29 Accommodation and Equity in the Workplace

Article 27 of the UN CRPD says that every person with a disability has the right to work in an environment that is “open, inclusive and accessible.”^[1]  This implies that people have access to employment opportunities, and are valued and treated with the same respect as all employees (including equity in compensation and collective bargaining). It also requires international promotion of such opportunities, reasonable accommodations, investments in training, and where necessary (recognizing that certain disabilities require extended and/or frequent leaves of absences) rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work provisions.

In 2020, 21.5 per cent of the Canadian labour force reported a physical, mental health, cognitive or other disability.^[2]  Nearly 40 per cent of employees with disabilities aged 25 to 64 years require at least one type of workplace accommodation.^[3]  According to a Scotiabank report on disability and labour force participation, “only three in five Canadians [with a disability] find employment, and those with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty (and thrice as likely if those disabilities are severe).”^[4]  The same report urges that “inclusive labour markets need to do more of the heavy lifting to help Canadians with disabilities achieve financial security,” and notes that “moral arguments aside, structural labour shortages and an aging population suggest the impacts will be all the more acute if left unaddressed.”^[5]  Currently the income gap between those employed and not employed is almost as significant a gulf as for the general population, even for those with more severe disabilities.

The use of clear and plain language was one repeatedly referenced strategy that could support greater participation and accommodation in the workforce, particularly with respect to newcomers with disabilities.^[6]  Ableism is often embedded in job advertisements and position descriptions and employers should avoid language coded to a particular group. Certain requirements may be vague, inaccurate, or directly ableist and can be addressed by clarifying the trait that is actually needed with ‘energetic’ changed to ‘committed’ or ‘walks’ changed to ‘circulates’ as two examples.^[7] The emergence of AI-based writing technologies like Textio can help managers identify bias and can suggest more inclusive language in job descriptions.^[8] While “recruitment in itself is a system of exclusion,”^[9] we are too often creating conditions where people will self exclude or can be unfairly evaluated for job requirements that are unnecessary or unclear.