Managerial skills are part of life with disability. Why don’t employers recognise these skills?

"How did you do that?" My friend said to me as I handed her phone back, the look of disbelief on her face. "I’ve called so many repair places with no luck. You called once on my behalf, and they’re fixing my wheelchair tomorrow. How!?" 

"I’m ever so skilled," I laughed in reply.

Although said with tongue firmly in cheek, that conversation replayed in my head until the epiphany came: many of my acquired skills have been borne out of necessity in my quest for independence.

Just by living with my physical limitations as a disabled woman and my desire for independence, I have honed my abilities to think innovatively, relate to strangers, advocate for myself, and manage a team of support workers. Side note: speaking of innovative thinking, did you know that kitchen tongs can serve as a pick-up tool? Me either, until I was home alone and dropped my phone charger. Fun fact.

It strikes me that there are many people with disability for whom this is true. People who possess skills that are highly valued in workplaces and who have refined these skills because their quality of life (and often safety) depends on them. Yet according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, as of July 2022, the unemployment rate of working-age people with disability was twice that of those without disability. 

Indeed, at a Disability Royal Commission hearing in December 2020, Chair Ronald Sackville AO QC stated, "The statistics relating to workforce participation of people with disability are sobering... Australia has one of the lowest employment rates for people with disability in the OECD."

While there are people for whom working is not practical given the nature or severity of their disability, there are many others who are unemployed due to discrimination or a lack of reasonable adjustments.

Much as I’m happily employed, it’s not lost on me that I have never held a managerial role in my work, even though I manage a team of ten disability support workers in my personal life.

Even though Hireup is their employer and handles my support worker’s pay and insurance, my one-on-one shifts mean that I am their manager. I have skills in hiring, rostering, and matching workers to tasks that suit their strengths (e.g., my workers who are good at makeup are perfect for night out bookings).

But would that change if I were more outspoken about how I manage my life outside of my employment? Maybe it’s about us overcoming the urge to be grateful just to be employed and instead being shameless in displaying the skills we develop while functioning in a world not built for us. And maybe it’s about employers realising what they already have and making appropriate adjustments to ensure every person’s potential is realised.

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