Readers' Corner - Integrating People with Disabilities into the Workforce

Michèle Auger, Fred Longley and Edward Popoff
Departmental Library
Source: Workplace Gazette, Vol. 6, No. 1, Spring 2003

download (PDF format, 289kb) | other topics

Integrating People with Disabilities into the Workforce

Bolles, Richard Nelson and Dale Susan Brown. Job-Hunting for the So-Called Handicapped or People Who Have Disabilities. 2nd ed. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 2001.
HRDC HV1568.5 B64 2001 

This American book presents creative job hunting techniques designed specifically for people with disabilities. The authors explain the protection provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as what the Act will not do for job seekers with disabilities. They discuss the fears of the employer and those of the job applicant with a disability, and suggest strategies to overcome these barriers. Appendices include a section on handling special situations, resources for recently disabled persons, and a bibliography. 

Gold, Evelyn. Creating a Successful Skills Training Partnership: Employment Program for People with Disabilities: A Handbook for Project Leaders. Toronto: Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work, c1999.
HRDC CA1 MPY203 99C67

This handbook outlines the Skills Training Partnership model developed by the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work, which is based on the establishment of partnerships with community agencies, service providers, employers, and job seekers with disabilities. It aims to prepare individuals with skills and experience to fill available positions with the employer partner and to help management and employees develop an understanding of disability-related issues in the workplace. Detailed guidance is given for the establishment of a skills training partnership, design of a training program, outreach and selection of candidates, preparation of the workplace, and continuous quality improvement and project evaluation. 

Hagner, David. Career Advancement: Strategies and Tools: A Guide to Assist Individuals with Disabilities to Advance Beyond Entry-Level Employment. Syracuse, N.Y.: Program Development Association, c2002.
HRDC HD7255 H33

This manual aims to help individuals with disabilities to advance beyond entry-level employment to more satisfying career levels. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of career advancement and contains one or more worksheets. The chapters can be used to customize an action plan for career advancement. Topics include assessing job satisfaction; growing on the job; support networks; goals, plans and interests; obtaining experience; and training in a new job. 

Leach, Steve. A Supported Employment Workbook: Individual Profiling and Job Matching. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2002.
HRDC HD7256 G7 L42

This book brings together best practices in supported employment realized through partnerships among employees, employers and service providers. It emphasizes the principle of self-determination-ensuring that individuals make their own career choices. This publication examines vocational profiling, job search and marketing, job analysis to match the person's needs and expectations, support review, and progression to unsupported employment. Sample exercises are provided throughout. 

Managing Disability in the Workplace: ILO Code of Practice. Geneva: International Labour Office, 2002. ILO Code of Practice Series.
HRDC HD7804 G47

The International Labour Office Code of Practice was developed to guide employers in designing strategies for the management of disability-related issues in the workplace, especially concerning recruitment, promotion, job retention, return to work, and accommodation. 

Martin, James E. et al. Self-Directed Employment: A Handbook for Transition Teachers and Employment Specialists. Baltimore, Maryland: P.H. Brookes Publishers, c2002.
HRDC HV1568.5 S44

Based on a decade of research and field-testing, this book offers step-by-step strategies to help people with disabilities make their own employment choices. The authors describe their Self-Directed Supported Employment model, which ensures that the person remains in control, as an active participant, of all aspects of interest and skills assessment, job search, and evaluation and retention of the job. Detailed advice is offered on guiding individuals through the self-directed process, supplemented by photocopiable forms, sample resumes, and "what-if" tables that address difficult scenarios. 

Supported Employment in Business: Expanding the Capacities of Workers with Disabilities. Edited by Paul Wehman. St. Augustine, Florida: Training Resources Network, 2001.
HRDC HD7256 U6 S96

This practical and comprehensive book comprises three major sections: 1) how supported employment works, including a discussion of future directions; 2) applications for specific disability groups; and 3) critical contemporary issues in supported employment, such as conversion from sheltered work to integrated employment, transition from school to work, and evolution of supported employment to self-employment. Summary tables are used extensively. 

Wright, Ruth. Tapping the Talents of People with Disabilities: A Guide for Employers. Ottawa: Conference Board of Canada, 2001.
HRDC ZZ CB CA101a O1T17

Developed in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, this guide encourages employers to access a large and underutilized source of Canadian talent: people with disabilities. Change in this area will benefit both those with disabilities and, in a period of looming labour shortages, businesses requiring workers with skills to enhance productivity. Practical advice focuses on connecting with people with disabilities, recruitment and selection, elimination of barriers, integration through creation of an inclusive workplace culture, and accommodations for individuals with specific disabilities. 

NOTES

  1. For other available references in French language only, see the French version of the Workplace Gazette/Gazette du travail.
  2. Employees of Social Development Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada can borrow these items from the Departmental Library. Others can borrow them through their own library.