http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-71316809/measuring-rehabilitation-outcomes.html
Advocacy education and disability awareness have become major drivers towards the creation of inclusive workplaces for individuals with richly varied mental and physical abilities. Both the political and social landscapes in America have progressed towards providing equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Still, however, obstacles prevent a fully equitable environment for employment; nearly 45 percent of Americans with disabilities were unemployed as of 2000, according to the United States Department of Labor.[i] Studies conducted in late 2004 showed an alarming rise in unemployment among those with disabilities, projecting a rate of 65 to 70 percent.
At first blush the blame is easily placed on management. Studies seem to imply managers, Human Resources Departments, or other administrative bodies charged with hiring personnel for organizations are not welcoming persons with mental or physical impairments. However, a closer look reveals a more startling truth.
The Federal Managers Association in conjunction with Telework Exchange, an organization committed to demonstrating the emerging value of remote telecommunication operations, surveyed over five hundred Federal employees in January and February of 2010 to gauge institutional advocacy and awareness for hiring, developing, and promoting workers with disabilities. The resulting study, titled Unnecessary Barriers, provides insight as to why unemployment for persons with disabilities has risen so dramatically.
Contrary to intuition, it is not managerial gatekeepers thwarting the assimilation of those with disabilities into the workforce. Of the employees surveyed, an overwhelming 71 percent said their institutions had made a full and steadfast commitment to hiring employees with disabilities.[ii] However, only a mere half of respondents felt that officials had the tools and knowledge to retain and ultimately promote these employees.[iii] With the remaining half of managers and decision makers ill-equipped to provide the supports necessary to advance a worker with a disability, retention and advancement become impractical if not altogether impossible.
In the wake of the Unnecessary Boundaries study, it is clear to see the rising unemployment level among those with disabilities is not linked with an unwillingness to hire. Rather, it is a lack of tools, knowledge, and interoffice environmental supports that makes difficult the retention and advancement of workers with disabilities. Specifically, it may be a general lack of advocacy education that contributes most to persons with disabilities attaining short-lived employment.
Legislation like the A.D.A. is not enough. Industry professionals from Capitol Hill to Middle America must support disability education and awareness in the office. The lofty ideals that have been penned on paper must now manifest themselves as committed actions. Proactive interoffice advocacy education programs are the foundation for promoting knowledge and empathy among employees, two qualities necessary to unite coworkers in an inclusive work environment. In a unified company culture with ongoing disability training, each employee receives the support they need to develop as a professional, enhance their skill sets, and maximize value for both themselves and their company.
[i] http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/stats.htm
[ii] http://www.teleworkexchange.com/unnecessarybarriers/landing.asp
[iii] http://www.teleworkexchange.com/unnecessarybarriers/landing.asp
Successful communication creates the groundwork for an inclusive company culture. The inclusive workplace is one that thrives on diversity and accommodates individuals of various mental and physical abilities. Disability training that emphasizes communication and networking skills is necessary for creating a unified, valuable, and positive company culture.
Without courteous communication, the inclusion model breaks down. As a result employees may feel disrespected, undervalued, incapable of performing job related tasks, and unfulfilled. Thus, disability training programs must first and foremost equip employees with the knowledge and skill to communicate with one another, regardless of mental or physical differences.
Tremendous responsibility rests on the shoulders of able-minded individuals to get to know coworkers with disabilities in order to facilitate courteous communication. Disability education programs are essential in providing employees with information about specific conditions as well as corresponding etiquette guidelines. As Program Development Associate’s new training DVD (dis)Ability Awareness makes clear, effective communication hinges on individuals and their ability to relate to one another. Managers and disability training consultants must keep this fine distinction in mind for two important reasons:
Humans Categorize by Nature
Human beings categorize individual elements of reality simply in virtue of having a conscious mind that strives to make sense of things. As humans categorize, prejudices are formed to efficiently assimilate the overwhelming amount of sensory inputs encountered daily. While these shallow snap judgments allow for the processing of an immense amount of sensory inputs, they fall short in that people tend to favor their own category while undervaluing things that are perceived as different.
Humans Exhibit Affective Display
According to the American Psychological Association, Affective Display is a person’s ability to display thoughts, both conscious and unconscious, through verbal and nonverbal communication. Tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions may all indicate an individual’s conscious or unconscious feelings, regardless of the message they intend to transmit.
