Example research essay topic: People With Disabilities Task Force - 1,461 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

Hiring Disabled Employees Approximately 54 million noninstitutionalized Americans have physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities. Of these cases, 26 million are classified as having a severe disability. Severe disabilities include Alzheimer's disease, autism, mental retardation, and long-term use of a cane, crutches, walker, or wheelchair. Historically, individuals with disabilities have not fared well in the US labor force.

Census figures indicate that of the 15. 6 million working-age adults with disabilities (aged 16 - 64), only 34. 6 % were employed. In contrast, the employment rate of those without disabilities was 79. 8 %. However, now things have changed drastically. Employers know a lot about hiring and accommodating disabled workers; the Americans with Disabilities Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against disabled applicants who can do the job, even if that means making some adjustments in how the job is done.

But now, a new class of the disabled is looking for work, including those who were heretofore shut out of the job market because of the severity of their disabilities. Now, employers would be well-advised to look for ways to both attract these employees and ensure their accommodations are as accessible and welcoming as they can be. Thanks to advances in medical technology, people who have been out of work for years and are now able to return to work. Better assistance technology, such as a computer keyboard that can be operated with the feet, plays a role as well. With the changes in technology, more and more doors are opening to recruit persons with disabilities. The biggest boon: telecommuting, so that those for whom mobility is a problem can fill jobs in information technology, sales support and customer relations from their homes.

Beyond technological advances, however, it really isn't about how disabled people are, it's about how they see themselves in society. There's a war for talent, and people with disabilities represent an untapped resource. So the current tight job market has changed the way handicapped people are employed in two important ways: Some trend-setting companies are deliberately going after workers with disabilities; and More workers with disabilities so severe that they can be deemed by Social Security as unable to work are rejoining the work force. The two developments, of course, work hand in hand: Recruiting is more successful when more of the severely disabled are looking for jobs, and the fact that such applicants are meeting favorable corporate environments encourages more of the disabled to seek jobs.

Companies are open to hiring people with disabilities because they realize they have to be more creative in recruiting, and they have cast their nets over a wider area in order to find talented employees. People with disabilities who had no interest in working five years ago are interested in being in the work force now because there are better jobs available to them. When it spun off from AT&T in 1996, Lucent Technologies had an organized association of employees with disabilities or with dependents with disabilities. Lucent formed a task force three years ago to work on the issue, and since then, the company has started exhibiting at job fairs for the disabled run by state and federal agencies, and in the summer of 2000, hired interns with disabilities for the first time. So far, there have been no permanent hires under task force programs, but the companys management is confident that will happen.

Similarly, Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati is just forming a channel recruiting team. At first, P&G recruiters were told to look for disabled applicants during their campus visits, but they simply didn't come up with many candidates. That's why the new recruiting teams were set up; next year, they will concentrate on seeking out disabled students for interviews and will focus on schools that are either devoted to educating the disabled or have a particularly good record of doing so, such as Gallaudet in Washington, Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois. Microsoft in Seattle stepped up its efforts when it hired Mylene Padolina in January 2000 as a diversity consultant and gave her the mandate to develop outreach programs for the disabled that mimic its push for other minorities. So in 2000, the company, for the first time, hired disabled summer interns, added to the list of outlets in which it places recruitment advertising various publications and Web sites targeted to the disabled, and made a 15 -minute video featuring disabled Microsoft employees and the accommodations made for them -- a video now shown at all new employee orientation sessions and avail able on the company's Web site. In addition, Microsoft is reaching out to the next generation of workers, telling disabled high-schoolers that good job opportunities exist at Microsoft and hope fully inspiring the students.

The company held an in-plant career day for disabled high-school students, showing them accommodations already in place, outlining future assistance devices Microsoft is working on and having them meet current disabled workers. The company had hoped to attract 100 students, yet had to shut the sign-ups off when they reached 140, and has 200 more names on a waiting list for the next such event. IBM has been running, in conjunction with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, special internships for disabled college students since 1997, and has hired 17 full-time employees out of the program so far, hitting a high mark of eight out of 27 interns in 2000. In addition, the company in 1998 picked out a single recruiter to handle all applications from workers who identify themselves as disabled and designated "line champions" in each unit to recruit and smooth the interview process for such potential hires. So far, 39 graduating college students and 108 more experienced professionals have been hired under that program. One important point is that when a new worker needs some special equipment to accommodate his or her abilities to do the job, the cost is absorbed at the division level and not charged to the manager doing the hiring.

IBM's newest venture in this area is signing up with Lift Inc. , a nonprofit organization in Warren, N. J. IBM identifies specific jobs that will be open in the future, and Lift then recruits and trains disabled persons for those jobs. While some of the technology needed to accommodate profoundly handicapped workers -- -such as the Eye -- Gaze technique, allowing users to operate a computer by moving only their eyes -- may be so expensive that buying it does not fit the ADA definition of reasonable for some companies, other technology is cheap and low-tech, such as a grip for holding a pencil.

A compilation of 200, 000 cases handled by the Job Accommodation Network finds that the average cost for accommodating the disabled is less than $ 400 per individual per year. Besides, the cost of assistive technology is dramatically and rapidly decreasing because of innovations and because many companies are finding large markets for the equipment beyond people with disabilities. There's little doubt that more profoundly disabled workers will be presenting themselves to corporate recruiters in the future. Improvements in medicine are making it possible for those whose conditions would have kept them confined to home or hospital just a few years ago to now enter the work force. The Ticket to Work Act passed overwhelmingly by Congress in late 1999 is sure to swell those numbers by making it possible for those who need the support afforded by Medicaid -- including help in buying or renting medical equipment and the services of a personal aid -- to keep those services and still take a job that would raise their incomes above what had been the income ceiling for Medicaid participation.

Moreover, such workers are assured that if it again becomes impossible for them to hold down a job, they can immediately get their full disability benefits back without having to go through a second waiting period. Studies supporting the efficacy of supported-employment programs are promising because employers remain concerned about workers with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. Positive findings from these studies also have implications for policy makers, vocational rehabilitation professionals, social service providers, and people with disabilities. Supported and competitive employment programs are clearly having a positive impact on both employment opportunities and employer attitudes. Finally, as the disability rights movement strengthens, researchers could also begin to develop studies that focus on the abilities of applicants and workers with disabilities. This information would not only broaden this body of research, but also would provide a more complete and realistic representation of workers with disabilities and employer attitudes.

Words Count: 1, 472. Bibliography: web web web web http: // 64. 233. 167. 104 /search? q = cache: 32 IJX 5 Our 8 J: web

Research essay sample on People With Disabilities Task Force