Thinking Beyond the Label (Commentary)

Arkansans with disabilities comprise a large slice of the state’s population.

One in 10 working-age Arkansans now receives disability benefits from the Social Security Administration, while 21.8 percent of the state’s people say they have a disability, two of the highest rates in the nation.

The size of this group makes it important, both as a large, untapped source of talent and as a market.

Can you afford to overlook one in five prospective workers?

Wouldn’t you like to have a competitive edge in marketing your goods and services to 20 percent of the population?

It’s easy to label people with disabilities as poor prospects for employment, because disability has long been defined as being unable to support yourself by working. However, technology and attitudes have changed, and it’s time to update our thinking.

Many people with disabilities have knowledge, skills, experience and the capacity to learn, and they’d like the opportunity to use them.

A new marketing campaign called Think Beyond the Label uses humor to encourage us to rethink our attitudes and consider people with disabilities as a work force resource rather than a liability. The campaign is sponsored by 30 states, including Arkansas.

The theme: Labels get in the way; disabilities rarely do.

Stereotypes about disabilities paint a narrow and incomplete picture. We may picture someone with Down’s syndrome, a person in a wheelchair or a homeless person with a psychiatric disability.

In fact, people with disabilities are as diverse as the rest of the population. There’s a wide range of impairments, abilities, demographics, levels of work experience and work goals.

Some people are nearing retirement after decades of employment, while others are recent college graduates looking forward to a career. Some excel at intellectual work and use of computers, while others are very reliable at repetitive manual tasks. Some want to work fulltime, while others can work only part -time.

Businesses employing individuals with disabilities often find that they are not only productive, but also reliable and very loyal to employers who give them a chance, helping to reduce turnover and lowering costs for hiring and training. They also bring new ideas and perspectives, and many consumers say they prefer to patronize businesses that hire people with disabilities.

Here in Arkansas, a number of businesses have looked beyond the label and found great employees. For example, Acxiom employs a young man named Franklin McMurrian, who has a spinal cord injury and quadriplegia.

Franklin types with one finger, but that didn’t deter the manager who hired him. He wasn’t hiring for a data entry job. Focusing on Franklin’s knowledge, skill set and attitude, the manager got a valued employee who delivers time-sensitive marketing data promptly to Acxiom’s corporate customers.

The manager of the Wal-Mart store in Ash Flat didn’t just give Dorothy Vaughn a chance. He recruited her to return to work after she suffered a spinal stroke, because he was already familiar with her abilities. Vaughn’s quadriplegia didn’t stop her from providing excellent customer service as a greeter for several years before retiring. She was friendly, popular with customers and pulled out shopping carts by hooking her hand over the handle and backing up her electric wheelchair.

If you’re ready to evolve your work force, a good place to start is the Think Beyond the Label website, where you’ll find factsheets that debunk myths, outline the business case for diversity, offer tips for hiring and list tax incentives.

Remember, labels get in the way. Disabilities rarely do.

Visit ThinkBeyondtheLabel.com for more information. 

Scott Holladay of Little Rock works for a nonprofit and manages the EmployAbility Project for the Arkansas Division of Aging & Adult Services. He’s a member of the state implementation work group for the Think Beyond the Label campaign.