1. Disability Sensitivity*
07/16/96
Disability Sensitivity
Not about political correctness – about something much more important than that and we will talk more about that later in the presentation.
Do you notice the use of any language in this photograph that is different than perhaps what we are accustomed to seeing?
Accessible Entrance
Accessible Parking
Accessible Restrooms
Debbie Jones Disability Consultant San Francisco Region - Department of Labor Office of Job Corps *

2. *
07/16/96
The greatest barriers individuals with disabilities have faced for decades and continue to face today are attitudinal barriers.
This statement is in just about every presentation I have ever done.
There are still many, many misperceptions and biases about individuals with disabilities. Those misperceptions and biases do create barriers for people with disabilities – barriers of access as well as barriers of opportunity,
So, hopefully, you can take the information being provided today and use it to continue to break down those attitudinal barriers. *

3. Work Trends Survey Americans’ Attitudes About Work,*
07/16/96
Work Trends Survey
Americans’ Attitudes About Work,
Employers and Government
There are many ways in which barriers due to a disability may be accommodated.
Work Trends, March 2003
John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Restricted Access:
A Survey of Employers About People with
Disabilities and Lowering Barriers to Work
Work Trends is the joint project of two social science research centers, the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers and the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.
Explores the attitudes of the U.S. workforce on the challenges faced by workers, families, and employers in the changing global economy.
To date Work Trends reports encompass ten major surveys and contain data from 10,000 worker interviews on a range of trends and national workplace and policy issues. The series was conceived in order to explore the practices and perceptions of American workers about the economy, their jobs, and employers. *

4. *
07/16/96
Specific Barriers Cited by Employers to Their Hiring People with Disabilities
When asked what the greatest barrier employers themselves face in hiring people with disabilities, nearly one-third (32%) say that the nature of their company’s work is such that it cannot be effectively performed by workers with disabilities.
Only 10% say that employer discomfort or unfamiliarity regarding hiring people with disabilities is the greatest barrier,
while another 10% cite fear about the cost of accommodating disability
However, many (40%) employers maintain that it can be difficult or costly to provide
accommodations to workers with disabilities—particularly those employers that have no experience doing so.
Smaller firms are more likely than larger firms to agree that it is generally difficult or costly to accommodate workers with disabilities (44% and 32%, respectively).
Manufacturers have the most positive view of the cost of accommodation, with those in the retail trade industry are more likely than manufacturers to agree that accommodation is costly (33% and 45%, respectively).
Heldrich Work Trends Survey, v.3.6: winter ‘03 *

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07/16/96
Why the Attitude?
FEAR
Many people fear they will say or do the wrong thing and, therefore, avoid people with disabilities.
BACKLASH
People believe that individuals with disabilities are given unfair advantages.
DENIAL
"Hidden" disabilities are not "real" disabilities that require accommodation.
SPREAD EFFECT
People assume that a person with a disability is totally impaired. For example, people may talk loudly to a person who is blind.
So, why do some of these attitudes exist?
FEAR – also of litigation, of accommodation cost
I really think that FEAR and the SPREAD EFFECT are the 2 reasons posing the greatest barrier so we have to continue to educate to dispel these fears and promote accurate information about the capabilities of individuals with disabilities in the workplace *

6. Misperceptions & Biases of Persons with Disabilities*
07/16/96
Misperceptions & Biases of Persons with Disabilities
MYTH: People with disabilities have lower job performance.
FACT: In 1990, DuPont conducted a survey of 811 employees with disabilities and found 90% rated average or better in job performance compared to 95% for employees without disabilities. A similar 1981 DuPont study which involved 2,745 employees with disabilities found that 92% of employees with disabilities rated average or better in job performance compared to 90% of employees without disabilities.
MYTH: Employees with disabilities have a higher absentee rate than employees without disabilities.
FACT: Studies by firms such as DuPont show that employees with disabilities are not absent any more than employees without disabilities. *

7. Misperceptions & Biases*
07/16/96
Misperceptions & Biases
MYTH: It is too costly to accommodate students and employees with disabilities.
FACT: Most workers with disabilities require no special accommodations and the cost for those who do is minimal or much lower than many employers believe. Studies by the President's Committee's Job Accommodation Network have shown that 15% of accommodations cost nothing, 51% cost between $1 and $500, 12% cost between $501 and $1,000, and 22% cost more than $1,000.
MYTH: Certain career choices are more suited to persons with disabilities.
FACT: As with all people, certain career choices may be better suited to some than to others. While there are obvious poor career technical training and career choices, there are also many ways to accommodate individuals with disabilities as well as alternate ways of accomplishing a task. *

