[Nfbf-l] When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias

[Alan Dicey]

When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias




When It Comes to Hiring, Blind Workers Face Bias


By Leslie Kwoh  Associated Press


A new survey finds that hiring managers are reluctant to hire blind workers.

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.


list of 4 items 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  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 
RBS.LN -0.71% lost a suit  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. 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  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  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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