DiversityInc - October 2007

the street without fear of approach by strangers. Dwarfism often acts as a tool for strangers to breach the wall. Strangers often approach members of LPA in public with personal, obtrusive questions.

QHow can corporate America better reach people with disabilities?

Bennett: The landmark bill, the ADA, was passed in 1990 to ensure that every American could live, work and participate in our society free from discrimination. The sad reality is the ADA has not been

TOP 50 BEST PRACTICES

What best practices help companies reach, retain and develop employees with disabilities? Here’s some facts and ideas from the DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities (Eastman Kodak Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Marriott International, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson & Son, Wachovia, JPMorgan Chase, Ernst & Young, and Deloitte & Touche).

All have employee-resource groups for people with disabilities, compared with 55 percent of the Top 50.

All have active programs to recruit people with disabilities, compared with 82 percent of the Top 50.

All have web sites that feature images of people with disabilities, compared with 66 percent of the Top 50.

All have alternative career tracks for parents or others with long-term family-care issues, compared with 42 percent of the Top 50.

They have an average of 49 percent of managers participating in mentoring.

fully realized. Yet with the ever-evolving world of technology at our fingertips, some of the most brilliant minds using the Internet today are those with disabilities. It would be prudent for corporate America to engage the disability community through technology.

Gross: Thanks to the ADA, most employers (the law applies to those with 15 or more employees) are no longer allowed to ask job applicants whether they have certain disabilities or how severe they are. However, after an employer makes a job offer, the employer may ask questions about an applicant’s health and may require a medical examination as long as it treats all applicants the same.

The ADA also prohibits most employers from discriminating on the basis of disability if the applicant or employee is able to do the job’s essential functions. The employer must provide a reasonable accommodation that will enable an otherwise qualified person with a disability to do the job. Accommodations for people with epilepsy are generally easy to implement and inexpensive. Such accommodations may include allowing breaks to take medication or leave to seek treatment or adjust to medication, providing a private area to rest after having a seizure, installing a rubber mat or carpet to cushion a fall, making adjustments to work schedules (such as allowing one to work a day shift to avoid sleep disruption), providing a checklist to assist in remembering tasks (for those with memory impairment), allowing work at home, and providing reassignment to another open position for which the individual is qualified.

Muir: Hiring them is the first pri-

STEVE BENNETT

ority. If a company is serious about appealing to their marketplace, they need to include people with disabilities (the largest and wealthiest minority group in the United States). Portraying employees with disabilities in advertising and other media, in a positive way, is another good strategy. Once people with disabilities know companies are actively seeking all qualified candidates, then consumers with disabilities will follow.