[ABOVE: Angela Mackey, right, visits with colleague ]
Federal disability law hasn’t changed much, but its interpretation has, said Patti Padgett, diversity and inclusion chair at the Greenville Society of HR Management.
“It used to be that an employee had to come to the employer and say, ‘Hey I need something,’” Padgett said. “More recently the definition has been broadened, so that frankly it’s a little hazier for an employer to know what is a disability and what they need to accommodate. Now the employer is more responsible for noticing.”
In a word, lawsuits spurred the change.
In recent years, settlements and court rulings have been issued over matters such as refusals to hire hearing-impaired persons; applicants and employees being shunned or punished for taking prescription medications; and firings related to cancer, obesity and amputees. The Wall Street Journal reported a 55 percent increase in lawsuits related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the first six months of 2014, with nearly 2,000 by June 2014, as compared to filings over the same period in 2013.
At the same time, more companies are considering employees with disabilities because they want to become more diverse, or because they need to explore a bigger pool of applicants to meet their needs. Employers also adjust their approach when changes such as illness or aging begin to increase disabilities in their current worker population.
“Frankly, any cancer survivor [was] a disabled person, so how many people do you know who could have had that?” Padgett said.
Local experts say a lack of knowledge about resources, along with a variety of fears on both sides, too often creates a gap between workers with disabilities and employers with staffing needs. Yet the Upstate has already shown that bridging that gap can be done, and done well.
Small biz woe
“Inclusion does not mean changing job expectations. It just means that an employer is opening a door to the person that has historically been closed, so that he or she can show what they can do,” said Angela Mackey, HR generalist at the Walgreen Company.
Most large corporations are doing inclusion well these days, according to John Cocciolone, executive director of the Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs Board. “Where it really falls apart is at the small business level.”
In many cases, employers might have invested more in training, time or money before a new employee with disability can get to full productivity, and tough economic times dampen small business’ willingness to do so.
“When you see that diversity is part of what you have to do to get your raise, you’re going to pay attention,” Padgett said, describing how larger companies have been successful.
Padgett said Walgreens, Greenville Technical College and Verizon have worked hard to promote inclusion. The Gallivan, White & Boyd and Ogletree Deakins law firms have also made notable efforts, she said. “We’ve been trying to educate some of the smaller companies because, quite frankly, business doesn’t know how to approach it. They don’t know where to start.”
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Seeing abilities
Cocciolone said he’s been impressed by how proactively Upstate businesses address disability in the workplace, calling it “a lot nicer atmosphere” than other places he has worked.
Mackey said what new hires with disabilities usually need most is to be given the benefit of the doubt. “All a person needs is an opportunity to show what he can do. If we as HR professionals have an open mind, the person with the disability will thrive in the work environment.”
Mackey, based in Walgreens’ Anderson, S.C., distribution center, has cerebral palsy, so she understands the challenges of forging a professional career with a visible disability. The first meeting is the hardest part when people assume she is less intelligent, dependent and uneducated.
“I have a master’s degree, but the social stigma when you have a disability is that you are not educated. That can sometimes be hard to deal with. I have worked hard, and hate to be underestimated.”
Getting help
Mackey said employers’ biggest misconception is the belief that they must be disability experts in order to be inclusive, but outside organizations can help recruit the best candidates.
Also, employers often think strictly of physical disabilities, or fail to consider the broad range of physical disabilities. Padgett said certain disabilities can be addressed as easily as simply locating the employee’s office closer to a bathroom. She and Cocciolone said employers also tend to overestimate the cost of making accommodations. They might decide not to hire a candidate they like for fear of having to make accommodations such as making a place wheelchair-accessible, Cocciolone said.
Mackey said accommodations Walgreens made for employees with disabilities at its Anderson County distribution plant only cost as much as the ink and paper to print visual job aids based on individual needs. Having several people with disabilities on staff, the company is widely held up as an employer that got it right with regard to addressing employees’ disabilities.
“What they don’t realize is that there’s state and federal money that would pay for that,” Padgett said. “There’s a lot of support out there for an employer who wants to take that leap and hire somebody with a disability.”
Fear also crops up in a few other forms. Employers commonly fear litigation if things do not work out with an employee who has a disability. Cocciolone said some employers are too scared to even bring up the issue. Yet he maintains that employers are more protected than usual when they hire somebody with a disability. For those who are still apprehensive, DSN will do the hiring and handle the HR, he said.
Mackey said employers often let fear of the unknown keep them from giving people with disabilities an opportunity to prove themselves. Most disabilities today can be accommodated with little or no cost to the employer.
She said people with disabilities also need to overcome assumptions about themselves.
“I’ve also found in my 35 years [in the workforce] that sometimes people who have a disability don’t see themselves that way,” she said. “So they don’t understand all the hoopla when people want to talk to them or see them do their work. They’re just like you or I and they’re just thinking about getting their work done.
“We live in a society where people with disabilities are protected, but a lot of times not challenged,” Mackey said. “If you tell me not to worry about working hard, that I’ll get Disability [benefits] when I turn 18 anyway, that makes me feel as though ‘What’s the use in working hard?’ That disability becomes a definer of who the person is. In truth, our disability is just a part of who we are.”
