With October, just around the corner, National Disability Employment Awareness Month (#NDEAM), is almost here, so we are celebrating #DisabilityEmployment! Learn more here how you can participate. With NDEAM in mind, I want to share a recent conversation with the mother of one of our colleagues who is a person with disabilities. I was really helped by how she described what the job with LAHH means to her son:
Feels Responsible
Very proud of his position
Has increased self-worth
He really likes the job
An important step for him
To put this feedback in context, when her son and I work together, interacting about the tasks of the day, such as the supplies that need to be refilled, in the small office building we’re cleaning, I am not aware of how he feels as he does not verbally express this. We work through the problems before us, sometimes in complete silence, with little or no eye contact. Some days I hear about his weekend, while other days the only word I hear is, “okay.”
Even though I did not hear first hand from our colleague about how he feels toward his job, I am certain that the feelings he expressed to his mother are possible due to workplace accommodations that in place, specifically to match his needs.
According to the July 2021 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employed persons with a disability were more likely to have requested a change in their current workplace to do their job better than were those with no disability. Such changes included new or modified equipment; physical changes to the workplace; policy changes to the workplace; changes in work tasks, job structure, or schedule; changes in communication or information sharing; changes to comply with religious beliefs; accommodations for family or personal obligations; training; or other changes. And the most commonly requested type of change was work tasks, job structure, or schedule, which is also true for employees at LAHH.
Recently in an online class, I learned that in 1998, HUD, the federal housing authority, did not consider people with disabilities able to work, excluding them from the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998. What a false assumption!
When I put all of this together, the feedback, the workplace accommodations provided, and that 24 years ago, our government had a major doubt on the employability of people with disabilities, I am reminded how special and unique it is to work with people who are disabled. We invite you to celebrate with us #DisabilityEmployment!
- Nancy
Photo above: A class learning about how to be safe in the workplace.