Did you know that 15% of the world’s population has a disability? That’s approximately 1 billion people globally. In Australia, around 4.4 million people have a disability, roughly 18% of the population.
These statistics tell us a story: nearly ⅕ of both the Australian and global population has a disability, but incorrect attitudes and stereotypes continue to permeate society. People with disability are often misunderstood, underrepresented, and excluded, leading to discrimination.
While the reality may sound grim, there is still hope. Disability advocates have encouraged organisations and individuals to undertake workplace disability awareness training to counter misinformation and promote understanding.
So, the question is: what exactly is disability awareness training?
In short, it is training that aims to:
We recommend that the training be completed during onboarding to ensure new employees understand your company’s culture. You can also undertake refresher training to ensure you and your team stay up-to-date and retain your learning as far as possible.
Everyone! The training is open to anyone curious about people with disability and willing to learn more.
Generally, organisations, employers, and employees are encouraged to undertake the training, particularly anybody working with people with disability. Expanding our worldview is essential, and disability awareness training can help us with that.
Anyone who interacts with people with disability also stands to gain from completing this training. It gives you an understanding of people with lived experiences of disability and helps them in their everyday lives.
Disability awareness training, like many training, has several advantages. In this section, we’ll look at some of them.
First and foremost, completing the training is simply good for business. People with disability are an underserved market, which means there is plenty to be gained from offering products and services to them.
The talent pool also deepens, as people with disability are an untapped resource. As unique individuals, they bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to the workplace.
And contrary to popular belief, they tend to reduce the hiring/onboarding costs more than people without disability. Research suggests that employment costs for people with disability are up to 13% lower than for other employees.
Moreover, they have fewer compensation costs, reduced sick and scheduled leave rates than other employees, and decreased turnover as people with disability tend to stay longer in their roles.
By completing training, you better understand people with disability. You can also adjust your business practices to reach more people, e.g. make your products/services and offices/stores more accessible.
Courageous. Helpless. Abnormal.
Harsh as these words are, these are some of the most common myths and misconceptions surrounding people with disability. Unfortunately, such stereotypes and prejudices are engrained in our attitudes and society.
More knowledge is said to open your mind to new possibilities and new ideas. Disability awareness training helps boost knowledge as it actively dispels myths or misconceptions surrounding people with disability.
In addition, you improve your organisation's reputation by showing your commitment to preventing pigeonholing people with disability. Evidence shows that people with disability are three times as likely to avoid an organisation if it has a negative diversity reputation.
So, completing the training will improve your image and equip you with the skills and knowledge to confidently support and work alongside people with disability.
People with disability also remain an underrepresented demographic in employment.
More organisations are looking to diversify their workforce and ensure they are as inclusive as possible. Not only that, but it also steers an organisation into becoming purpose-driven.
By undertaking awareness training, you better engage your employees by demonstrating that you are purpose-driven. Research shows that, on average, 73% of employees who work at such purpose-driven companies are more engaged.
Research also shows the many benefits of diversity and inclusion, such as:
etrainu offers a comprehensive training package that can get you started. We developed it in partnership with Let’s Talk Disability, an organisation that runs disability awareness workshops.
The content in the bundle explores the lived experiences of people with disability: the true experts. That means the content is authentic, outlining what it means to be a person with disability and how people without disability can be allies and foster inclusion.
The Let’s Talk Disability Bundle includes four courses:
Click here to learn more about our Let’s Talk Disability Bundle.
Disability awareness training is an excellent solution to overcoming attitudinal and societal barriers, particularly in the workplace. Employees look at the world from another perspective, actively try to overcome any existing stereotypes, and aim to work towards a more inclusive workplace and future.
People with disability make up ⅕ of our population. It’s time we understood them better. Let’s learn more and work towards a better future. Let’s talk disability.
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