Hiring people with disabilities makes for good business. A recent study from Accenture, in partnership with Disability:IN and the American Association of People With Disabilities, found that companies that make efforts to hire those with disabilities performed better and saw, on average, 23 percent higher revenue.
“Disability is an asset. We’ve got some unique strengths,” says Jessica Rafuse, senior program manager for accessibility at Microsoft. Rafuse, 37, has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, which she says gives her a special insight into ensuring the company’s products work for those with different needs.
“My ability to build rapport, to think about alternative ways of doing things, is really directly because of having a disability,” she says. “I have to be, day in and day out, super innovative.”
Rafuse, who lives in the Seattle area, says employees such as herself are crucial to Microsoft’s future. “With over 1 billion people with disabilities around the world, it has never been more important to ensure that we reflect that diversity,” Rafuse says. “It brings invaluable expertise and strength to the company, as well as insight into product and service improvements that will impact the accessibility and usability of features. This is essential to our long-term success. ”
Ernie Dupont is senior director of workforce initiatives at CVS Health, where there’s a team dedicated to ensuring that individuals with disabilities have opportunities within the company.
“For our company to thrive, we need to look at untapped pools of talent,” he says.
CVS also partners with a number of agencies to provide job coaching and support to those with disabilities. Kaylee Merrick, 25, graduated from one such program in 2016 and has been working as a stocker and cashier at CVS ever since. Merrick suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, depression and memory loss, and brings a unique empathy to working with customers, especially when she senses someone is having a hard time.
“I love to help people,” she says. “That’s why I love my job so much.”
Maureen O’Brien, president and CEO of New York State Industries for the Disabled, a nonprofit that works with companies to put individuals with disabilities to work on state contracts, says that disabled employees “work harder; they’re great problem solvers. You have limited or less turnover.”
One of her partners is Conduent, which has a large document-imaging center in Endicott, NY. There, employees such as Bette Legory, 57, process workers’ compensation paperwork — and have the opportunity to make a good living.
Legory, who is bipolar and a recovering alcoholic, says the job has helped her to stay sober and get the medication she needs. “I have something every day to look forward to,” says Legory, who was hired by Conduent in 2014. “I went from living on a riverbank to owning my own home.”
Cisco is regularly ranked as one of the most disability-friendly workplaces, and that’s how Yianni Thallas, 37, came to work as an engineer for the networking and technology company.
Thallas, based in Cleveland, is quadriplegic as a result of a diving accident as a teen. He researched companies with diverse-hiring practices, and set sights on Cisco.
The company has been highly supportive. He mostly works from home, using a trackball instead of a mouse and a regular keyboard. When he needs to travel, the company pays for a companion, and Cisco campuses are typically accessible for wheelchairs.
“It’s so cool,” he enthuses. He says having a disability doesn’t change anything when it comes to his work: “It’s all in my mind, especially for a job like this.”
Jimmy Lahey, 32, is similarly dedicated. He’s been working as a janitor for Hudson River Services for 13 years and says he’s in it for the “long haul.” Lahey, who has slight intellectual disabilities and ADHD, works with a job coach provided by AHRC New York City, a nonprofit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
While Lahey needs little support at this point, AHRC’s job coaches can assist with anything from finding transportation to and from a job to helping with any communication issues that arise — whatever someone needs to thrive in a position.
“Loyalty, dependability, hard work are all major assets that someone with a disability can bring to a job,” says Steve Towler, assistant executive director for AHRC.