Introduction

The necessity of enacting legislation to protect the interests of the handicapped is self incriminating evidence that the free enterprise system provides an unfavorable environment for handicapped Americans to contribute skills and productivity. It seems contradictory how a system which believes that competition yields the best productivity creates an environment where handicapped "citizens" are unable to participate and valuable skills and talent are forever lost. This is hardly efficient use of resources. The deeper problem is that the humanizing qualities imparted to America from identifying the needs and the unique assets of the handicapped are lost when they are barred from the work force. To say a system can mainly survive on profit is to deny several basic needs of man which are identical to those of the handicapped: to be needed, to be treated as a being with personal value, to be loved, and to have a country or non-material ideal to live by.

For Employed Workers

When materialism dominates the economy, these basic needs of man will outweigh those of employers establishing policy favoring materialism and workers will leave their current employment or develop a repressed personality. Students of psychology generally recognize that a repressed personality causes the individual to become extremely angry or turn that anger inward to depression. Unfortunately, a high level of repression eventually surfaces in the form of an active or passive resistance to work tasks. Passive resistance can be a decrease in productivity. The degree of personal repression to pure profit generating motives often indicates the intensity of the eventual resistance and the adversity of the work environment. (Turnover is high when policy attempts to squeeze productivity while satisfaction is compromised "unintentionally".)

Unfortunately this effect is magnified when the handicapped are affected. Handicapped people are often repressed before "unintentional" satisfaction is compromised in the workplace, so their repression is compounded and more damaging. A profit based system values the qualities of speed, efficiency, punctuality, and accurracy to increase revenue. The Handicapped, however, may contribute greater amounts of other qualities including: committment,methodical techniques, consistency, and a concern for safety. Unfortunately, the handicapped worker who is fired is often released under the "poor performance" category because he is slower, methodical, consistent in his methods, and sometimes less adaptable to changes or new knowledge to assimilate. What the profit motivated supervisor believes is that speed and performance lead to success while ignoring the concepts of reliablity and personal committment reqired by the handicapped to overcome their own obstacles.

The individual who has personal problems to overcome could provide techniques to employers how their corporate solutions could reflect this strategy on a larger scale.

If the employer could recognize how so many handicapped could resolve their own life-dilemmas, perhaps they would incorporate these techniques in an organization's structure to resolve issues where other organizations have failed. Results could be productive. Unfortunately, the corporate mind today exploits material time-efficiency and a profit base. Many new laws have been passed protecting the interests of the handicapped because a problem has been sensed. Unfortunately, medication for the disease doesn't cure the malady.

The unemployed handicapped are alienated from obtaining employment by the same standards which employers apply to their work force by the vehicle of policy. When inquiring to printed recruitment ads in the employment section, the deaf applicant can not apply unless an address is provided. Unfortunately, a verbal non-handicapped telephone applicant is more likely to get the job due to mail delay and a greater ability to influence the personnel recruiter. Speed, an important factor in getting a job, is denied the deaf applicant who only uses mail and the TTY for applications. Secondly, a frustrated recruiting officer may not consider all the applicants equally, particularly if she is unfamiliar with the use of the TTY. Education and reform are the only cures for this malady. Sensitivity and compassion for the handicapped eventually emerge when the recruiting officer gains experience in this area. Sadly, one handicapped specialist often does not exist in the personnel departments of most employers.

Speed and efficiency are also problems when the handicapped applicant applies to jobs which list their requirements in print under the employment section of newspapers. Many handicapped typists, for example, are initially slower due to awkwardness and co-ordination problems, but gradually increase in speed as they gain experience and familiarity with the employer's requirements. The requirement TYPE 50 scares many handicapped applicants away from the job because they can not type at this speed. The realistic needs of the employer, however, may be satisfied by a handicapped typist working during those hours where other employees are taking extended breaks. The instantaneous speed may be slow, but the applicant may be fully capable of completing the job. In terms of total department output, a slower handicapped worker may actually increase productivity because others notice how hard he works. Unreasonable standards and speed or profit based selection criteria exclude the handicapped who actually have more commitment to an employer because it takes him longer to complete the task! Finally, why shouldn't job standards be completely rewritten to accommodate the handicapped. Profit motives mean a perpetually unhappy work place.

Note: The author is hearing impaired and can be reached by contacting Vince De Benedeto.