Diversity Week: Disability and Employment

Diversity Week:
Disability and Employment:
What you Need to Know

Overall, the research and laws regarding disability in the workforce were valid. They all hold power such as the ADAAA, which is the Americans with Disability Act Amendments Act. This act keeps all people with disabilities, who hold jobs a fair chance as this act does not allow discrimination in any way. However, the way the information was given could have been completed differently.

The speaker was like a magic eight ball, simply spitting answers out. While she spoke, she utilized a power point. In theory, it was a great tool for presenting. Despite that it was not executed successfully. Many slides had densely phrased facts and information. It was very difficult to pay attention. When making a slide the idea does need to be explained but it should be done in a list form so it is easier for the audience to read.

Another aspect that could have helped her presentation is using real life experiences. It could be of herself or someone dealing with a disability, who is willing to share their experience in the working world. When examples of people are used, a presentation comes to life. It could be a student who recently graduated, who deals with a disability in the working world. If we were to hear someones real life experiences I believe it would have made all of the audience members listen more closely.

At the beginning of the presentation, the audience was given a copy of the power point. While working through the presentation, I leafed through the power point. One slide stated "Impairments That Should Be Found to Be Substantially Limiting." The list included disabilities such as Deafness, Blindness, Mobility impairment and Intellectual Disability. Despite those, I did not see language based disorders. I found this offensive because our language can act as a barrier as much as Deafness can. It may be different but it still affects how we function in day to day life. I thought how wrong this is because there are so many language based disorders.
The Learning Disabilities Association lists 11 different disorders on the homepage of their website. Of the 11 stated disabilities is regarding to memory. It is comprised of our "working memory", "long term memory", "short term memory." If someone has an issues with all parts of our memory or even one part of their memory, the capability to store and recall information required to complete a task can be comprised.

Another statement the speaker stated that I do not exactly agree with is when to tell the possible employer of your disability. The speaker said that at pre offer of an interview you may not mention any detail regarding your disability. She continued on by saying that is okay once it is post offer before employment is over, which is when the new employee can about health related questions. I went on an interview for a Daycare center, called "Way To Grow" in the summer. In my interview with the director and owner I purposely mentioned my experience with dealing with a disorder because that was part of the reason I was applying to this specifc job. I stated how my disorder, dyslexia has allowed me to grow to see children in two different perspectives, without a disability and with a disability. The owner and director saw how my disability assisted in forming a passion for helping children. As a result, I was hired. Before I was graced with this great news, they told me that it would be a couple of days till I found out my employment status. Despite that, I checked my email that night and the owner sent me an email stating that I was being offered a position.

With every "do and don't " there are always exceptions because every career is different so each business looks at perspective employees in different angles.