Key Facts:
Fact 1:
Inclusive workplace settings have beneficial outcomes for employees with disabilities such as higher job satisfaction, more interaction among coworkers, improved productivity, enhanced company morale, improvement of attendance, and removed training costs for new employees.Fact 2:
Provision of workplace adjustments and accommodations helped in employee retainment, improvement of productivity, and boosted interactions among coworkers and the company’s climate.Fact 3:
To better support employees with disabilities, companies should implement diversity management to help cultivate inclusion, reduce stigma, and better support employees.Fact 4:
Disability awareness and diversity training should be implemented in workplace settings to help reduce workplace discrimination.Employers have a critical role in cultivating a positive inclusion of diversity along with diminishing the negative attitudes and stereotypes.
Fact 5:
Employers’ recognition of their own biases towards disability is important to achieve inclusion at the workplace. This can be facilitated through various supports from rehabilitation professionals such as emphasizing the assets of people with disabilities.Fact 6:
Activities such as a presentation about common misconceptions of disability and sharing success stories of employees with disabilities have been known to be successful in employer’s awareness of disability issues.Recommended Readings:
- Gewurtz, R. E., Langan, S., & Shand, D. (2016). Hiring people with disabilities: A scoping review. Work, 54(1), 135-148.
- Karpur, A., VanLooy, S. A., & Bruyère, S. M. (2014). Employer practices for employment of people with disabilities: A literature scoping review. Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education, 28(4), 225-241. doi:10.1891/2168-6653.28.4.225