You would think that having the right attitude and skills would be enough for getting the job – but that is not what people with special needs experience.
Even with a bachelor’s degree in their hands and being equally qualified, they still face various challenges when trying to fit into the community and find an employment. As research has confirmed, only 40 percent of adults with disabilities in their prime working years (25-54) have a job, compared to 79 percent of all prime-age adults.
Because of the stigma and attitudinal barriers, many persons with disabilities are afraid to disclose them to potential employers during a job application process, so they come as a surprise once they appear in the interview.
What the employers must realise is that hiring a person with a disability does not mean settling for less or lowering their employees’ efficacy expectations. On the contrary, widening their horizons and putting prejudices aside can reveal a broad spectrum of talents and skilled people ready to benefit their business significantly.
This is what the recent study published in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation has confirmed, too. The authors conducted this research by completing thorough searches of seven databases from 1997 to 2017, and the results showed that the benefits of hiring people with disabilities included improvements in profitability, competitive advantage, inclusive work culture, and ability awareness. This study also showed that there are numerous benefits for the people with disabilities that get the opportunity to work.
As the authors noticed, these benefits included improved quality of life and income, enhanced self-confidence, expanded social network, and a sense of community.
However, the fact that people with disabilities have a considerably lower employment rate than that of the non-disabled people, as confirmed by numerous pieces of research globally, unfortunately proves that we, as a society, still have a long way to go before it can be said that we are aware of the issues that persons with disabilities are faced with on a daily basis.
In the meantime, the author of the study Disabled People in Employment concluded that the disability employment gap has reduced by 4.8 percentage points since 2015, which represents a spark of hope in terms of having a more diverse workforce on a global scale.
After all, if we declare ourselves as a democratic society, then we must establish an environment where all individuals are able to participate in the community actively and pursue their careers. This means that they need to be given an opportunity to earn sufficient income for themselves and their families.
Disabled or not, all individuals should be held in high regard and given equal odds to get ahead. This is precisely our motto here in Triest Press, and hopefully, more businesses will follow this mindset in the future. This way, the entire society will indeed become as it defines itself: democratic and inclusive, with equal rights for everyone.
You want to see different statistics and more employment options for people with special needs? Perhaps you might want to know that we are launching a new app soon which will give you a chance to print your photos and at the same time financially directly support employment opportunities for people with special needs. Stay tuned!
