Stephanie Worsop: Hiring people with disabilities - we need to do better

We all have a role to play in making the workforce a more equal place for everyone. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

It's a sad indictment on our society when figures show people with a disability are three times less likely to have a job.

And it's not for lack of wanting a job, trying to get a job or having the skillset needed for the job.

Rather, workplace discrimination and Covid-19 are blamed for the 74 per cent of disabled people who are not in paid work but would like to be if a job was available.

In this strange, paradoxical situation we're in where unemployment has climbed while there are industries simultaneously screaming out for staff, you would think it would be music to these employers' ears to hear of a pool of skilled people, ready and willing to work.

But as we've discovered in Saturday's story about the obstacles jobseekers with disabilities face, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Workbridge chief executive Jonathan Mosen said, while it may not be motivated by ill will, workplace discrimination was a "huge problem".

"It can be incredibly demoralising when you feel that you have so much to give - that there is so much you want to contribute - but you're being held back because of misconceptions."

These are people with skills to offer, who are only asking to be given a chance to prove they would be a valuable team member.

They deserve that chance, the same way anybody with the right skills does, but it appears to be all too easy for some employers to look the other way.

Is it fear they won't fit in with the team? Is it concern they won't be able to perform in the role? Or is it unintentional discrimination and willful ignorance?

In my opinion, it's the latter.

While, rightfully, it may no longer be common practice to send people with disabilities to institutions or support eugenics programmes, ableism is sadly still prevalent in our society and it is the responsibility of everyone to actively combat it.

This means identifying and calling out micro-aggressions such as jokes that use disabilities as the punch line, describing your own behaviour as bi-polar or OCD, or using outdated words such as psycho, retard and lame.

And it means if you're an employer, not just hiring a person with a disability because it's a good thing to do but because they have the right skills and are the right person for the job.

The Government's Working Matters Action Plan, which aims to ensure disabled people and those with health conditions have an equal opportunity to access employment is a step in the right direction.

But it's not the sole solution. There is always more to be done and we all need to have a hand in doing it so we can create a more equal society for everyone.