47.5% of people with disabilities in Australia have experienced one barrier in the workplace. All employees should be provided with equal opportunities. In this blog post, we discuss how businesses can break down barriers for people with disabilities in the workplace. Breaking down these barriers will help stop discrimination against people with disabilities and can create an inclusive workplace for everyone. 

Statistics show people with a disability are twice as likely to be unemployed, compared with people without disabilities. However, statistics also show businesses who hire people with disabilities are shown to have double the net income compared to businesses who don’t. Yet why is there still a high rate of unemployment in people with disabilities?  

Unfortunately, there still stigma around disabled people in the workforce, as businesses can have misconceptions that hiring disabled people would be too difficult or expensive, as reasonable accommodations may need to be provided for them. Therefore, it is important for businesses to be educated and understand the benefits of hiring people with disabilities, and to implement disability policies to protect disabled people from discrimination. Hiring people from different backgrounds has been shown to create a diverse and inclusive workplace and has helped to increase the businesses understanding of their market.  

There is still the barrier of disabled people not having accessibility and accommodations in their workplace. To address this issue, employers could receive training on how to work with individuals with disabilities, understanding their rights and needs. If a disabled person is struggling with a task, it is important for the business to help them or make accommodations. For example, a mentorship could be set up for the disabled person to assist them with their task. Alternatively, there could be other methods available to complete the task. For example, if a person has problems with movement, there could be a lift or ramp available to them, or if a person experiences back problems, they could be provided with a chair that has back support.  

Overall, breaking down these barriers can help create an inclusive workplace, where people with disabilities can feel welcomed. We hope this blog post has been insightful. If you have anything you would like to add, post in the comment section.