In a time when labor shortages are at an all-time high, now is an excellent opportunity for hiring people with disabilities. Small business owners, HR staff, and those who need a person to complete a task in general let’s overcome the elephant in the room and look to utilizing more disabled people in search of employment. The stigma society still has today regarding employing people with physical disabilities has not changed much in the last few decades despite the progress people think we have made. How would I know?
As a person in their 40s, responsible for a family of 5, a past successful business owner, a restorer of classic cars and boats, a DIY enthusiast, an active outdoorsman, and a traveling consultant would you assume I am a paraplegic? I am.
Every so often, I find myself in a situation like any other person; I am first introduced to business through statistics on a piece of paper or requested by word of mouth or reference. This person, on paper, is very blessed with accomplishments in business leadership that most would be very proud of. I am fortunate to have a very low barrier to opportunities based on my life on paper. However, upon an in-person interview, I am often greeted with apprehension, uncomfortable body language, a general sense of surprise, and often visible disappointment by the other party. As a job seeker looking for an employment opportunity, I hear, “Oh, we did not realize you are in a wheelchair… .” Then the same person who was very excited and energetic on the phone and through email goes cold in person.
Instead of casting blame, shame, or guilt on anyone, I propose to move forward with a new perspective that can solve labor shortages while bringing organizational and individual growth. As an advocate for disabled workers, I can speak to success stories.
I have spent nearly half of my life disabled due to a low-speed motorcycle accident with a pothole that left me paralyzed below my shoulders. Despite this significant setback, all of my most meaningful accomplishments in life happened to me as a person with paraplegia – starting a successful business, getting married, having children, traveling countries, becoming a certified scuba diver, avid overlander, amateur snow skier, wakeboarder and more.
Disability, freeing your mind of limitations.
In fact, I would say that while my body became set back due to a disability, it freed my mind in a way that enabled me to overcome, persevere and outthink obstacles that I never overcame prior to being “disabled” due to my own self-imposed limitations and blind spots.
After my accident, I started a successful company that sold its proprietary products to six continents. As an employer, I was responsible for the well-being of those I was fortunate enough to employ. I was blessed to travel all over the United States, participating in and sponsoring many off-road 4×4 events and partaking in my wheelchair.
However, when my business or myself met with vendors, strategic partners, local governments, or even non-profits that we would want to give back to and sponsor at our meetings, people always assumed that I was not the owner or a person in leadership. This assumption was a humble lesson that I learned to use to my advantage as often people would be loose-lipped and reveal things to me they would not tell a non-disabled “normal looking” associates with which I had arrived. There were many times that after a break from a meeting or time to conclude, the parties realized that I, the man in the wheelchair, was the head decision-maker on whatever outcome we were deliberating. Often I observe visible shock from the other parties upon this realization.
Just one of millions – qualified candidates who have a disability.
Before I continue to go down this path of beautiful narcissism, patting myself on the back, I want to make my point: I am just one of the millions of physically disabled qualified candidates who are perfectly capable and eager to serve an organization. My point is that people still underestimate and place a stigma on hiring people with disabilities or working with the disabled despite today’s social culture and the Americans with disabilities act. I confess that as a younger man in my 20s, prior to being a paraplegic, I did not think twice about the abilities of a person who had a visible physical disability. Like many still do today, I assumed that there is some stereotypical task or role that a disabled person would be satisfied with, never knowing their background, skills, or abilities. Even worse, I assumed that person should not work and collect a disability check, that they would burden those around them, slowing people down. How backward thinking was I!
Of course, these assumptions are entirely wrong as I can look in the mirror as a person with a severe physical disability and a completely healthy ability to perform in the workplace. People with physical disabilities that cause them to look different or have to accomplish the same tasks in other ways are some of the most dedicated, humble, and long-lasting workers you could ever employ. Before even arriving at work, these people put more effort into getting to work than some pajama-wearing-social-media complainers put into their entire day.
Having a disability does not stop career exploration.
The disabled person who pursues career exploration and disability employment does not take the opportunities they are given for granted because, frequently, they are given far fewer than people around them who may perform at a level less than them. To be clear, any unemployed, disabled workers would qualify for a free check at the expense of Uncle Sam every month due to their “qualified disability.” Still, they are not happy taking a free check to trade their quality of life for poverty. The current annual income limitation for a disabled individual to be able to receive disability benefits at the time of writing this article is less than $15,000 per year. Though I do say this, there are still those severely disabled people who cannot and should not work at all. I am proud that we live in a country that provides for people to be able to survive, and there is nothing wrong with people who need help.
