Employment for Persons with Disabilities

In the United States, do you know of any person with disabilities in leadership or management positions? Chances are there are not many of them. Disabled people generally tend to occupy vocational and/or volunteer jobs. I have seen some fold paperclips or sharpen pencils at the local library. Seldom do we see them in upper management or leadership roles. If many can be considered qualified with or without reasonable accommodation as provided by the American with Disabilities Act; then, why don’t they hold meaningful jobs? Is this not a form of disparate impact in hiring practices across the board? Take for example, Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Echazabal, 536 U.S. 73 (2002), where the plaintiff with liver issues wishes to return to work at the risk of direct threat against himself. There are a lot of questions to be asked such that do persons with disabilities have so limited opportunities for employment that they would be willing to engage in work that puts their health at risk just to have employment and pay the bills? In this sense, the ADA has not gotten very far in providing equal opportunity and meaningful access for persons with disabilities. It shouldn’t be so hard for anyone, even for a person with disability, to find work that he or she is qualified, for with or without reasonable accommodation. But, sadly, it is. So that when people with disabilities find whatever small opportunity to earn, they do so even at the risk of harm against themselves, because there are no better options. In a society that prides itself in equality for all, there must be better options. Discrimination is not only the inability to provide reasonable accommodation or the ill treatment of those associated with persons with disabilities. Discrimination is also when a person with disability settles for a poor choice because there is no other choice – or society makes it hard to choose an alternative. Ultimately, persons with disabilities should have the responsibility of being their own advocate and guardian for their rights to equal opportunities in employment and to quality of life. What, therefore, is the threshold of meaningful access? Should it not be expanded? Who determines reasonable accommodation vs. undue burden; and why are there not enough benchmarks for this? This leads me to the larger question: why are there no opportunities for disabled people to have meaningful access to work opportunities in leadership and upper management?

The trend now is to focus on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Diversity and inclusion include hiring persons with disabilities and giving them opportunities to succeed. But hiring practices are tough and when the hiring manager sees one is disabled or in a wheelchair, proceed to the next applicant.

I am a person with disabilities. I use a motorized wheelchair. I have a master’s degree from an ivy league university. However, that does not account for anything. I have been discriminated against for being disabled. Questions arise like can I reach the black board? Will colleagues respect me and treat me as equal? And, when I get a job, it is unpaid and volunteer work. I should be grateful I am given the chance to be part of society. That is it, when we cannot contribute meaningful and get compensated for work done we are not part of society. We are not being treated equally and respectfully. So we become dependent on welfare and on our families.

We give up the desire to make a difference in other people’s lives and in our own because we are not accepted. That is not how to live. More has to be done.