Accommodating employees with speech, language, and communication disabilities
More than 440,000 Canadians have a speech, language, and communication disability that is not the result of significant hearing loss. These speech, language, and communication disabilities can result from many different medical conditions, disorders and disabilities such as apraxia of speech, autism, cerebral palsy, dysarthria, stroke, stuttering and traumatic brain injuries.
I was born with cerebral palsy. My cerebral palsy affects my hand coordination, speech, vision and ability to walk. At school, I required accommodations for oral presentations due to my speech impediment. My teachers and instructors accommodated me by allowing me to submit written assignments instead of doing oral presentations, having one of my peers read aloud my presentation and encouraging me to use assistive technology.
As a job seeker with a speech impairment, I also require accommodations in both the interview process and at work to enable me to be successful and fully contribute my knowledge, skills and abilities.
What managers can do to support an employee with a speech-related disability contribute their best
The accommodations that help me and could help others include:
- Using a little patience or extra time to better comprehend my speech
- Asking me to repeat myself when not understood or inviting me to spell out the word(s) that I have difficulty enunciating
- Having a colleague introduce me during meetings that involve stakeholders who may not be familiar with my speech
- Normalizing for the team that I may use the chat feature for Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings as an equally valuable way to contribute to a discussion
- Enabling me to communicate via email or text instead of by phone.
- For others with speech, language and communication disabilities it might mean the purchase of some assistive software such as NaturalReader.
As you can see, many accommodations I’ve mentioned that support employees with speech impairments are not expensive.
What HR can do to welcome talent with disabilities
Human Resources can adopt solutions to recruit and hire candidates with speech, language, and communication disabilities such as:
- Begin the interview process by asking the candidate what accommodations they would need to be successful in the interview
- Even better, post a list of accommodations you’ve offered before, with an open offer that others may be available on request. This can be included right in the job posting or on the website. This will help the candidate can feel confident that disclosure will not be limiting because the organization is extending accommodations equally to all applicants.
A culture of inclusion
Once the organization has hired an individual with a disability, it matters that the organization’s culture is inclusive too. To create an inclusive work environment for employees with speech, language and communication disabilities, employers must:
- Incorporate diversity and inclusion into the organization’s values
- Develop and adopt inclusive recruitment and hiring policies
- Address biases through leadership and mandatory accessibility and disability training programs
- Hold leaders accountable to ensure that the organization’s diversity and inclusion goals are being met.
Impact of inequitable access to the labour market for disabled job seekers
A large number of working-age adults with disabilities live in poverty. The post-pandemic inflation and cost of living crisis are causing further financial hardships for individuals with disabilities. The unemployment rate for candidates with speech, language and communication disabilities is 86%.
Having a job is as important for people with a disability as it is for anyone else. We all want to contribute our knowledge, skills and abilities and we all need the opportunity to support ourselves financially. Research shows that inclusive work cultures lead to better financial outcomes for organizations too. So opening your organization to employees with disabilities is not only the right thing to do, but also a smart one.
Ekamjit Ghuman (she/her) has completed a degree in Business with a Finance and Human Resources Management concentration from Simon Fraser University and a Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Human Resources Management from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She has volunteered for several non-profit organizations and has served as a Constituency Assistant for a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.