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Abilities Magazine
| March 17th, 2004 | |
The ForumCanadian Council On Rehabilitation And WorkSpring 1997. Issue 30: pp. 48-49 Forumby Joan Westland Looking back at history, looking to the future. (The 10 years since ABILITIES magazine has been reaching people with disabilities, the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW) has been a frequent guest n our pages. CCRW�s acting Executive Director, Joan Westland, recently took the time to provide ABILITIES readers with her view on the historical, current and future context of one of Canada�s longest standing disability employment resources -- and some breakthrough services targeting employers and job seekers with disabilities.) BY JOAN WESTLAND Last autumn, the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work celebrated its 20th anniversary. Anniversaries generally are good times to reflect on the accomplishments and challenges experienced over the years. At CCRW, we have come to realize that our own history reflects that of the broader community of disability agencies. CCRW, along with other players within the Independent Living movement, has evolved through three distinct phases; these may be aptly referred to as the Warehouse, Greenhouse, and Open House eras. The Warehouse phase, lasting until the late 1960s, was really a "charity" model -- in the worst sense of the word! -- and was characterized by keeping most people with disabilities at home or in institutions, where they relied on church or state for such basics as food and clothing. This was followed by the Greenhouse era, a phase which saw the development and popularization of sheltered workshops. CCRW itself started out as an organization of professionals running sheltered workshops. Whether or not one agrees with the concept now, in the 1970s, workshops were felt to be a progressive alternative to institutionalization. It took a little while, but CCRW, along with a few enlightened others, began to view sheltered workshops for what they had become: exitless factories, providing little or no opportunity for participants to advance or pursue other employment opportunities in the open community. As a result of this perspective, approximately 10 years ago CCRW took the dramatic first steps into the present era, the Open House approach. This approach is characterized by a non-institutional, non segregated assumption of "can do" -- that is to say, a conviction that, given appropriate technological and community supports, people with disabilities are capable of pursuing and fulfilling the same range of employment opportunities as their ablebodied counterparts. CCRW�s stance within the Open House model has been to promote the development and implementation of accommodation and technology to make all jobs accessible, develop training programs and other resources which provide the opportunity to the job seeker to build the skills necessary to compete in the open job market, and, most importantly, reinforce the focus on each individual�s ability -- not disability. Perhaps, given the fact that this is really the first generation of people with disabilities living outside of institutions, it is not surprising that so many barriers still exist to full workplace participation. Just a few examples: accommodations are not generally in place; technology is only now coming into its own; societal attitudes still need to evolve; and there are some very real employment disincentives for people with disabilities who receive financial benefits. At the end of the day, however, it is still people with disabilities themselves who must address these issues. Progress has been made. People with disabilities, with varying degrees of success, have lobbied for improved legislation, appropriate access and enabling technologies. They have demonstrated aptitude and, as a result, have begun to impact on long-entrenched, negative attitudes. But other opportunities that exist to achieve employment success have remained underutilized by people with disabilities. An example is CCRW�s own experience with the development of the Wide Area Employment Network (WAEN), one of the tools offered in support of both employers and job seekers with disabilities. WAEN is a computer tool, linking job seekers to employers. Job seekers can use the system to build competency and skill-based resumes at one of over 40 input sites (agencies, colleges, employment resource centres), and download them into a searchable database. Employers can then either conduct a search themselves, or have CCRW use its Resume Searcher software to pull out qualified candidates from the database. In spite of the potential of WAEN, after a full year of operation, only 200 resumes were on the system. Today the number of resumes, while closer to 400, is still far lower than we had anticipated and hoped for. Further, when the WAEN was expanded across Canada, CCRW itself attempted to recruit persons with disabilities to fill the new regional coordinator positions. Only a handful applied. CCRW has stepped back to consider what other factors may be at play here. Have job seekers with disabilities run out of hope that this kind of a system will give them any more chance at employment than the dozens of other agency job banks or databases their resumes are already housed in? Have we, as agencies, "resumed" people to death? Is one more resume bank, albeit one that uses the national occupational classifications and a powerful search mechanism, enough to break the pattern of disillusionment and frustration that too many people with disabilities have fallen into? We at CCRW think that WAEN can and will work. It is the only tool around that gives the employers the power to pinpoint the exact skills and experience they need in a candidate, as well as fulfilling their diversity hiring goals. But the key to WAEN�s success lies in people with disabilities getting into the driver�s seat and posting their qualifications -- and their availability. Employers too, remain one of the biggest barriers to the success of the program. We have come to realize that there are still a great many employers who are unwilling to hire people with disabilities if they aren�t familiar with the nature of the disability. All of us in this field have had the infamous phone call from an employer who wants us to send over "three wheelchairs" or "six deaf people." Heaven forbid that we would recommend candidates with terrific skills, regardless of disability. It is not enough