Disability confident businesses have been found to outperform competitors by 30 percent, according to disability inclusion specialist Lesa Bradshaw. She spoke at the Employment Workshop hosted by QASA in March.
“They create environments with dignity around disability, which creates a safe work environment for employees, but also helps employees respond better to customers with disabilities. There are four billion people with disabilities globally who are excluded from business,” she explained.
However, to become a disability confident business requires a little more than simply employing people with disabilities. It is about creating the right environment that will allow them to succeed in the career of their choice.
“In the work place, people with disabilities are not asking for special treatment and will work that [employers perceive] will let us succeed,” Lesa said. “Equalised opportunity is all that we ask for. An employer’s job is to offer an equalised opportunity. It is the employee’s job to do the work to the employer’s standard.”
Businesses are encouraged to more away from “creating work” for people with disabilities and rather supporting them to do the work for which they applied. This support might require the company to remove the disability barriers – factors within the physical environment, work setup or staff perceptions that can prevent the person from compete or performing.
Building disability confidence requires businesses to take a new approach to employing and supporting people with disabilities in the work environment; however, it offers a lot more with a diverse team and better sensitisation to potential clients with disabilities.
