How coronavirus could revolutionize work opportunities for people with disabilities
Workplace challenges
Employer audit studies thatweandothershave conducted show that employers are less likely to express interest in job applications from people with disabilities even when their resumes are identical and the disabilities are irrelevant to job performance.
Other studies have shown that once hired, many workers with disabilities mustcontend with negative stereotypes and attitudesfrom supervisors and co-workers that limit their career growth and the quality of their work life. While disability accommodations aregenerally well-received by co-workers, they can sometimes generate jealousy and resentment.
Employees with disabilities also face agap in payafter accounting for productive characteristics like education and job experience andare more likely to be laid off by employerswhen times are bad.
At least some of these employment barriers may be lessened by working from home. Employers may be more willing to hire workers with disabilities for home-based positions due to less concern about having to make accommodations for them.
WFH becomes the norm
The pandemic, which has made working from home common for a large share of the workforce, can be seen as a massive test of employers’ ability and willingness to accommodate workers.
Working from homemay be a legally enforceable “reasonable accommodation”under the Americans with Disabilities Act, though that depends on the job tasks and other circumstances. Yetsome employers have been resistant to any accommodationsfor workers with disabilities.
Today, the fact that many employers are readily willing to accommodate all workers regardless of disability due to the crisis hasfrustrated some people with disabilitieswho have previously been denied such accommodations.
Employed people with disabilities – especially those with mobility impairments – are already 20% more likely to work from home, based on our calculations of Census Bureau data. But, withless than a third of working-age people with disabilitiesemployed in 2019, it’s very possible that millions more would be able to work if more employers offered this accommodation.
Clearly allowing more home-based work does not excuse employers from creating more welcoming and accessible workplaces. But it could cause them to see what workers with disabilities are able to accomplish when given atelecommuting accommodation– rather than trying to pigeonhole them into a traditional workspace. This may help ensure that their pay levels and raises are determined more by actual job performance rather than irrelevant stereotypes and office dynamics that can disadvantage workers with disabilities.
This is not to ignore thecataclysmic loss of millions of jobsin the current crisis, which is likely hitting people with disabilities especially hard. Without minimizing the current devastation, it is worth considering how the structure of work may change when the crisis is past and the economy eventually recovers.
So, after the pandemic subsides, will employers return to a pre-crisis way of thinking about working from home? Or will more of them recognize that working from home can benefit both employees and the company – and that it’s a reasonable accommodation to make for employees with disabilities?
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyLisa Schur, Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations,Rutgers UniversityandDouglas L. Kruse, Distinguished Professor,Rutgers Universityunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
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Story byThe Conversation
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