to claim we still have a long way to go. We have to realize that potentially every new employer has fears and misunderstandings that can be changed through education and awareness. Just because employers want to use the employment services of CCRW or any other agency doesn�t mean they are ready to Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work drop any preconceptions about schizophrenia or blindness. We also have to realize that many employers don�t want to use the system before there are thousands of resumes on it. And for those employers who are interviewing and hiring through the WAEN, we have learned that there is still a need for follow-up and support. We are reminded daily of the potential of this project. We find ourselves in a remarkable position: the public and private sector "mainstream" employment services are anxious for us to redevelop or modify the software for broad usage. After years of trying to fit ourselves and our clients into the services and activities of the rest of the community, it�s a wonderful reversal to have the so-called mainstream clambering to fit a service for people with disabilities into the needs of the able-bodied job seeker. The temptation to respond to all these requests is strong, but we run the risk of moving too far away from the original mandate of the project, which is giving people with disabilities the opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities to recruiters. We will not let that goal be diluted by opportunities to take the system outside our mission. That said, we are looking forward to working in the near future with Human Resources Development Canada and the Peel Board of Education in Ontario to make the Resume Writer program accessible at Employment Resource Centres and over the Internet. The new format, called WorkWire, will enable CCRW to partner with leading employment service agencies and employers to increase the number of users, and to incorporate on-line information on the training and job seeking resources available throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Partnerships have become our most important tool in the effort to remove barriers to employment for people with disabilities. By bringing community agencies, training providers, funders and employers together, we have succeeded in creating a series of Skills Training Partnerships (STP) that result in guaranteed employment for participants. Following a broad outreach recruitment program, participants are chosen by the employer to proceed with an intensive training program covering employability skills, academic upgrading and computers, in addition to the job-specific training requirements. CCRW has recreated the Wal-Mart Canada Retail Customer Service Youth Internship Program (see the Winter 1996 issue of ABILITIES) and is in the process of interviewing candidates for a four-month training program. All the participants in the last Wal-Mart Canada STP, which ran two years ago, are still fully employed. Some have moved to other employers, and a few have been promoted within Wal-Mart itself. The success of the Skills Training Partnership model has allowed us to take it down two new paths. First, we will soon publish a handbook which other community agencies can use to deliver similar programs across the country. Second, the program package is being modified so that it can be marketed to and supported more fully by the employers involved. This second development challenges us to move away from dwindling federal funding, while encouraging the employer to commit dollars to the training component of the program. The employer partners have always been involved at the very early stages of an STP project and throughout the training. In the future, the employer will share in the cost of training the future employee. This is well in line with the changes taking place in federal/provincial training models, and with the philosophy of most post-secondary institutions that are calling on industry to contribute more to the funding and curriculum development needs of career education. In these advanced stages of the Open House approach, we have noticed that our own best arguments for hiring people with disabilities come from successful employers and job seekers with disabilities. Our most committed employer partners are the ones who make the business case for diversity. They hire people with disabilities because they see an untapped, skilled group of job candidates, and because they want their labour force to represent better the clients they serve. We are struck by the common sense and forward thinking this attitude reflects. Unfortunately, the majority of employers still think that what we do is "charitable" It is not uncommon to hear an employer say, "Oh, we give millions to children�s charities. We wouldn�t be able to help your program too." The point we must continue to stress is that CCRW, along with our community partners, is performing a human resources function. We are training adults for competitive employment, and developing sophisticated recruitment technologies to address the needs of human resources professionals. In the coming months, a number of new programs will also be introduced that are based on this philosophy. Disability Management will enable employers to develop early return-to-work programs for employees with disabilities. CCRW will also be providing training seminars and consulting services in such areas as: understanding amendments to the Labour Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Code; accessible work sites; and job accommodations. There has never been more reason to collaborate and develop partnerships with other organizations, consultants and employers. With the follow-up to the Ministerial Task Force on Disability Issues, the partnerships we have created can take a leadership role in informing, educating and even influencing governments. We do not claim to speak on behalf of other agencies, or people with disabilities, but we can and will advocate for the kinds of programs and services that continue to break down the barriers to employment that persist. For more information, contact: THE CANADIAN COUNCIL ON REHABILITATION AND WORK 500 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, SUITE 302 TORONTO, ON M5G 1V7 TEL.: (416) 974-5575 FAX: (416) 974-5577 TTY: (416) 974-2636 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: a target="_blank"href="http://www.ccrw.org">http://www.ccrw.org
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