Disability Sensitivity SeRonna Rodgers Outreach & Education Coordinator Arkansas Protection & Advocacy Disability Rights Center

The greatest barriers individuals with disabilities have faced for decades and continue to face today are attitudinal barriers.

Causes of Attitudinal Barriers  NOMADIC TRIBES  EARLY CHRISTIANITY  RENAISSANCE ERA  HITLER’S REGIME

Causes of Attitudinal Barriers MEDIA  MOVIES  TELEVISION  NEWSPAPERS  RADIO

Causes of Attitudinal Barriers “It is better for all the world, if for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.” The United States Supreme Court, Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes

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 FinalReport.pdf

Specific Barriers Cited by Employers to Their Hiring People with Disabilities Heldrich Work Trends Survey, v.3.6: winter ‘03

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.

Misperceptions & Biases of Persons with Disabilities  MYTH:People with disabilities have lower job performance.  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.

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.

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.

Myths about 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.

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

It’s not just a matter of semantics or being “politically correct”; the language we use reflects how we feel about disability.

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

Language Use 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 Negative Phrase Retard; retarded The blind The disabled; handicapped The deaf Deaf and dumb, mute Suffers a hearing loss Afflicted by MS

More on Language Use 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 Negative Phrase CP Victim Epileptic Confined or restricted to a wheelchair Stricken by MD Crippled, lame, deformed He’s Downs Crazy, nuts, lunatic, psycho

More on Language Use 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 Negative Phrase A quadriplegic Dwarf; midget Learning disabled Normal Brain damaged Handicapped parking

Handicap vs. Disability  Handicap or Handicapped ▪ A legendary origin of the word “handicap” refers to a person with a disability begging with his “cap in his hand.” This is believed to come from our war veterans after World War II as a means to support themselves. -From Kathy Snow’s, “Disability is Natural” website.

People First Language People 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

Why People 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.

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.

How Accommodations Remove Barriers

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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!]

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.

Poster available at

Disability Rights Center www.arkdisabilityrights.org

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