8. Misperceptions & Biases*
07/16/96
Misperceptions & Biases
MYTH: Persons with disabilities need to be protected from failing.
FACT: Persons with disabilities have a right to participate in the full range of human experiences including success and failure. Job Corps Center staff and employers should have the same expectations of, and work requirements for, all students/employees. *

9. Myths about Job Corps Students with Disabilities*
07/16/96
Myths about Job Corps Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities cannot be taught a vocation.
This is not true. Each student with a disability is an individual with certain abilities. The focus should be on what the individual can do, not limited by what he/she cannot. For instance, a student with a cognitive disability may have weaknesses in traditional academic areas and may have trouble reading; however, this student may do well in other areas such as carpentry. The key is to provide the student with the training he/she needs to match both their abilities and interests.
Students with disabilities cannot make academic gains.
With reasonable accommodation, the student may make academic gains in language or math, obtain a GED, a HSD, or even go on to college.
All students with disabilities have low mental abilities.
Every individual with a disability is unique just as each individual without a disability is unique. Even manifestations of the same type of disability may present differently in different individuals. Get to know the person before making judgments based upon a label.
Most students with disabilities are very intelligent. They may learn differently or need access to information in differing ways in order to fully demonstrate their capabilities.
When given the proper tools to showcase their talents, we often find that students with disabilities are highly creative possessing the ability to problem solve and plan strategies in ways that many of us simply cannot envision. *

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07/16/96
The words you use can create either a positive view of people with disabilities or it can reinforce common myths. *

11. *
07/16/96
It’s not just a matter of semantics or being “politically correct”; the language we use reflects how we feel about disability.
It is about perception.
We have to be careful that we are not erecting barriers for students or individuals with disabilities through our use of language or through the perpetuation of misperceptions and biases. *

12. Negative Phrases Used to Describe People with Disabilities*
07/16/96
Negative Phrases Used to Describe People with Disabilities
Retard or retarded
You must have ridden the “short bus”
Crazy, lunatic, schizo, psycho, insane
Deaf and dumb
A mute
Brain-damaged
Crippled
Ok, can you tell me some of the negative phrases or references that you may have heard over the years used to describe individuals with disabilities. *

13. Language Use Negative Phrase Retard; retarded The blind*
07/16/96
Language Use
Negative Phrase
Retard; retarded
The blind
The disabled; handicapped
The deaf
Deaf and dumb, mute
Suffers a hearing loss
Afflicted by MS
Affirmative Phrase
A person with an intellectual disability
A person who is blind or who is visually impaired
A person with a disability
A person who is deaf or who has a hearing impairment
A person who is deaf
A person who is hard of hearing
A person who has multiple sclerosis *

14. More on Language Use Negative Phrase CP Victim Epileptic*
07/16/96
More on Language Use
Negative Phrase
CP Victim
Epileptic
Confined or restricted to a wheelchair
Stricken by MD
Crippled, lame, deformed
He’s Downs
Crazy, nuts, lunatic, psycho
Affirmative Phrase
A person who has cerebral palsy
A person who has epilepsy
A person who uses a wheelchair
A person who has muscular dystrophy
A person with a physical disability
A person with Down syndrome
A person with a mental health or psychiatric disability *

15. More on Language Use Negative Phrase A quadriplegic Dwarf; midget*
07/16/96
More on Language Use
Negative Phrase
A quadriplegic
Dwarf; midget
Learning disabled
Normal
Brain damaged
Handicapped parking
Affirmative Phrase
A person with a physical disability or one who has quadriplegia
A person who is short of stature or who is a little person
A person with a learning disability
A person without disabilities
A person with a brain injury
Accessible Parking *

16. Handicap vs. Disability*
07/16/96
Handicap vs. Disability
Handicap or Handicapped
The origin of the word “handicap” is from an old English bartering game in which the “loser” was left with “hand in his cap” and was thought to be at a disadvantage.
A legendary origin of the word “handicap” refers to a person with a disability begging with his “cap in his hand.”
-From Kathy Snow’s, “Disability is Natural” website.
We are seeing the shift from the use of the term handicap to the use of the term disability.
Why? Again, there have been so many negative connotations associated with the word handicap.
Descriptors within various dictionary definitions include such words as:
to be at a disadvantage; impede, etc. *

17. A “person with a disability” not a*
07/16/96
Person First Language
Person First Language puts the person before the disability and describes what a person has, not who a person is.
A “person with a disability” not a
“disabled” person *

