Advantages of the Disabled Employee

 N.B. an Easy Read version is available at the bottom along with an infographic and translations into other languages (currently Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and Spanish)

So I'm going to talk about the unique skills that a disabled worker brings to a workplace - entirely because they are disabled.

Okay, so based on myself, since birth (well 5 months old) I have been dealing with seizures on a daily or even hourly basis.  I have also been autistic and had severe dyslexia and dysgraphia since birth (though neither were dx'ed until adulthood).  I have had manage these whilst continuing to function as normal.  I still had to go to school, do my homework, do my chores, socialise, and do everything every other child did.  And this has gone on into adult life with all the responsibilities that go with it, adding in the EUPD and the MS.  

It is both mentally and physically exhausting.  But you adapt.  You become resourceful.  You find shortcuts and new ways to do things that save you energy and get around problems.  I particularly did this with reading at school.  I am functionally illiterate - reading age of 10.  But instead of reading a word in a traditional sense, I learnt to read them by learning the actual words themselves (I memorised them).  So problem solving, resourcefulness and finding energy / money efficient ways of doing things are often key strengths of disabled people.

Because you can't always predict how you're going to be feeling from one moment to the next like me with my seizures or my MS fatigue, you have to be flexible and able to change things at a moments notice.  So adaptability to change is another key strength of disabled people.

Your life often revolves around appointments.  So juggling things (being able to multitask), planning, organising and being able to prioritise what's important are other key skills.

As stated about, dealing with even 1 disability is exhausting.  So you have to be resilient.  This is a great asset to have in high pressured working environments.

In order to make your appointments, you must be able to time keep.  There aren't too many doctors that'd see you if you turned up 30 mins late or even 10.  So time keeping is another asset.

Forward planning and strategy is another big area - I have ASD, and I'm constantly role playing scenarios in my head (social ones) of how I'm going to react or deal with things.

These are just a few of the skills that a disabled person has innately because of their lives and can bring into the work environment.

Easy read

- Disabled people have many innate skills that can translate well into the workplace.

- These include things such as problem solving, being resourceful and being able to find money / energy saving ways of doing things.  This is due to their need to adapt to their disability which is both mentally and physically draining.

- They are often good with change and very flexible as they are used to not knowing what is going to happen from one hour/day to the next.

- Having to manage many appointments means they need to be good at multitasking, planning, organising and priortising.

- Dealing with disabilities requires resilience - something that is definitely needed in high pressured jobs.

- Appointment times need to be kept - so time keeping is another key skill.

- Having so many things to juggle, forward planning and thinking about the consequences of things / how things will play out is a key strength.

Mandarin Chinese

- Can zhang ai de ren you xu duo tian sheng de ji neng, zhe xie ji neng zai gong zuo chang suo zhong ye neng fa hui hen da de zuo yong.

- Zhe xie ji neng bao kuo jie jue wen ti, ling huo ying bian, yi ji xun zhao jie qian huo jie sheng neng yuan de fang fa. Zhe shi yin wei ta men xu yao bu duan shi ying zi ji de zhang ai, er zhe ge guo cheng zai xin li he shen ti shang dou hui rang ren gan dao pi bei.

- Ta men tong chang hen shan chang ying dui bian hua, ye ju you hen qiang de ling huo xing, yin wei ta men yi jing xi guan le wu fa yu ce jie xia lai yi xiao shi huo yi tian hui fa sheng shen me.

- Xu yao guan li xu duo yi liao huo qi ta yue jian, yi wei zhe ta men xu yao ju bei liang hao de duo ren wu chu li, ji hua, zu zhi he you xian shi wu pai xu neng li.

- Ying dui can ji huo jian kang zhang ai xu yao hen qiang de ren xing he kang ya neng li. Zhe xie neng li zai gao ya gong zuo zhong jue dui shi bi yao de.

- Bi xu zhun shi can jia yue jian, yin ci shi jian guan li ye shi yi xiang guan jian ji neng.

- Xu yao tong shi chu li hen duo shi qing, yi wei zhe ta men xu yao ju bei liang hao de qian zhan gui hua neng li，并 neng yu xian kao lv shi qing de hou guo yi ji shi qing ke neng ru he fa zhan。这 shi yi xiang zhong yao de you shi.

Hindi

- Viklang logon mein kai janmjaat kaushal hote hain, jin ka kaaryasthal par bahut achchhi tarah istemal kiya ja sakta hai.

- In kaushalon mein samasyaon ko suljhana, upalabdh sansadhanon ka samajhdari se istemal karna, aur paise ya urja bachane ke tareeqe dhoondhna shamil hain. Aisa isliye hota hai kyunki unhein apni viklangta ke anukool lagataar dhalna padta hai, jo maansik aur shaareerik roop se thaka dene wala ho sakta hai.

- Ve aksar badlaav ko achchhi tarah sambhaal lete hain aur paristhitiyon ke anusaar dhalne mein saksham hote hain, kyunki ve is baat ko lekar anishchitata ke aadi hote hain ki agle ghante ya agle din kya hone wala hai.

- Bahut saari appointments ko sambhaalne ke liye unhein ek saath kai kaam karne, yojana banane, vyavasthit rehne aur prathamiktaayein tay karne mein achchha hona padta hai.

- Viklangta ke saath jeevan jeene ke liye dridhata aur mushkilon se ubharne ki kshamata zaroori hai. Ye aise gun hain jo bahut dabaav waali naukriyon mein nishchit roop se zaroori hote hain.

- Appointments ke samay ka paalan karna zaroori hota hai, isliye samay ka sahi prabandhan karna bhi ek mahatvapurn kaushal hai.

- Ek saath bahut si zimmedariyon ko sambhaalne ke kaaran, pehle se yojana banana, cheezon ke sambhavit parinaamon ke baare mein sochna aur yah samajhna ki paristhitiyan aage kaise badh sakti hain, unki ek mahatvapurn taakat hai.

Spanish

- Las personas con discapacidad tienen muchas habilidades innatas que pueden aplicarse muy bien en el entorno laboral.

- Entre ellas se encuentran la resolución de problemas, la capacidad de encontrar soluciones con los recursos disponibles y la habilidad para descubrir formas de ahorrar dinero y energía. Esto se debe a que necesitan adaptarse a su discapacidad constantemente, un proceso que puede resultar agotador tanto mental como físicamente.

- A menudo se adaptan bien a los cambios y son muy flexibles, ya que están acostumbradas a no saber qué va a ocurrir de una hora a otra o de un día para otro.

- Tener que gestionar numerosas citas significa que necesitan ser buenas realizando varias tareas a la vez, planificando, organizando y estableciendo prioridades.

- Afrontar una discapacidad requiere resiliencia, es decir, la capacidad de superar las dificultades y seguir adelante. Esta cualidad es, sin duda, necesaria en trabajos de mucha presión.

- Es necesario acudir puntualmente a las citas, por lo que la puntualidad y la gestión del tiempo son otras habilidades fundamentales.

- Tener que compaginar tantas responsabilidades hace que la planificación anticipada y la capacidad de prever las consecuencias de las decisiones y cómo pueden desarrollarse las situaciones sean fortalezas importantes.