The Candidate Experience Blog Series Part 1: Understanding Disability
Part 1: Understanding Disability
Many employers do not know where to begin when it comes to creating disability-inclusive workplaces. In order to implement the most inclusive hiring practices, the best place to start, is fully understanding what a disability is, what the landscape is like, and some facts that might not be known.
Disability 101: Back to Basics
What is a disability? According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an individual with a disability is defined “as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.” The ADA qualifies disability as a legal term, not a medical one, helping secure equal opportunities and civil rights for persons with disabilities.
You may not even realize that certain disabilities, limitations, or illnesses are actually disabilities that may need employer accommodation.
To help further this understanding, we’ve provided some examples below – (this is NOT a full list, however, a full list can be found on the Job Accommodation Network here.)
AIDS/HIV
Allergies
Alzheimer’s Disease
Amputation
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)/Lou Gehrig’s Disease
Anxiety Disorders
Arthritis
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Auditory Processing Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Bipolar Disorder
Bladder Impairments
Brain Injuries
Cancer
Cerebral Palsy
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic Pain
Cognitive Impairment (Intellectual)
Color Vision Deficiency (Color Blind)
Deafness or Hard of Hearing
Depression
Developmental Disabilities
Diabetes
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
Epilepsy
Fibromyalgia
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Glaucoma
Heart Conditions
Hearing Loss
Hepatitis
Herpes Zoster (Shingles)
Huntington’s Disease
Kidney Diseases
Learning Disabilities
Lyme Disease
Liver Disease
Lupus
Mental Health Impairments
Migraine Headaches
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Muscular Dystrophy
Parkinson’s Disease
Personality Disorders
Physical Disabilities
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Pregnancy
Psychiatric Impairments
Quadriplegia
Sickle Cell Anemia
Skin Disorders
Sleep Disorders
Speech-Language Impairments
Spina Bifida
Spinal Cord Injuries
Stroke
Stuttering
Thyroid Disorders
Wheelchair Use
As you can see from the list we’ve provided, along with most recent statistics, 1 in 4 Americans have a disability. While many disabilities are visible, such as blindness or low vision, paralysis, or other physical disabilities, more than 70 percent of disabilities are non-apparent, such as cancer, autism, diabetes, PTSD, or depression. Additionally, more than 80 percent of disabilities are acquired throughout an individual’s lifetime. Examples include long-term injuries due to an accident, diagnosis of an illness, decreased vision, hearing, or mobility.
Disability & Employment
The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is almost twice that of individuals without disabilities, as 7.7 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, compared to 3.7 percent of people without disabilities. This isn’t only about education levels either – persons with disabilities who have attained at least a bachelor’s degree are still three times less likely to be employed than those without a disability.
For an in-depth look at these topic areas, download our eBook, “Understanding the Candidate Experience for Job Seekers with Disabilities.”
For more resources and guidance on Understanding Disability, contact the CareerCircle team.
Contributions to this blog were made by Andraéa LaVant of Solutions Marketing Group.