Since the categorical nature of the human mind creates prejudices and the Affective Display phenomena communicates these preconceptions regardless of the communicator’s intent, disability education in the workplace must work to rid employees of predetermined thoughts about persons with physical or mental impairments. Once the slate is clean, education and training programs have to help employees understand one another on a personal level. General background information on certain conditions and corresponding social etiquette provides a substantial starting point. However, able minded individuals must endeavor to understand coworkers with disabilities on a personal level. Once this deep level of understanding is ascertained, employees are well suited to respectfully interact with one another.
Once coworkers with disabilities are understood on an individual and personal basis, networking can occur to further the inclusion of the office environment. Asking a coworker what one may do to make them feel included or offering to escort them to a department meeting are two examples of simple acts that can help solidify and develop friendships that perpetuate value for the company as a whole.
Inclusion training DVDs are an unparalleled medium for helping employees understand how their preconceived notions may affect and ultimately hinder their ability to communicate with their coworkers. Program Development Associates also carry a diverse set of disabilities training resources to assist businesses in creating a company culture where diversity is valued, respected, and embraced.
Reference: American Psychological Association (2006). VandenBos, Gary R. ed., APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC.
Creating an inclusive work environment is the best way to ensure both accessibility and productivity are fully realized in our dynamic business world. No two persons have the same problem solving processes, ideals, or passions, regardless of physical or mental ability. An inclusive environment accommodates workers of various ability levels, in turn providing a diverse assortment of individual talents and strengths that can be utilized to develop new ideas. The celebration and respect for diversity among coworkers are essential components in developing new ideas, and new ideas are the foundation for future growth across all industries.
At the heart of the inclusive workplace lie the management team and their ability to implement environmental supports to encourage an accepting and communicative company culture. Behavior, individual workers’ attitudes, and internal processes must be harnessed to support environmental inclusiveness, as determined by the unique landscape of each institution or company. Managers serve a vital role in aligning themselves with the resulting vision while leading employees through the implementation of inclusive practices.
Managers must consider the uniqueness of each individual when designing a program to help employees of all physical and intellectual ability levels engage with one another. The following guidelines, as shared by the Canada Secretariat, provide an outline for managers and disability program advisers to lead employees in respectful communication with coworkers with visual, aural, physical, and developmental disabilities, respectfully:
Communicating with Coworkers with Visual Impairments
- Identify yourself as well as anyone accompanying you
- Mention any previous interactions to help the employee remember prior engagements he or she may have had with you
- Name the individual with whom you are speaking when speaking to a group of coworkers
- If the conversation has ended, indicate you are moving to another location
- Courteously clear the area of obstacles
- If necessary, describe the environment to the coworker
- If offering to lead the coworker to another location, invite the coworker to take your arm
- If the coworker would rather walk independently, walk about a half step ahead and listen intently for instructions and questions
- Offer to read written information when appropriate
- Do not pet or play with guide dogs, if present, as it is distracting and inappropriate
Communicating with Coworkers with Aural Impairment
- Identify the language required if employing interpreter services
- Speak clearly and at a moderate pace that allows the interpreter to use sign language to relay the message to the coworker
- Allow the coworker time to communicate in return, through the interpreter
- Use written or clear nonverbal body language when communicating one on one
- To facilitate lip reading, face the coworker and keep hands and objects away from your face
- Face the coworker and speak in a clear and slow voice
- When possible, converse in a quiet environment and move to eliminate disruptive background noises
Communicating with Coworkers with Physical Impairments
- Facilitate movement via wheelchair, scooter, or other mobility aid by rearranging furniture in the room
- When standing in close proximity, do not lean or excessively touch another’s mobility device as it is considered personal space
- Always conscientiously consider what may or may not constitute accessible for those in wheelchairs and other mobility aids
- Do not push or move a coworker in his or her wheelchair unless asked to do so
Communicating with Coworkers with Developmental Disabilities
- Inclusion starts with a fundamental knowledge of the person, their background, and their general personality: Get to know the person so that you may include them
- Offer assistance when necessary
- Slowly and articulately repeat information when necessary
- Speak directly at the coworker
- Listen actively and intently
Managers, disability program advisers, and disability training consultants are charged with developing and clearly communicating policies that provide an unwavering framework for respectful employee diversification and interaction. Policies must first seek to maximize the range of talent and unique strengths among workers by hiring individuals of all abilities.
Essential to management’s creation of an inclusive workplace is their ability to provide diversity education for employees. Tantamount importance lies in management’s ability to foster an environment that encourages courteous and independent communication among persons of all physical and mental abilities. Several disability training resources and disability training DVDs highlight the importance of fostering an environment where all individuals, ranging from those with high intellectual capacities to persons with mental and physical disabilities, feel accepted, unified, and valued. Ongoing disability education is crucial in ensuring all members of the company or institution are up to speed on the nature of different disabilities, the availability of training resources, and evolving strategies for inclusion in the workplace.
