Building the business case for hiring people with...
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Dec 10, 2012  |  Vote 0    0

Building the business case for hiring people with disabilities in Durham

Employers hear how to maximize profitability by tapping into overlooked labour market

Oshawa This Week

DURHAM -- Besides removing physical barriers that stand in the way of employment opportunities for people with disabilities, there is one other type of obstacle that employers must also eliminate.

"Accessibility is far, far more than just the physical changes that have gone on to improve things in our society, such as wheelchair parking spots (and) automatic doors," Ontario Lieutenant-Governor David Onley told a room full of business owners and representatives during a conference at the Abilities Centre in Whitby recently.

"It has specifically to do with attitudes towards people with disabilities -- it means focusing on what people with disabilities can do, rather than what you think they might not be able to do."

Capitalizing on CapABILITIES, hosted by the Durham Region Employment Network, was the region's first business-to-business conference on accessibility. The day-long event, which also included an expo of support providers, employment training services and adaptive technologies suppliers, highlighted business opportunities the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games will provide for people with disabilities.

"The accomplishments at the Paralympics and the Parapan Games convinced me more than ever before that positive changes are taking place when it comes to public perspective of disabilities," said Mr. Onley, the keynote speaker at the conference.

"The Games are not about disabled people who are also athletes; they are in fact spectacular athletes who just happen to have a disability."

Having lived with polio and post-polio syndrome since the age of three, Mr. Onley is known for championing disability issues. During the conference, he spoke at length about the staggering 25-per cent unemployment rate that currently exists in Ontario for people with disabilities and the common misconceptions employers often have about hiring those with mental or physical impairments.

"(Studies show) the cost of the accommodation -- physically making any changes necessary to the workplace -- is usually less than $400," he said, adding that other common beliefs about hiring people with disabilities can be dispelled by actual statistics from various companies.

"For companies that hire people with disabilities ... counter-intuitively the job retention rate is higher, counter-intuitively the absenteeism rate is lower and counter-intuitively, the productivity is higher."

As one in seven Ontarians, nearly two million people, have a disability of some form, the goal of the event was to highlight the significant economic boost that greater accessibility offers.

"We have people that call our office every day who have university degrees, college diplomas, all kinds of abilities, but can't get in the door," says Donna McAllister, executive director of DREN.

"Once they get in the door, then they tend to move up very quickly but it's getting that door open. There's a skill shortage out there, there's a labour shortage out there and there's this great pool of talent that nobody is accessing."


The accomplishments at the Paralympics and the Par

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