Disability may arise from many factors such as accident, diseases or inborn status. Disability is not inability and everyone should know we are all candidate of disability. Treating people with disabilities appropriately in the workplace is the most supportive thing to them in enhancing team work and business success. The disability should not define a person. When employees and co-workers feel less awkward working around with people with disabilities, the co-workers with disabilities are more comfortable and can be more productive. Here we are going to look at some tips that you can use to comp and manage with co-workers who have disability.
1.Providing Assistance
Always be ready to offer assistance if the person with disability appears to need it. A golden rule is to always ask first if he wants help, and then to ask how he can be assisted. Never make you own judgement, but always in polite way ask if he or she need your assistance.
2. Build awareness and Perception of rights of persons with disability
Some employees may be consciously or unconsciously be biased about their disabled counterparts. Its therefore important for you to familiarize yourself with the affirmed commitment and policies protecting people with disability. This will help dispel notions of ignorance about right of people with disability.Employees should also be given basic information on how they can help their disabled colleagues in cases of emergency.
3. Make use of assistive technology
Use of modern technology enables disabled people to be an active part of the workplace .Technology enhances disabled employees to carry out their job responsibilities without much difficulties. Some common assistive technology include electrical wheelchair, female urination device, color-coded keyboards, refresh-able Braille displays, specialized screen reader software, assistive listening devices, speech recognition.
4.Good communication skills
Good communication skill always helps both parties concerned come to a common understanding. It aids in putting all parties at ease and help disable person feel he or she is part an parcel of any discussion. Employees working with a co-worker with a disability should always speak directly to the person, in their normal tone, not to a job coach or sign-language interpreter.
5. Focus on health and well-being
Employee health and well-being need to be of foremost priority for all workers and especially disabled individual. You should pay attention to this healthy well-being for disable person at workplaces so as to ensure your co-worker with disability is accessing them. You may aid your co-worker with disability in games, physical activities, access washroom or other recreational options can be encouraged.