[blindlaw] FW: The Wall Street Journal: When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias

Norman, Gary C. (CMS/OSORA) Gary.Norman at cms.hhs.gov
Wed Mar 20 13:02:42 UTC 2013



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>Subject: FW: The Wall Street Journal: When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers
>Face Bias
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>From: FedAccessibility at yahoogroups.com
>[mailto:FedAccessibility at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jamal Mazrui
>Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 4:37 PM
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>(fedaccessibility at yahoogroups.com)
>Subject: [FedAccessibility] FW: The Wall Street Journal: When It Comes to
>Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias
>
>
>
>The Wall Street Journal: When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias
>
>
>
>
>When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias
>
>
>The Wall Street Journal
>
>*         March 18, 2013, 10:27 AM
>
>
>
>By Leslie Kwoh
>
>When it comes to hiring blind employees, many employers remain skeptical.
>
>Bosses often assume blind workers cost more and produce less, according to
>a new study. They also believe blind workers are more prone to workplace
>accidents and less reliable than other workers.
>The study, scheduled to be released this week by the nonprofit National
>Industries for the Blind, polled 400 human-resources and hiring managers at
>a mix of large and small U.S.-based companies. The group commissioned the
>survey, in part, to shed light on why roughly 70% of the 3.5 million people
>working-age Americans are not employed. (Legally blind Americans are
>eligible for Social Security disability, according to NIB.)
>
>NIB president and chief executive Kevin Lynch described the survey results
>as a "terrible surprise." With the exception of certain jobs that require
>driving or steering, "there are very few jobs that a person who's blind is not
>capable of doing," he says.
>
>
>
>The findings reveal a disconnect between what employers say and what they
>do. While the majority of executives claim they want to hire and train
>disabled workers, many view blind workers as an inconvenience.
>
>Hiring managers tended to be slightly more negative than human-resources
>managers, but overall results were similar.
>
>*         Among hiring managers, most respondents (54%) felt there were few
>jobs at their company that blind employees could perform, and 45% said
>accommodating such workers would require "considerable expense."
>
>*         Forty-two percent of hiring managers believe blind employees need
>someone to assist them on the job; 34% said blind workers are more likely to
>have work-related accidents.
>
>*         One-quarter of respondents said blind employees are "more sensitive"
>than other employees; the same percentage said they were "more difficult
>to supervise."
>
>*         Twenty-three percent of hiring managers said blind employees are not
>as productive as their colleagues, and 19% believe these employees have a
>higher absentee rate.
>
>Blindness is largely absent from corporate conversation about employees
>with disabilities with the exception of sporadic lawsuits: Last August,
>Hawaiian Electric Co. agreed <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hawaiian-
>electric-settle-discrimination-lawsuit-140923965.html>  to pay $50,000 to
>settle a discrimination suit by a partially blind employee, the AP reported.
>And in December, Bloomberg reported that a blind ex-banker at the Royal
>Bank of Scotland Group
><http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=RBS.LN
>>  lost a suit <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-11/blind-
>banker-loses-rbs-discrimination-lawsuit-at-u-dot-k-dot-tribunal>  seeking
>disability benefits.
>
>Rarer still is news about companies like apparel business SustainU, based in
>West Virginia, which hires blind and visually impaired employees to man its
>factory, according to the New York Times
><http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/business/sustainu-an-apparel-
>maker-turns-to-blind-workers.html?_r=0> . The company said there was no
>difference in the cost and quality of its goods when compared to that of
>other U.S. manufacturers.
>
>Companies may have to invest some money to provide "reasonable
>accommodations" for a blind employee, as required by the Americans with
>Disabilities Act. However,  says NIB's Lynch, many computers and
>smartphones already have built-in features that enable users to change font
>size and light intensity. Installing voice technology that allows computers to
>"read" text to a blind employee costs just $1,500 to $2,000, he says. The
>American Foundation for the Blind has estimated
><http://www.afb.org/section.aspx?FolderID=2&SectionID=7&TopicID=116&S
>ubTopicID=70&DocumentID=2887>  that 88% of employee accommodations
>cost less than $1,000.
>
>As for health insurance, company rates are determined by the number of
>incidents among the entire group - not individual employees - no evidence
>suggests that blind employees incur more costs than other workers, Mr.
>Lynch says.
>
>Blind employees may also be more loyal than most, he adds. A DePaul
>University study
><http://www.disabilityworks.org/downloads/disabilityworksDePaulStudyCo
>mprehensiveResults.pdf>  from 2007 found that employees with disabilities
>were likely to stay on the job four months longer, on average, than
>employees without disabilities.
>
>The study also found that workers with disabilities took 1.24 fewer
>scheduled absences than non-disabled workers during a six-month period.
>But they took, on average, 1.13 more days of unscheduled absences.
>
>
>
>
>
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