Challenges for People with Disabilities

It is very challenging for a normal individual with proper education and social skills to find employment in the competitive world of today. The competition is growing steadily, and one can only assume how difficult it must be for people with disabilities to find jobs or employment.  Thus, it becomes essential to look into the issues faced by the people with disabilities and how to improve social and workplace condition for the marginalized population. The managers can work proactively to support people with physical disabilities and make them feel appreciated and successful in their workplace environment.

People with disabilities( PD) constitute about 15% of the global inhabitants or stand at about one billion people (de Guimarães, Martins. & Junior 2015, p. 1832). It would be a mistake to ignore the social and emotions needs of such as a large population. Every individual wants to live with dignity and avoid being a burden to others. Research on the youth with disabilities as they transit from school to the professional world finds them to be most vulnerable. They risk social isolation that impacts their self-esteem and self-concept (King et al. 2010, p. 104). Constraints to sports participation among people with disabilities can arise due to location, convenience of facilities and the costs of involvement. It is essential to see how those constraints to sports participation can be removed (Sotiriadou. & Wicker. 2014, p. 47). It seems that people with physical disabilities face social barriers that keep them away from enjoying equal social rights within the society. This literature review will offer an overview of the current literature related to how to support people with physical disabilities and overcome any hurdles. The objective is to look for support material for the research question which is how managers can support people with physical disabilities as well as make them feel appreciated and successful in their workplace environment.
Methods

This literature review and research were carried out through the online databases from literature, publications, and websites. Peer-reviewed articles were selected from online databases like Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar to gather both primary and secondary data. Keywords like Physical disability, Managers, Support as well as Key Phrases like Hearing impairment, handicap, speech impairment, visual disorder, Director, administrator, head, supervisor, boss, principal, help, aid, assist, encourage, back, were used for searching the databases. It was essential that the articles were published from 2009-2018 and targeted on people with physical disabilities and employment conditions for them. After collecting about twenty articles, six were selected based on their relevance to the topic and were produced for review. Any articles that were not peer-reviewed, or unpublished or were just reviews of other studies were excluded. The focus was kept on the relevance and the latest infers made from reasarhe and studies on the subject.

Literature Review Methods

Disability is not a medical disorder but a social issue that needs to be handled with sensitivity and understanding. PD are often deprived of basic opportunities in life and remain as a marginalized section within the society. It is essential they be given equal facilities and opportunities. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990a, b (ADA) defends the fundamental civic rights of people with disabilities (von Schrader, Malzer, & Bruyère 2014, p. 238). Its objective is to help create equal opportunities for qualified people with a disability. Despite such regulations, the employment rate of such people remains significantly low.  It is thus essential to look beneath the problem and understand the barriers faced by the PD at home as well as workplace.

As asserted by Angela (2014, p. 980), people with disabilities face greater economic problems and are in poor financial conditions. Special employment conditions can help these individuals and allow them to enjoy strong financial support at least. Findings support that active support is a must to take care of those with severe intellectual deficiency. Greater attention is required in this area to improve care and create better preparedness of the staff management (Graham et al. 2013, p. 263).Individuals with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities plus co-occurring physical problems carry the risk of display aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior and attitude by these individuals can pose as problems to their social and educational integration within the society (Crocker, Proki?, Morin, & Reyes 2014, p. 1032). A study that examined the link between aggression and health and mental disorders shows that these individuals carry a higher risk of manifesting aggression.  It is essential to identify such risks and develop strategies for addressing these problems. Careful attention and consideration must be given to people with disabilities not just when they seek educational and employment as well as their mental attitude and health.

Being employed means a lot to any individual. He feels that others need his services and he feels like a part of the society. However, for people with disability things are different as they get marginalized within the competitive society looking for higher productivity, education, and flexibility (Bomana, Kjellbergb, & Bomana 2015, p. 117). Due to several barriers towards employment, people with disabilities find little societal support. Persons with disability are sometimes looked upon with an indifferent and same attitude. A research was done on the Brazil construction industry with millions of workers. The focus was on employment for people with disabilities. The survey shows that employees with disabilities worked in offices and not on the sites of construction. Most of these workers with physical disabilities were male (de Guimarães, Martins. & Junior 2015, p. 1836). These workers did not use prostheses, most of them were males and did not complete high school. They commonly worked as laborers or were accommodated for in the workplace. Education and employment rate for an individual with disabilities is much lower when compared to the general population. Segregated education and home education creates significant disadvantages for these people (Angelaa 2014, p. 980). As a result, even if they are employed, they get lower incomes when compared to the general population. Private companies employ the majority of the disabled people. Looking at the above statistics and discussion, it is evident that disparities exist for the PD not just because of their disability but also because of the gender and who hires them. It is thus essential to change the mindset of the society towards people with disabilities so that they can enjoy equal rights within the society.

