When Hiring Workers With Disabilities, Businesses Fall Short

By Karen Axelton

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. But 20 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), things have not gotten better for employees with disabilities, reports a new study conducted by Harris Interactive for the Kessler Foundation and National Organization on Disability.

Just 21 percent of all working-age people with disabilities have jobs, compared to 59 percent of working-age people without a disability, according to the Kessler Foundation/National Organization on Disability 2010 Survey of Employment of Americans with Disabilities.

Most employers say employees with disabilities have the same abilities and workplace behaviors as employees without disabilities. (Interestingly, 35 percent think employees with disabilities have more dedication, and 33 percent think they have less turnover). Most employers also say the cost of hiring a person with a disability to be the same as hiring a person without a disability. And most employers say hiring employees with disabilities is important.

But companies are not putting their money where their mouths are. Just 56 percent of employers have hired someone with a disability in the past three years. Large (74 percent) and midsized (68 percent) companies are much more likely than small companies (43 percent) to have done so.

Is the economy to blame? Kessler Foundation president and CEO Rodger DeRose says the economy is disproportionately affecting people with disabilities, but believes lack of awareness among employers is also a factor. Of the 70 percent of companies that have diversity policies or programs, only two-thirds include disability as a component.

The situation has actually worsened since a prior survey was done in 1995. Fewer companies today have either a disability policy or program (29 percent in 2010 compared to 66 percent in 1995). Nineteen percent of companies have a specific person or department that oversees the hiring of people with disabilities, down from 40 percent in 1995. And just 18 percent of companies offer an education program to help integrate people with disabilities into the workplace, down from 63 percent in 1995.

For companies considering hiring as the economy picks up, employees with disabilities can be a “ready talent pool of … dependable workers,” said NOD President Carol Glazer. “Hiring people with disabilities can expand the productive power of [a business’s] work force.” Find more information and advice about hiring people with disabilities on the NOD website.

Image by Flickr user man pikin (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 at 10:30 am and is filed under Workforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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