policy & reform
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they are already there. Some of them
haven’t disclosed their disability – we are
already working with them; it’s just that
we don’t know that.
And not having that visibility makes it
difficult because it makes us nervous.
We don’t know how to approach them.
We don’t know how to talk about their
disabilities. We don’t want to offend
anybody, but we don’t know if we’ve been
offensive or not because we don’t have
that exposure of working with people with
disabilities day in and day out. So I think
that is the disconnect, the lack of exposure
that creates that fear.
Do you think there’s also a perception that
there would be a financial burden or a
resource burden associated with hiring a
person with a disability?
I think that’s correct, and that’s something
that has been brought up by employers
in the past. The reality is we’re already
providing flexibility to those who are carers,
to those who are single parents, who may
be employed by us.
I myself have two little kids – one seven
and one five. Modern life dictates that I
have to work and my wife has to work.
If I was to have a conversation with my
employer around flexibility – let’s say I need
to leave early every Wednesday because
I need to pick up my kids – [that wouldn’t
be seen as too problematic]. However,
the conversation would be very different
if I ask my employer: “Oh, I need to leave
early every Wednesday because I need
to see my psychiatrist.” But it shouldn’t
be a different conversation. We’re already
providing flexibility.
So it’s all about the stigma that is attached
to disabilities rather than the burden that a
person with a disability can create in terms
of a financial burden or a resources burden.
It’s just not a reality.
What proportion of people can’t find work
because their disability is seen as a barrier?
I don’t know the exact numbers. What I do
know is that about 10 per cent of people
with disabilities are unemployed at the
moment in Australia, and that is double
[the rate of people without disabilities].
About 40 per cent of them are not
participating actively in the workforce as
well, and that is compared to about 16 per
cent of people without disabilities, so the
numbers are staggering. It is something
that, obviously, we need to correct long
term, and universities have a crucial part
to play in that.
We’ve done a lot of work with several
universities, and one of the things that we
discovered probably about three or four
years ago, and we did some work with
UTS on it, is that MBA students are not told
specifically about how to support people
with disabilities, and what the benefits are
of employing people with disabilities and
people of diverse backgrounds in general.
I think there is a disconnect there in the
type of education that we are providing
to our managers of the future and the
workforce that they are going to encounter,
because they will work with people with
disabilities. They need to. In a competitive
market of recruitment, they need to open
up to a wider recruitment market.
So if we’re not training them as education
institutions, the question is: Why are we not
acknowledging that people with disabilities
are already there?
We know that about 33 per cent of
people with disabilities are in management
positions. So if we’re going to be coworkers,
if we’re going to work for a manager that’s
got a disability, if we are going to manage
somebody with a disability, why are we not
talking about that? In our business courses,
in our business education, that is a really
interesting question that universities need
to ask themselves.
And I know that a lot of universities are
fairly active at the moment in the disability
space. I know Curtin is really active. I know
Monash is very active, and in fact we’ve
done seminars with UTS with Monash.
We’ve got one coming up with Curtin
very shortly. We’ve got one also in Flinders
University, so there are universities that are
trying to correct, in many ways, the fact that
these things have not been acknowledged.
And these things will also be open for
students who need to be aware of what
services are out there, because in turn they
need to be their own best advocate.
They also need to be able to inform
employers and say: “Look, these are my
accessibility needs, and this is how that can
be accessed so you don’t have any burden
on your pocket.”
Universities are obviously trying to enhance
their efforts in the disability space, but how
are they going so far compared with other
industries in terms of their hiring practices?
Universities by nature are very progressive,
and I think we’re seeing more and more
people with disabilities accessing university
studies, and in turn that is leading them into
academia. So I think universities are making
huge efforts to try to make inroads in that.
For many years, people with disabilities
were just not being educated. They were
not accessing tertiary education or the
type of education that would lead into
academia. We know that now, with adaptive
technologies and support, people with
disabilities can achieve anything they wish.
In the future, given that universities are
trying to bump up the number of students
with a disability that they have, that is going
to self-correct in terms of the number of
academics they employ at universities.
Is there anything else in the tool kit that
you haven’t mentioned that can assist
universities to hire more people with
disabilities?
Absolutely. There’s a lot of material around
the recruitment of people with disabilities,
and how to ensure your recruitment
practices don’t have any inadvertent barriers
for people with disabilities. It also provides
good, practical ideas on how to interview
people with disabilities, how to develop
a champion program for people with
disabilities, what type of disabilities are out
there, and how to work best around the
flexibility and support we can provide so
that people with disabilities can perform at
their best.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I think the efforts that some universities
have gone to in terms of trying to educate
future managers are really important.
Acknowledging the fact that people with
disabilities will be out there, and educating
the future managers on how to deal with
these things and what services are available,
is crucial.
And it’s also going to be crucial in that
universities need to take responsibility
for providing the information around
what services are out there so students
themselves can be their best advocates.
I think that that’s going to be a really
important thing as well, because universities
don’t just have a responsibility to educate,
they also have a responsibility to prepare
people going into employment, and how
they can develop their employability. And
it’s going to be very important for people
with disabilities in the future to know what
services are available so they can also
advocate on their behalf. ■
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