This article is also available in: 日本語
However still there are many issues.
This time I will share the common tendency of the people with disabilities regarding employment.
- More people with disabilities go to a mainstream education in the U.S.
So, many of them do not really think that they are disabled and refuse to receive a support by OCL or other to help them with finding a job.
But once they start job hunting, it doesn’t go well sometimes.
They don’t want to be helped, but don’t know what’s help they need to be successful at a job
- Some businesses still run even on weekends and holiday seasons.
The employers treat all employees equally and want them to work equally.
Employees must know the situation when they apply for the job.
However some employees with disabilities refuse to work on holidays because they are disabled and think that they have low responsibilities for the job and should be treated differently than the other employees.
- Some people with disabilities or their family think that they don’t want to work (or the family does not want them to work).
The main reasons are: they would lose the benefit check from the government if they work and earn money.
They can receive financial aids if they stay at group home or live on their own or live with their family and are unemployed.
Some people with disabilities quit their job only 2-3 weeks after they started a job.
They often say, “This is not a good job for me.”
To this word, Lawton always replies,
No one can figure out that the job is good or not only after working for 2-3 weeks.
You need to take more time to see your colleagues, your boss’s expectations, working environment, your career possibility and everything.
This is true not only for people with disabilities but also for people who change jobs all the time.
I thought that people with disabilities in Japan have the same tendencies.
To make the employment for people with disabilities better,
both employers and employees with disabilities have to change, I believe.
A job is not a volunteer work.
If an employer does not see a value in us, we won’t be able to get a job.
To have the value, we need to make some efforts too.
After we are hired, we need to work as an employee with responsibility for the job.
Not only the job process but also the outcomes are important.
The reasonable accommodation is necessary, but if it is more than reasonable, it makes other coworkers feel troublesome.
We should not use disability as a reason more than we necessarily need to.
Otherwise, the view of society toward the people with disability will never change.
At last, I would like to share Lawton’s message with you;
To support employment, the most important thing is to know what kind of job the person is interested in.
If Mizuki, a wheelchair user, wants to work as a salesperson, I will ask her why she wants to be a salesperson and support her to get a position as a salesperson.
I will not say ‘Since you are in wheelchair, I recommend you to try this job, instead of a sales.’
To help someone to be successful at a job, we have to believe in them and listen to them from the beginning.
U.S. companies are more open for hiring people with disabilities.
Today, most of people who supervise and hire employees are used to studying with people with disabilities in the same classroom when they were back in school.
The younger generation has more understanding for them too.
My dream is to live in a society where individuals with disabilities don’t need the organizations to support employment for them.”