New push to find jobs for the disabled

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8: A new, cross-ministry government strategy is being formulated to integrate more people with disabilities into the workforce.

John Payne, acting manager at the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged, who is spearheading the move, and says the island’s disabled are under-valued and under-utilized.  

He sees the need for a cultural shift in the way people — especially employers — perceive those with disabilities.

Mr Payne told the Bermuda Sun: “In Bermuda there is a perception that if you have a disability you are unemployable. There is no strategy to correct that so we are attempting to develop one.

“Part of this will involve meeting with employers and getting them to look at people’s ability as opposed to their disability.”

Mr. Payne recently enrolled on a two-week course in Italy that looked at United Nations and International Labour Organization standards. He learned about practices in other jurisdictions including Vietnam, England, India and Ethiopia.

“Our task would be to allow people with disabilities to be properly assessed and to have a centre for placement,” Mr Payne explained.

As part of the strategy, job coaches, trained in assisting those with disabilities, could help new members of staff.

“We also need to ask employers whether it is necessary to modify their facilities to accommodate a person with disabilities,” Mr Payne added.

He admits that even his own office building on Victoria Street, which represents those with mobility difficulties, does not fully meet requirements.

“We have portable ramps  — one can stay in place but the other has to be moved  — we have one staff member who is in a wheelchair who has to come to a staff meeting we have to get the ramp. It would cost $30,000 to have a permanent ramp there.

“There needs to be a phased approach to adapting the government buildings — that would become Works and Engineering’s responsibility.”

Health Minister Zane DeSilva recently staged a “roll about” via a wheelchair and presented Premier Paula Cox with a with a ministry report about the accessibility of government offices.

Mr Payne  cited a ‘Paratransit Report’ which calls for a complementary transport system for the disabled.

The strategy is in its early stages and its cost and timeframe are yet to be determined. Mr Payne said it would reduce the cost of disability allowances.

But the biggest hurdle will be “changing the community mindset… We will have to develop an awareness programme — this office would be talking to the employers’ council, the Hotels Association, the unions about employing persons. Do the BIU and BBPSU have a collective agreement, a clause that allows a person with a disability not to be discriminated against?

“If you believe that people have abilities and they have them across the spectrum then I see no reason that they shouldn’t compete,” Mr Payne said. “That is all we are looking for — the right to compete — then it is an open market.”