Two films that won at this year’s Oscars featured characters who have revolutionized their fields despite their disabilities: The Theory of Everything, which tells the life of physicist Stephen Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and The Imitation Game, the biopic of mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing, believed to have suffered from Asperger's syndrome.
According to Statistics Canada, half of people with disabilities do not work. In 2011, the rate of workers with a mild disability stood at 69% against 79% for the rest of the working age population. The difference is even greater for those who are limited by their disability. This reflects a serious lack of integration of disabled people in the workplace.
Recruiting a disabled person is far from being a habit for employers. A survey by BMO Financial Group found that only three small business owners had hired 10 disabled people in 2013.
Unsung strengths
However, if a disability is often seen as a weekness, it can also turn into strength in the workplace. “A disability can change some personality traits, but an active disabled person aims their life around the pursuit of solutions, not problems, and it becomes a survival instinct. Is this not a quality sought out by many employers?” states the Association of Disabled Persons of the West South Shore on its website. Some people with disabilities, including those whose disability is physical, usually also show great adaptability, appropriate for organizations that are constantly changing.
Staff retention is now a key issue for many companies. However, the increased difficulty for people with disabilities of finding employment means they are often more loyal to their employers than other workers. Finally, although hiring a disabled person may require specific training and establishing certain accommodations, that initial investment can often yield great returns for businesses.
Some disabilities are even benefits for some positions. For example, a deaf person can work in a noisy factory without being stressed by high sounds. As for people with Down syndrome, they can be very comfortable performing repetitive tasks that so-called normal people would be put off by. They are also characterized by an often-strong loyalty to their boss.
Success stories
Some companies have understood that disabled people are an asset to their development. In Denmark, in 2014, the father of a young autistic child founded Specialisterne, a computer company employing a majority of people with autism. Now present in many countries, including Canada, Specialisterne capitalizes on the qualities of autism: the special attention to detail, the ability to solve problems and zero tolerance for errors. Specialisterne has notably been imitated by the SAP software company, which recruits people with autism, including for its Montreal office.
In Lasalle, RécupérAction Marronniers has 127 employees, a hundred of which suffer from mental health problems. A choice that has paid off as the company, specializing in the recovery of recyclable materials, has generated $8.5 million and has even expanded to create thirty new jobs for persons with mental disorders.