A really interesting research paper carried out by the British
Columbia Coalition of People with Disabilities in April 2011, entitled 'Investigating Workplace Accommodation for
People with Invisible Disabilities', looks at how people with an invisible disability
(such as diabetes, chronic fatigue, hearing and visual problems and learning
difficulties, amongst many others) in Canada are perceived in the work place
and what strategies have been put in place by the government and for-profit
sector companies to help both parties. Page 9 refers to a law under the Canadian
Human Rights Act stating that an employer is required to accommodate an
employee with disabilities 'short of undue hardship on the part of the employer'.
Furthermore, the government provides resources to help employers implement
accommodation in their workplace. Industry Canada's The Workplace Accommodation Toolkit (WAT) is a comprehensive website
that offers information about devices and services to accommodate people with
invisible (hidden) and physical disabilities. The website http://www.wa-toolkit.info
encourages employers to purchase accessible products and create services that
invite people with disabilities to become employees of their organisation. Moreover, this toolkit may be a valuable
resource for an employer who is not familiar with an invisible disability. (http://www.bccpd.bc.ca/docs/employmentinvisibledis.pdf
accessed 13 October 2013)
Even though this research has been carried out in Canada, it
still holds great relevance as to what could be done in other parts of the
world. A report by Jan Peters in association with Katalynil Melanie Allison
entitled 'Equality and diversity: good
practice for the construction sector' looks in depth about how the
construction industry appears to be at the fore-front of industries that are
making strong inroads into incorporating Equality and Diversity into the work
place. It stresses that people with
invisible/hidden disabilities should be catered for and incorporated into the
work place as much as people with visible disabilities. (http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/ed_report_construction_sector.pdf
accessed 13 October 2013). It shows that society is starting to take note of
what people with a hidden disability can
actually do.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act, yes, people with a
hidden disability are accounted for, but in looking into the matter, there
seems to be few companies/industries that are making positive strides in
helping these people get into and maintain work. As with the Canadians, maybe
an online tool to help companies cater for and understand what these problems
are and how they can be managed, would work wonders in the UK. It is not only
about helping the individual but with the right support and guidance the
company could benefit hugely too. It can help build a
company's/industry's/sector's reputation and help educate people on what is
still largely an unknown and taboo subject. Having said that, there is the
Access to Work scheme from the government that helps not only the disabled get
and maintain work, but helps the employer with any additional funding/costs
that may be required to help the individual and company. Therefore, it can be
seen that steps are being made within the UK to help companies with the cost of
employing the disabled, but there is still the matter of understanding and
managing those with a 'hidden disability'....
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