Vision Health
(Globe & Mail insert)
Employers benefit from hiring visually impaired staff
Adjusting to a new job can send just about anyone to the medicine cabinet in search of Aspirin or Tums.
Becoming comfortable with new co-workers and office space, not to mention tackling new responsibilities takes time, as Kay Leslie can attest.
"But once I know the environment, I function really well," remarks the Scotiabank manager of diversity in Toronto.
Her declaration has added meaning.
Ms. Leslie is blind - a circumstance that requires workplace accommodations ranging from talking software to a guide dog.
"I have a range of devices and adaptive technology," she says. "The first and most important is my computer."
She uses electronically magnified text, voice-synthesizing software, portable tape recorders and other tools to do her work.
When a co-worker proved allergic to dogs, an additional printer was placed in Ms. Leslie's work area so she wouldn't have to walk across the office to a network printer, triggering reactions.
Such alterations are not expensive or difficult, and they can bring skilled people such as Ms. Leslie into workplaces across the country.
Through its Employment Accommodation Service, The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) provides consultation to employers to create cost-effective adjustments in the workplace for such staff. And these employees, in turn, are good for business.
"By hiring from a diverse population, you serve a diverse population," says Robert Eichvald, national employer liaison for the CNIB in Toronto. "The major banks are really on board with this," he adds.
"They have national diversity recruiters." Mr. Eichvald's intent is for other employers to follow suit, an effort now assisted by a partnership between the CNIB and Workopolis, Canada's largest Internet job site with 31,000 job postings daily.
A national job-seeker database (cnib.workopolis.com) lets employers review the resumes of blind, visually impaired and deafblind candidates. Mr.Eichvald describes the database as "an online briefcase or filing system."
"The partnership has sparked the interest of other non-profit organizations," notes Kim Peters, president of Workopolis in Toronto. "Our technology is very flexible, so we can create many looks and feels for it," she says.
"Employers, now more than ever, are willing to hire from the disabled population," adds Chris Sutarno, national marketing and employer liaison for the CNIB's Employment Accommodation Service. "But [until now] they haven't known where to find somebody with the skills they need."
Along with the use of assistive devices and software, employers need to be aware of other issues such as sensitivity to not treat a worker with a disability as exceptional and alerting co-workers to everyday matters such as impediments blocking the aisles.
"Accommodations are unique to each employee," Mr. Eichvald stresses. "The greatest barriers I have ever encountered in life and certainly in the workplace were attitude," Ms. Leslie says.
