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Firms failing to cash in on ‘Untapped Potential’
Tuesday May 17th 2005- Reading Evening Post
COMPANIES in Reading are too often missing out on the “untapped potential” disabled workers can offer. That’s the message from disabled employment organization Graft as it bid to break down the barriers to employment for people who have got the skills and the will to work but suffer from a disability.
Although the situation is getting better, there is still a need to “ de-dramatise’’ the case for employing disability according to organizers Joanne Robins and Hazel Wright.
Robins, who has been the main player at Graft, told Business Post: “We work to reduce barrier to employer disabled people. but it’s not just a matter of working with candidates and getting them into work. We have to work with employers “ Employers are more aware of their corporate social responsibility but there’s often a misunderstanding that disabled people are in a wheelchair.
Employer assumes it’s going to be expensive or they will have to do lot adjustments.”
In fact, Government schemes exist to finance adjustments that could to be need and, more often than not, little equipment is necessary, she point out.
Wright, who will soon take over from Robins when she goes on maternity leave added: “There’s high employment in Reading and companies are bringing people from the outside but there’s untapped potential here and companies are not always aware of it because it’s not obvious. “If a company uses only one agency that does not look into (applications from disabled people),
Then they are missing out.”
Robins joined the organisation 18 months ago with aim of coming up with a ‘business proposition to attract companies attract companies’ attention. First, DVD was put out to “highlight the business’ case for employing disabled people;”
She explained.
“It’s very business focused. A lot of the material we get is based on the benefit for candidate”
Next on the list is a business lunch, prepared and served by disabled workers at the Reading Renaissance Hotel in Oxford Road, Which will take place this week. “It’s a fun day that we hope will attract public interest,” she said. The event will coincide with the hotel’s annual Spirit to serve day as part of its commitment to help the community. The organist ion is also aiming to get 25 disabled people into work placements during May and June. The placement will be backed by training and support from the organization. The official definition of disability is a physical impairment which has a long-term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, Wright said. But disability is also a wideranging notion that cover everything from dyslexia and mental health problem including depression to cerebral palsy.
The organisation , which is located at the TEA Shop in station Road, was set up two years ago. It was a result of a partnership between various group including Reading Borough Council, Reading PCT and charities Scope and i-work. The idea came from a Government initiative asking very local authority in the UK to look at ways to get people into work, Robins added, She said lots different agencies have been set up to help disabled people into work, including jobcentre Plus and various
Charities, and Graft’s role is to act as a ‘signpost’ for them. “We were set up to make it easier for both employers and candidates to access information” She said. “Graft helps people sure a job and we help the agencies work better.”
Wright added “ Because there are so many places to go sometime you do not how to start. “Employers can be put off by a CV at an early stage because they do not know how to go a about it”
But statistic suggest the arguments for employing disabled workers are endless, Robins said.
“Statistics say that disabled people will take less off and aremore loyal” she explained. “They are used to finding ways around their disability, so they can b good at problem-solving for example.”
Wright added that about one in five workers disabled –and some of them do not even know it.
And only about 17 per cent of disabled people are born with a disability but the rest acquire it.
“Many people would not consider themselves disabled, although they would fit into that category”. She added.
“We know a businesswoman who is blind but prefers to describe herself as “Sue who cannot see” ”