While operating my company, I was blessed to work with a large health group and non-profits for nearly ten years. While volunteering and then also working as a spokesman for some of these organizations, I can tell you that I consistently met people with more drive and determination to succeed than I did in any other group of people short of the military and veterans affairs. All be it, many of the disabled I have had the privilege to work with were also military. In these groups, positive energy and motivation were contagious. If you did not smile or feel more motivated about your life’s opportunities after being with these people for five minutes, you probably didn’t have a pulse.
Placing aside stigmatism for employee inclusion.
So where are these fantastic people, and why are we not hiring them? You can find these people through your local physical rehabilitation and vocational centers. You can find these people through groups like the wounded warriors and contact your local hospitals. Plus, you can find these people on linked in, on social media, and around you every day. But we are not hiring disabled workers for fear of them being different, a burden, or just us being plain ignorant. People are too inconsiderate not to allow a person the ability to earn an income for their family because they are uncomfortable seeing a person with a missing limb, etc. We believe in untrue stigmas about underperformance where employers think that because a person has a leg that shakes, the leg will stop the disabled owner’s mind from being as sharp as another person’s. Or fear of the people who take advantage of employers. For example, the bad-name ambulance-chasing lawyer who could threaten to sue us for a door that does not open correctly in our facility. Let me tell you, from decades of experience, the benefits of hiring disabled people with disabilities far outweigh the risk of any possible adverse outcomes. While it is true that human beings are human, thus you will always find people looking for a shortcut or how to be lazy in life. A disabled person sincerely seeking work and disability inclusion already weeded out those toxic traits for you just by persevering enough to show up.
Employer’s financial benefits for hiring disabled.
What gets even better is that hiring these motivated, qualified, and driven individuals often comes with financial benefits. In businesses I worked with frequently, disabled hires had higher work output, were more consistent with productivity, and were cheaper than their non-disabled counterparts due to subsidies often available through federal agencies. The Department of Labor, local, state, and federal programs, non-profits, grants, and even tax offsets through the IRS are available to employers.
Here are three current disability benefit credits and deductions available through the IRS website (taken directly from their website) that benefit a business for employing people with physical disabilities;
The Disabled Access Credit gives a non-refundable credit for small businesses that incur expenditures for the purpose of providing access to persons with disabilities. An eligible small business is one that earned $1 million or less or had at most 30 full-time employees in the previous year; they may take the credit every year they incur access expenses. Refer to Form 8826, Disabled Access Credit, for more information about eligible expenditures.
This credit pays the business for becoming ADA compliant if it has a facility that is not ADA compliant. Instead of spending your money widening a door or installing a ramp, let your hard-earned tax dollars pay you back and pay for it! Besides, ADA compliance is just common sense that every business must deal with whether you employ a disabled person, work with disabled clients, or not. Be smart and be seen as a proactive, inclusive leader to your community by correcting outdated and impractical building practices.
The Architectural Barrier Removal Tax Deduction encourages businesses of any size to remove architectural and transportation barriers to the mobility of persons with disabilities and the elderly. Companies may claim a deduction of up to $15,000 a year for qualified expenses for items usually capitalized. Businesses claim the deduction by listing it as a separate expense on their income tax return. Also, companies may use the Disabled Tax Credit and the architectural/transportation tax deduction together in the same tax year if the expenses meet the requirements of both sections. To use both, the credit deduction must equal the difference between the total expenditures and the amount of the credit claimed.
The credit provides employers incentives to hire qualified individuals with targeted disabilities. The maximum tax credit ranges from $1,200 to $9,600, depending on the disabled hire and the length of employment. The credit is available to employers for hiring individuals from certain target groups who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment. This group includes people with disabilities.
This tax credit directly offsets a disabled person’s labor burden. It is literally like a discount for choosing to hire a person with a disability so that while your business employs the disabled person, they cost you less than any other person you could have hired to perform the exact same job description and productivity level.
Hiring qualified candidates from the disability talent pool.
So what does all of this come down to? What is it that businesses really need to consider in the hiring process? As an active consultant who is still on the front lines of business needs, who travels across the country seeing the struggles of labor shortages today, businesses, when searching for human capital, need not forget or stigmatize those who are physically disabled. Companies should consider the intrinsic and non-intrinsic incentives for hiring people with disabilities in their organization. Physically disabled employees are both a financial and inspirational benefit to your organization and to those who interact with them each day. Consider setting up a disability employment policy to enrich your organizational culture to support the community of disabled individuals. Never underestimate a thankful humbling example of a human being who appreciates each day and makes those around them more grateful, humbled, and driven!
