A Chance to See Disabilities as Assets
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MANY people know of Berkeley, Calif., as the birthplace, in the 1960's, of the Free Speech Movement. Fewer people know that Berkeley also played a major role in the disability rights movement. It was here, also in the '60s, that Ed Roberts -- a student with quadriplegia -- became an outspoken advocate of the cause.
I became aware of this after being invited to give a lecture for the Disabled Students' Program at the University of California. I was delighted and, of course, flattered, but I was also nervous.
Sure, I'd given workshops and lectures hundreds of times, but this would be my first time speaking to an audience made up entirely of people with disabilities. To be perfectly honest, I'd always felt uncomfortable around disabled people. Suppose I said the wrong thing? Came off as insensitive?
I needed guidance, so I turned to Paul Hippolitus, the director of the program. Reluctantly, I acknowledged my discomfort. Paul had spent 30 years at the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the federal Labor Department before coming to the university, and he had heard it all before.
"Perfectly normal," he told me. "In this culture, nearly everyone is uncomfortable with disability."
Apparently that goes for those with disabilities, too. Enduring the stares and the obvious uneasiness of others, people with disabilities often feel painfully self-conscious. Not surprisingly, they can lack self-confidence.
His students are not exempt. It's the reason, he says, that many opt to go on to graduate school, thereby delaying the task of entering the work force. Besides the distinct disincentive to work because of a possible loss of federal disability benefits, the students are not nurtured, and are often discouraged, when it comes to career goals.
Today, more than 20 years after the Americans With Disabilities Act became law, the percentage of the disabled population that is employed is only 17.9 percent. That compares with 63.7 percent for people without a disability.
Why the lack of progress? Perhaps some employers fear that "reasonable accommodation" of the disabled, as the law terms it, will require extra time, resources and money. That fear, according to the federal Job Accommodation Network, is unfounded; many accommodations cost nothing or run into the hundreds of dollars at most.
First Published February 5, 2012 12:01 am
