Please Hire the Developmentally Disabled and Become Better Now

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What It’s About: How many developmentally disabled people are working in your organization? Think how many activities could be completed with them? Consider how positive it could be to create a condition of belonging by making this a reality.

When I was the CPO at a bank, the CEO and I, with help from his EA, made a decision to hire someone with Down syndrome. With the guidance from experts at Inclusion Alberta, we successfully employed him. He was a contributor for eight years! He did great stuff. We all looked forward to him coming by with a giant smile, a happy greeting, and an opinion on the performance of the local sports teams. Was it challenging at times? Of course. Some people did not know how to interact with him. Frankly ,at the extreme, they patronized or avoided him. And he occasionally said and did inappropriate things. We had to sit down and talk to him about his behavior a few times. Most of us included him as a valued team member. And it was explicitly expected of him to get results or he would lose his job. Overall he added so much perspective and authenticity to our entire team. It also inspired other parts of the organization to hire other intellectually challenged.

So What?: I wish I would have done better. Hiring the developmentally disabled should have been constructively institutionalized, and then our total workforce number would have reflected the community percentage of this group. I never got that far. We did the right thing and it still was insufficient.

But you CAN be better! If you genuinely believe in diversity, the slices of the workforce at any level ideally reflects the entire community. You are sufficiently diverse or not. Inclusion and belonging is the next step. Equity also recognizes that you can’t expect the developmentally disabled to be hired through conventional processes. The same applies to the indigenous community and other groups for vastly different reasons. You have to apply creativity and intentionality to execute a true diverse workforce plan.

Now What?: Please stop focusing on awareness training to be the core of your Diversity, Inclusion, Equity program. The key is hiring people and having them become fully contributing members of the team. Learn as you go. Get help and partner with people like Inclusion Alberta. Progress over perfection! Stop talking about it and do it! Lofty pronouncements on diversity too often sound like hollow politically motivated statements. The ultimate question: So how many of those folks do you employ? The answer is often embarrassing and adds to well earned cynicism.

PS: Full disclosure, I am an active supporter and member of Inclusion Alberta .

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: Everyone I know who has spent time with developmentally challenged individuals has discussed the immense benefit of, for lack of a better description, surrounding themselves with beautiful souls. A perspective we’d be lucky to share.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Please Hire the Developmentally Disabled and Become Better Now

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