published march 22, 2005
Advancing workplaces
Office gadgets aid people with disabilities
Toronto business development centre photo
When Wenda Abel (left) at the Toronto Business Development Centre hired Laura Booth, a receptionist confined to a wheelchair, Abel made sure the company made the appropriate office accommodations for Booth.
Armed with an arsenal of high-tech assistive technology, people with disabilities no longer have to be disadvantaged in the workplace.
"There are all kinds of amazing accommodations for people who have severely limited mobility … from a very simple thing like a magnifying glass to something very complicated," says Wenda Abel, the community programs manager at Toronto Business Development Centre.
On the market are Braille keyboards and voice activated computers that read documents and e-mails out loud for the user. Computers can even be controlled with a single nod of the head. A tracking device, which sits on top of the computer, will track a small reflective dot placed on the forehead and convert the movements into cursor movements.
But technology doesn't have to be so complex or expensive to make the workplace a more accommodating place for people with disabilities.
Last year, Abel hired Laura Booth, a receptionist who is confined to a wheelchair. One of the accommodations to be made for Booth includes installing a mirror above the Xerox machine so that she can see the keypad.
"These things cost very little money and yet they can make a huge difference in their productivity," Abel says.
People with disabilities are chronically underemployed or unemployed, according to Abel.
"It's said that they're last hired, first fired," she said.
The main reason for these discriminatory hiring practices is not due to the cost of accommodation, which is usually less than $500 according to Ken Lipton, employment counselor at the Canadian Paraplegic Association.
Businesses don't hire people with disabilities because of negative attitudes and stereotypes.
"There's an attitude that if you have a disability there's something wrong with your brain too," Abel says.
The misperception that people with disabilities are slow, less efficient and less productive results in unfair hiring practices which prevent some people from getting the level of experience that they need to get a job.
Getting more people with disabilities in the workplace has profound benefits to society as a whole according to Abel.
"They become taxpayers," Abel says. "They contribute to the tax basis as opposed to living from tax basis."
Currently, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada provides targeted wage subsidies for employers who hire people with disabilities.
Employers looking to hire people with disabilities or find accommodation specialists can go to www.strategicemploymentsolutions.ca.
Karine Koo for Metro Toronto
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