Why businesses don't employ people with disabilities

The primary of objective of the field of vocational rehabilitation is employment. A person with a disability is to be included in the world of work as an equal to any other citizen and to possess all the privileges that comes with employment, including becoming a tax payer. It is believed that this will greatly enhance an individual’s quality of life. Despite all the efforts to increase the employment of people with disabilities in the past 15 years, the unacceptable fact is that the majority of the people with disabilities of working age are still unemployed [1]. The employers’ perspective as to why people with disabilities are not employed is probably quite different than rehabilitation professionals would expect. If a survey was conduced of employers across this nation it would result in a myriad of reasons as to why businesses are reluctant to hire people with disabilities. However, a review of all of these reasons would lead to a predominate theme. That theme would be “fear”. Businesses rarely admit the real reasons that keep them from hiring people with disabilities. But looking behind the excuses given, it will be evident that the primary reason is fear. This article discusses four of the fears that employers face and the approach rehabilitation professionals can take to alleviate these concerns. This article will also suggest strategies for improving the marketing efforts of job placement specialists.