Many years ago, when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was on the horizon but not yet law, I did trainings for companies called “Windmills Training.” The idea was to educate and to challenge general notions about disability, especially in the workplace.

The two-hour training featured activities such as tying a brick onto the bottom of your shoe so you could figure out how to handle that mobility difference, wearing a blindfold to experience blindness, and using ear plugs to see what it’s like to be hard of hearing or deaf.  Another exercise asked participants to pick from a list the disability they would want if they suddenly became disabled. I also talked about wheelchairs, service dogs and other practical matters for a “disability etiquette” component.

While it appeared that participants did learn from the training, my larger wish—that they would leave with a newfound willingness to hire people with disabilities—wasn’t quite fulfilled. At least not at the rate I had hoped.

I still believe employers base hiring decisions on their own comfort level and experience.  For example, employers who have interacted with an individual with a specific disability tend to be more open to hiring an applicant with that disability, so long as the interaction was positive.

In the “pick a disability” segments, I recall that many people chose cerebral palsy. I felt honored when a few said it was because of me, as they felt I had achieved a lot in life.  That’s true, but my success has been dependent on so many things: privileges that others lacked, including a family with the resources to pay for my therapy and leg braces, plus access to public services and programs. 

I noted that no one chose Down syndrome.  Asked why, participants said they saw people with Down syndrome as unlikely to be able to do anything more challenging than an entry-level job.  (These responses were anonymous, hence their bluntness.) 

I want to believe that if I did a Windmills Training today, someone might pick Down syndrome, or even quadriplegia. I want to believe we have come so far that the disability community faces only minor employment challenges. But I know from my time as a Franklin County DD service coordinator that this is not true. Many people on my caseload looked for years before landing a job; one searched the entire time I worked with him.

Don’t get me wrong; times are better now than before the ADA.  But what are the keys to further progress? More training? More interaction between people with and without disabilities? More education about the ADA?  Maybe a combination of these ideas? 

Whatever it takes, let’s all do what we can—during DD Awareness Month and every month —to help employers see the value in hiring workers with disabilities. Let’s start the windmills of change now!