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07/16/96
Why Person First?
Group designations such as "the blind," "the retarded" or "the disabled" are inappropriate because they do not reflect the individuality, equality or dignity of people with disabilities.
Further, words like "normal person" imply that the person with a disability isn't normal, whereas "person without a disability" is descriptive but not negative. *

19. Barrier Removal – Reasonable Accommodation*
07/16/96
Barrier Removal – Reasonable Accommodation
Sometimes our misperceptions and biases about what a person with a disability can or cannot do exist because there is not an awareness or knowledge base of how those barriers might be alleviated with the use of appropriate reasonable accommodation. *

20. How Accommodations Remove Barriers*
07/16/96
How Accommodations Remove Barriers *

21. *
07/16/96
Examples of what some individuals with certain types of learning disabilities might “see” when looking at printed material or how they might “write” on paper. *

22. Overcoming Those Barriers*
07/16/96
Overcoming Those Barriers
There are many ways in which barriers due to a disability may be accommodated.
Examples:
Use of a word processor
Spell check
Word prediction
Use of text to speech software
Use of voice dictation software *

23. Suggestions for Effective Communication*
07/16/96
Suggestions for Effective Communication
Ask the person with the disability about their needs
Consider the communication situation (e.g., nature, length, and complexity)
Use a combination of aids and services with appropriate communication techniques.  For example, speaking clearly in a normal tone of voice, writing key words, using short sentences, gesturing, signing, looking directly at the listener when speaking
Whenever there is a question about how to talk to a person with a disability, to shake hands or not if there is a prosthetic device, etc., what is the most important thing to do and almost always the best approach?
Talk to the person with the disability – ask them.
Someone who is deaf – is it a 1:1 communication and the person can lip read or is it a large group where an interpreter might be necessary, etc. *

24. The Ten Commandments of Communicating with People with Disabilities*
07/16/96
The Ten Commandments of Communicating with People with Disabilities
The Ten Commandments of Communicating with People with Disabilities is a video that provide information on disability etiquette via a series of humorous vignettes.
It also delivers a compelling portrait of people with disabilities as competent, contributing, and affable participants in the workforce. *

25. Creating Inclusive Environments*
07/16/96
Creating Inclusive Environments
Keep in mind that knowing how to react appropriately in every situation requires time and practice.
As with all other etiquette issues, when mistakes are made, apologize, correct the problem, learn from the mistake, move on–do not be discouraged, and above all,
keep trying.  *

26. Creating & Maintaining an Inclusive Training & Work Environment*
07/16/96
Creating & Maintaining an Inclusive Training & Work Environment
Use posters and other visual displays that are inclusive of individuals with disabilities.
Provide ongoing training to staff, students, and prospective employers regarding disability related topics.
Disability Sensitivity/Basic Etiquette
Common Disabilities
Reasonable Accommodation
Types of Barrier Removal
General Resources
Education and Training Techniques/Strategies
Staff modeling of appropriate conduct, attitudes, and knowledge.
Education is key – give staff and students information. Teach them about disabilities, expose them to the proper language use, etc. *

27. *
07/16/96
Educating the Student
Assist student in becoming confident and comfortable discussing his/her disability by providing:
Specific training/literature on
Disclosure
Self-Advocacy & Self-Determination
Workplace Rights
This is critically important – that individual needs to know some basic information about disclosure, how to advocate for themselves, etc. BTW, the word advocacy is not a “bad” word. It simply means that the individual understands and is able to ask for what he/she needs and is familiar with their basic civil rights. *

28. Educating the Employer*
07/16/96
Educating the Employer
Each October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). NDEAM is a perfect time to promote awareness and showcase the abilities of students with disabilities within the Job Corps environment, within the community-at-large and most importantly, with employers. Suggested activities include:
Work with local business industry council to set up a job fair or open house featuring center trades and show types of accommodations and how they are used in that particular field.
Gather information on hiring individuals with disabilities and disseminate to employers, including development of flyers and newsletter perhaps featuring students with disabilities who have been successfully placed. [Make this a year round activity!] *

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Involving Employers
Invite employers to participate in the center’s programs and activities.
Include disability organization representatives on the center community relations and business industry councils. *

30. Poster available at www.disabilityisnatural.com*
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Poster available at *

31. Job Corps Disability Website*
07/16/96
Job Corps Disability Website
The site contains general disability information and disability-related information specific to Job Corps. *

32. *
07/16/96
Other Resources
Barbara Grove, National Office, National Nurse Consultant or
Michelle Day, Humanitas, Disability Coordinator
, ext. 409 or
Debbie Jones, Humanitas, Learning Disabilities Specialist
, or *