Employee Disability Disclosure starts with Disability Inclusion. We explore Disability and what organizations need to consider to create an environment that makes employees feel comfortable to disclose their disabilities.
Do you know which of your employees or colleagues are living with a disability? Is your organisation a safe and welcoming environment for people with disabilities?
November 3 marks the beginning of the National Disability Rights Awareness Month which South Africa observes annually until 3 December. The 3rd of December is celebrated as International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and locally it is the National Disability Rights Awareness Day.
Disability occurs as a consequence of an impairment – physical, mental cognitive, emotional, developmental, or some combination of these. The observance of Disability Awareness Month is not just to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people with disabilities in all aspects of life (social, economic, political, and cultural), but to also
Why is it so important? Disability inclusion is an essential condition to upholding human rights and promoting well-being. It is crucial to facilitate disability inclusion considering that the World Health Organisation estimates that 15% of the world’s population live with a disability.
In South Africa, the official national disability prevalence rate is 7.5%; however, most researchers and disability advocates in this space agree that South African disability data is incomplete – and disability is likely underreported. A more accurate figure is estimated to be between 11% and 17%.
Considering these facts, at least 5 million South Africans are living with a disability, and it is crucial that we recognize and promote the inclusion of this population.
Many of us tend to think of disabilities and picture the conditions we can see – we think wheelchairs and prosthetics; glasses and walking sticks; and other physical impairments that are immediately visible or identifiable.
These are visible disabilities, which mostly include the impairment of a physical feature. People living with visible disabilities may likely use an assistive device that acts as an indicator of that disability.
There are also invisible disabilities that often have no visible indicator. Invisible or hidden disability is an umbrella term that captures a whole spectrum of hidden disabilities and challenges that are primarily neurological in nature.
These may include:
Disclosing a disability can be a challenge for your employees. The stigmatization of people with disabilities is well documented and in addition to this, people with disabilities may likely have experienced past situations that resulted in embarrassment or intimidation, hence the fear to discuss this.
As a result, in the workplace, people living with invisible disabilities are constantly trying to figure out who they should disclose to and when. On one hand, if they do not disclose, misunderstandings are likely to take place; and on the other hand, if they do disclose - there is a very real possibility that others may think they are making it up or exaggerating in order to receive special accommodations.
Studies show that people with invisible disabilities are constantly fearful of being perceived this way; and as such disclosure of disabilities, particularly in the workplace, is low.
Last year’s Disability Awareness theme, “Not All Disabilities are visible” aimed at raising awareness of the fact that with hidden disabilities comes the challenge of disbelief. When individuals or organizations cannot see a disability there exists a danger of misunderstanding or malignment of the disability.
As a result, people living with invisible illnesses and disabilities are not likely to disclose out of fear that they may be perceived as faking or lying.
This is where focusing on inclusion comes in. Inclusion goes beyond the provision of equal access. Inclusion means acknowledging that differences and disabilities come with specific challenges and facilitating impactful access that enables people to overcome the challenges and barriers posed by their disabilities.
Because invisible disabilities are rarely outwardly apparent, it is important to be sensitive to the reality and challenges faced by people living with this category of disabilities. While businesses are urged to employ people with disabilities, often, we remain blind to the employees already in our organisations who are living with a disability but are afraid to disclose this.
Be open: We can begin by shelving our definition of ‘normal’ and understanding that what we perceive as normal is ultimately a socially constructed standard. Doing this allows you to become more open to the differences in the people around us, disability or not, and in particular, more open to be accepting of people across the broad spectrum of invisible disabilities.
Be Aware: Even when you empathize do not speak authoritatively about the condition of another. Instead, listen and learn to understand. Without understanding, you run the risk of responding in an inappropriate or offensive manner.
Be Inclusive: workplace sensitivity is about making sure that the organisational culture (and everyone in it) is inclusive and welcoming. Examples of sensitivity include
Many employers find the concept of ‘reasonable accommodation’ intimidating. They immediately assume there is a hefty price-tag attached to the provision of reasonable accommodation, mostly because, as stated above, many of us default to thinking only of the physical/visible disabilities that may require some structural adjustments to the workplace.
Diversity has, among other things, been credited with increasing employee well-being and productivity and ultimately, a company’s profitability. Getting your employees to disclose their disabilities can effectively contribute to the growth of your business in a multitude of ways from the retention of staff to the performance of the organization.
Some of the more apparent benefits include:
Make no mistake, disclosing a disability is a gradual process for an individual. It may start with ticking the ‘yes’ box on an anonymous survey, opening up to a friendly colleague, or disclosing to the manager during a high-pressure situation or medical event. Whatever the circumstances, most employees base their decision on the workplace culture and how they perceive other employees with differences and/or disabilities being treated.
There are some steps that an organisation can take to encourage employees’ disability disclosure:
The bottom line is that employees are more likely to disclose their disabilities when they experience their workplace culture as inclusive. Your company cannot simply pay lip service to inclusion, but be demonstrably disability aware and inclusive. Transcend has worked in the disability space for over ten years providing
Contact us to speak to a consultant today if you would like