In the workplace, what does the word "disability" evoke?
"Can't work," right? One "goes on" disability.
There is a virtual flood of deeply engrained messages that rise up simply through the power of the word itself. At the least it speaks to inability; at it's worst it suggests horrible, tragic circumstances for which we should feel sympathy — if not outright pity.
This reflexive relationship to the very notion of disability obstructs our ability to clearly assess what a person with a disability is capable of — whether someone is being considered for a job as a candidate, or whether they are an existing worker who has acquired a disability.
If we approach the question from the very start in terms of loss and limitation, then how can we ever get to an accurate understanding of their ability and potential? How can we ever embrace the contributions that person has to make? How can a business save the immense wasted costs of unnecessary disability benefits and replacing a valuable employee?
What is one to do? How do we disengage from the misdirection that results from this obsolete sense of disability?
First, just take this conversation to heart, and don't fall into the trap of all the assumptions that arise from the word itself. Simply by being conscious of this, you can get your bearings set on the clearer perspective that will lead to the best choices.
Next, take some time to scope out the modern day world of disability. (You can start on my website, ModernDisability.com). You'll discover a lot of vibrant people who are passionate about life and are creatively extending their independence and possibilities. You'll find a lot of cool technologies, art, sport, and continuing advocacy. The more you witness what real people (who happen to have disabilities) are doing in their real lives, then the word "disability" will take on a different meaning for you.
Hopefully in time, the very connotation of the word will begin to shift. If I have anything to do with it — and it's my dream that I will — then we will think of disability as something to which one adapts, as a characteristic of a person which partly determines their potential, but not necessarily in a way that limits or compromises. That is what the word should evoke, because it's actually much closer to the truth.
The word itself is not about to change any time soon, if ever. No one has yet to come up with a viable replacement. So it's up to each one of us to separate from the word in our own minds, and make a commitment to observing the actual picture of what's possible so that people with disabilities are not artificially blocked from living the lives that are possible, not the least by contributing in the workplace.