Reference: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/tb_852/cwwed1-eng.asp
With the number of Americans with developmental disabilities surpassing 4.5 million in 2010, it is more important than ever to understand, engage, and help assimilate the disabled into the workforce. Program Development Associates understands this need and provides training resources to help social service agents, Human Resources departments, and other professionals communicate, train, and motivate those with developmental disabilities.
Developmental disabilities are an eclectic group of mild to chronic conditions characterized by severe mental or physical impairment. Individuals with such disabilities can have difficulty developing the skills to learn, communicate, move, and live independently. By definition, this spectrum of disorders manifests itself by the time the individual reaches twenty two years of age. The four most common forms include Mental retardation, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and Down syndrome.
Mental Retardation
Mental retardation is by far the most common of developmental disabilities. Typically manifesting itself before the individual reaches the age of 18, this condition is defined by the American Association of Mental Retardation as a significant limitation in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. Redefinition of the condition in 2002 paints a positive picture, placing heavy emphasis on the ability for the individual to become more functional and adaptive when provided with carefully constructed individual supports. With today’s advanced multimedia disability training resources, individuals can learn to provide these support systems and help mentally impaired individuals develop their intellectual capabilities.
Autism
Few disabilities are as complex and elusive as Autism. The variance in ability, from functional to severely debilitating, suggests miscellany in the causal factors depending on the individual’s unique genetic makeup. However, it has recently been proposed that the condition is deeply rooted in the abnormal architecture of neurotransmitters in the brain. Further, the degree to which the condition is expressed seems to hinge on the presence and extent of other impairments, such as mental retardation. Autism develops in about every one or two children per thousand, expressed most strongly during the ages of three to five years. The earlier symptoms are identified, the more likely the individual can learn effective communication and social skills. Symptoms may become more acute or progressively chronic as these individuals develop into adults. Thus, it is of extreme importance to understand Autistic professionals on a personal level as the nature of the disorder can differ profoundly from individual to individual. Human Resources professionals are encouraged to engage in disability training and education catered towards Autistic individuals in specific.
Cerebral Palsy
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Cerebral Palsy is a broad, inclusive term for a group of capricious but non-progressive motor impairment syndromes secondary to anomalies of the brain arising in the early stages of development. A majority of cases are termed Congenital, caused by inadequacies of blood or oxygen supply to the unborn child, illness during pregnancy, or premature birth. The remaining minority of cases are termed Acquired, caused by head trauma, infections, or severe malnutrition shortly after the birth of the child. Whether Congenital or Acquired, individuals with Cerebral Palsy have the potential to be valuable assets to any company. Communication technology and mobility devices help these individuals to speak and move freely, however, the office environment and culture must also be built to foster physical accessibility and understanding of individuals with Cerebral Palsy.
Down Syndrome
Caused by a chromosomal defect, Down syndrome is seen in an estimated 1 in 700 people. These individuals exhibit physical characteristics unique to the syndrome, including low muscle tone and small stature, as well as a varying degree of intellectual impairment. Life expectancy for individuals with Down syndrome has more than tripled to sixty years since the early 1980s as researchers have made profound discoveries in the field of genetics and chromosomal development. In addition, cognitive delays are typically mild or moderate, making communication with an individual with Down syndrome easy relative to other chronic mental conditions. Several disability education resources are available to help professionals facilitate communication with these individuals, both in the workplace and in the home.
While developmental disabilities can vary in terms of severity, disabled individuals can nonetheless lead healthy, productive, and meaningful adult lives. The extent to which this can be realized hinges largely upon the unimpaired and our ability to promote disability awareness in the workplace. As disability training resources are utilized by professionals, more disabled Americans can transition into the office to make profound contributions. Disability education, whether taken on in the home or at the office, is a necessary for professionals in all industries to learn about and aid the disabled in their pursuit for fulfillment in society. Program Development Associates passionately links professionals with the educational resources necessary to help disabled individuals develop as professionals. PDA also offers a free disability education resource catalog of DVDs, CDs, videos, interactive board games, and gaming software.
References:
Kuban, K., & Leviton, A. (1994). Cerebral palsy. New England Journal of Medicine, 330(3), 188-195.
Huebner, R.A., and Dunn, W. (2001). Introduction and basic concepts. In Huebner, R.A., (Ed.), Autism: A sensorimotor approach to management (pp. 3-40). Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishing, Inc.
