‘It makes a huge difference’: Advocates push for employers to include people with disability when hiring staff

Leading disability advocates are calling for industries to stop overlooking people with disability when hiring workers. Last month’s WA Skills Summit brought the State’s growing skills gaps into the spotlight but disability employment organisation Forrest Personnel chief executive Iain Massey said the pool of talent among people living with disability was a solution that was still being ignored. Mr Massey said there were more than 20,000 people with a disability in WA who were looking for work and ignoring them was disappointing. “There are very few members of Parliament, public figures and such with disability, even though pretty much every family in the country is affected by disability, so employers don’t readily think of people with disability as a market for skilled employees,” he said. “The message we need to get out there is you’re not making some sort of concession when you employ someone with a disability because they actually make very good employees.” He said studies had shown that when compared to able-bodied employees, people with a disability were equally productive, stayed with companies longer, took fewer sick days and were involved in fewer occupational health and safety incidents. 30 Foot Drop founder and operator Ben Aldridge, who lives with quadriplegia, said there was a misguided notion in the workforce that people with disability were more trouble than they were worth and were only suited to unskilled work. “When matched with a job that matches our skill profile, we are just as productive as anyone else,” he said. Mr Aldridge called on employers to look past algorithms generated on mass job platforms and instead turn to areas where they traditionally would not look. “We have a wide range of skills and strengths within our community, so overlooking people with disability straight up is really doing yourself a disservice, especially when you mix in the subsidies available for employers,” he said. “If you are looking to train someone up because the skills aren’t available in your area, training someone with a disability to do it means you're going to get your money back so well on your investment in training because they’re a loyal worker.” “It makes a huge difference to the individual concerned,” he said. “If you think you’re useful and your skills are in demand and you’ve got a job that matters to people, it’s a different world you’re living in.”