Barriers Faced by People with Physical Disabilities

A study on what motivates employers to hire workers with disabilities and how do they look at them or what suggestions they have reflects that it is the mindset and attitude that can make all the difference (Mohamed Yusof, Mohd Ali, & Mohd Sallehb 2015, p. 980). A study on Irish adults and their interactions with persons with different impairments show how the comfort levels and attitudes impact the relationship between them. Those who expressed more favorable attitudes felt a lot more relaxed in the company of PD (Research 2015, p. 226).A positive attitude of the employers towards workers with disabilities and being open minded can encourage employers to hire workers with disabilities. These workers carry their own strengths and weaknesses just like any other human beings. It is essential to raise awareness regarding people with disabilities within the public and community. Their disability should not be the reason to keep them unemployed. Better working relationships and understanding can motivate both employers and the workers to raise productivity as stated by Mohamed Yusof, Mohd Ali, & Mohd Sallehb (2015, p. 980). Workplace Accommodation coordinated by case-managers can promote employment and motivate people with physical disabilities to return to work (Nevala et al. 2015, p. 446). Thus, Workplace accommodation is a great way to provide equal opportunities to PD but needs regular and strong support.

A study on Swedish labor market and the workforce with disabilities concludes that the type of disability plays an essential role in employability and impacts directly on the employment opportunities (Bomana, Kjellbergb, & Bomana 2015, p. 118). Higher education did not raise the chance of employment opportunities irrespective of the age and gender. However, primary level education did raise the chance to raise employment openings for individuals with disabilities. The study reflects that education can work as a useful tool to raise the chance of getting employed for such individuals. Policy-and practice-related issues need to be updated to give rise to more opportunities for individuals with disabilities (Bomana, Kjellbergb, & Bomana 2015, p. 128). Working life rehabilitation based on the type of disability is recommended.

It has become progressively vital for organizations and employers to cultivate active policies to engage individuals with disabilities within the workforce. They can actively recruit and hire individuals with disabilities and create an inclusive disability workplace for them (von Schrader, Malzer, & Bruyère 2014, p. 253). As no two individuals with a disability are same, it is essential to examine as to what types of disability can impact their employment opportunities and how their age, ethnicity, gender, education dies, and workability come into play (Bomana, Kjellbergb, & Bomana 2015, p. 118). There is limited knowledge on how these factors influence the chance of individuals with a disability to get employed. A well trained staff at all levels motivates the PD to feel more competent and confident. It shows that the people with disabilities need a nurturing environment to enjoy a better quality of life (Frankish 2016, p. 43).

Employment Opportunities for People with Physical Disabilities

Conclusion

The above discussions reflect how despite having strong laws in favor of PD, individuals with disabilities still do not enjoy equal opportunities. As they do not complete their education, they face trouble getting employment and greater economic problems. Education and employment rate remains low for the marginalized population. Thus, there are still several barriers that remain in the lives of PD. Employers and managers can play a proactive role here and create supportive working conditions for people with disabilities and based on the kind of disability. Although recently published articles explore the employment conditions for the people with disabilities and what can be done to support them at workplace carry similar findings and concerns, there remains a lack of information on how to raise awareness on the issues and hurdles faced by the people with disabilities. Only specially designed programs can help raise awareness on the issue and create better employment opportunities and conditions for PD. However, the discussion, research and results of these academic sources do offer important insight on the problem and acknowledge the need to work proactively to support the people with disabilities and remove any hurdles they face when getting education and employment.

Angelaa, B. M., 2014. Employment of Persons with Disabilities. Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, 191(1), pp. 979 – 983.

Bomana, T., Kjellbergb, A. & Bomana, E. 2015. Employment opportunities for persons with different types of disability. European Journal of Disability Research, 9(1), pp. 116–129.

Crocker, A.G., Proki?, A., Morin, D. & Reyes, A. 2014, “Intellectual disability and co-occurring mental health and physical disorders in aggressive behaviour: Co-occurring disorders and aggressive behaviour”, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, vol. 58, no. 11, pp. 1032-1044.

de Guimarães, B.M., Martins, L.B. & Junior, B.B. 2015, “Workplace adaptation to people with disabilities at construction industry in Brazil”, Work (Reading, Mass.), vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 575.

Frankish, P. 2016. “Evaluating the Impact of Providing Training for Direct Care Staff in how to Provide an Emotionally Nurturing Environment for People with Intellectual Disability and Complex Needs.” Journal of Intellectual Disability – Diagnosis and Treatment, 2016, 4(1), pp.41-43

Graham, F., Sinnott, K.A., Snell, D.L., Martin, R. & Freeman, C. 2013, “A more “normal” life: Residents’, family, staff, and managers’ experience of active support at a residential facility for people with physical and intellectual impairments”, Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 256-264.

King, G., Law, M., Hurley, P., Petrenchik, T. & Schwellnus, H. 2010, “A Developmental Comparison of the Out-of-school Recreation and Leisure Activity Participation of Boys and Girls With and Without Physical Disabilities”, International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 77-107.

Mohamed Yusof, A., Mohd Ali, M., Mohd Sallehb, M., 2015. Youth Workers with Disabilities: The Views of Employers in Malaysia. Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, 204(1), pp. 105 – 113.

McConkey, R. 2015, “Measuring public discomfort at meeting people with disabilities”, Research in Developmental Disabilities, vol. 45-46, pp. 220-228.

Nevala, N., Pehkonen, I., Koskela, I., Ruusuvuori, J. & Anttila, H. 2015, “Workplace Accommodation Among Persons with Disabilities: A Systematic Review of Its Effectiveness and Barriers or Facilitators”, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 432-448.

Sotiriadou, P. & Wicker, P. 2014, “Examining the participation patterns of an ageing population with disabilities in Australia”, Sport Management Review, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 35-48.

Von Schrader, S., Malzer, V. & Bruyère, S. 2014, “Perspectives on Disability Disclosure: The Importance of Employer Practices and Workplace Climate”, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 237-255.