Disability Employment - "No Lived Experience"

**Lionelgee** · 27th March 2014, 01:33 PM

Hello All,

I am just wondering that why having a "lived experience" of having a disability is not a mandatory requirement within the Disability Employment Sector?

There are essential requirements that jobs within the Indigenous sector people must be able to prove that they are Indigenous. It is quite simple if you are not Indigenous than do not apply. There are also examples where in certain sectors it is mandatory that only females can apply for the role. Again if you are not a female then do not apply. In both cases the employers can cite legislatively accepted "positive discrimination".

So far there have been only a couple of disability employers within the Mental Health Sector who clearly state the following: A lived experience of mental health issues is a prerequisite for this position.

I recently applied for a role in a disability based employment company whose role it is to assist people with disability to find employment. What happens is that people from other more mainstream employment agencies who are hacked off from the cut-throat nature of the industry, apply for jobs within the disability employment sector. So what happens is that you find yourself competing against experienced mainstream employment consultants who want to take a breather from the hustle of the Job Network Service Providers who have massive government imposed performance measures they have to target each week.

There is no little box in the disability employment broker's applications forms that I have so far seen that even mention let alone stipulate about the applicant having a "lived experience of disability".

Even the range of jobs that have opened up due to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Now Known as the NDS do not stipulate the applicant having a "lived experience" of disability - so the national representative body does not engender people with a disability applying for roles within the organisation. There are 13 Selection Criteria for one of the roles with the NDS and none of them mention having a "lived experience"

Is there something just wrong with me that I do not consider this to be fair, or should I just go back into my little dark cave and rock back and forth and dribble for a while

Kind Regards
Lionel

**DeeJay** · 27th March 2014, 05:06 PM

Lionel,
Good point.
But
They obviously don't see it like that. Hypocritical to say the least, but probably not unlawful.

Keep at it, a positive outlook goes a long way in job interviews.

David

**sam_d** · 27th March 2014, 05:33 PM

I think the issue would be that if you insisted on only employing people with a disability / lived experience you'd narrow down your pool of candidates dramatically and in many cases quite unnecessarily.

For example, I don't know how having "lived experience" would bring anything beneficial to the role of say an office administrator in the disability sector, so slapping a requirement to have "lived experience" would not actually help in any way. That's not to say the a person with a disability should be excluded from that role but neither should anyone else with the right skills set.

Conversely, if you were writing policy around accessibility issues and requirements for people with a disability for example, then having "lived experience" I would have thought would be a prerequisite of holding the position. A fit, healthy fully able bodied person might be able to empathize with certain situations but wouldn't be able to bring any first hand experience of the everyday frustrations that a person in a wheelchair faces with them and therefore wouldn't bring a great deal of added(?) value to the role and might perhaps even be detrimental.

**Blknight.aus** · 27th March 2014, 06:05 PM

just tell em you worked for the defence force....

**Lionelgee** · 27th March 2014, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by sam_d

I think the issue would be that if you insisted on only employing people with a disability / lived experience you'd narrow down your pool of candidates dramatically and in many cases quite unnecessarily.

For example, I don't know how having "lived experience" would bring anything beneficial to the role of say an office administrator in the disability sector, so slapping a requirement to have "lived experience" would not actually help in any way. That's not to say the a person with a disability should be excluded from that role but neither should anyone else with the right skills set.

Conversely, if you were writing policy around accessibility issues and requirements for people with a disability for example, then having "lived experience" I would have thought would be a prerequisite of holding the position. A fit, healthy fully able bodied person might be able to empathise with certain situations but wouldn't be able to bring any first hand experience of the everyday frustrations that a person in a wheelchair faces with them and therefore wouldn't bring a great deal of added(?) value to the role and might perhaps even be detrimental.

Hello Sam - D,

There are some very highly competent people out their who have "lived experience with a disability" such as say for example a stress and anxiety related psychological condition. These people then have to perform at job interviews where they have to put much more effort into overcoming the stress of the interview. Everyone finds interviews stressful; it is magnified even more when you have a diagnosis of stress and anxiety. So what happens is the person with a disability does not do well at the interview and they are excluded from being employed. This is being employed in a job that they are more than capable of excelling in. Whether it is as an administrator or as a policy officer.

The other favourite is to have time limits on online screening tests to sort out who goes on to the next level of interviews. No matter how well a person with a disability can do the job they struggle to even make an interview. Then if they do not perform and are not charismatic at an interview they get shuffled off. There is research that states that people with a disability take far less sick days and other time off than their able-bodied co-workers. They are also arrive at work early and leave later - basically they are more dedicated.

How many people do not get the chance to prove themselves? After all one of the greatest components in a person's sense of identity can be what they do for a living. Plus the feelings of confidence they gain from being competent and completing a job that is done well.

Kind Regards
Lionel

**UncleHo** · 27th March 2014, 10:05 PM

I have a disability,I.E. lame in my left leg,result of MVA in 1973,and I have been in the position of being insulted by a "Personel Officer" who told me that "I would not look right in the office" to which I replied in that case your office and company would not suit me, 2 weeks later I got a position with better hours and at higher pay rate, also in my trained brand of spare parts

cheers

**Ausfree** · 28th March 2014, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by UncleHo

I have a disability,I.E. lame in my left leg,result of MVA in 1973,and I have been in the position of being insulted by a "Personel Officer" who told me that "I would not look right in the office" to which I replied in that case your office and company would not suit me, 2 weeks later I got a position with better hours and at higher pay rate, also in my trained brand of spare parts

cheers

Gee whiz, that's a bit rough mate. You know, down here near Lake Macquarie there is a car parts recycle business that concentrates on Japanese and Korean cars. They have employed a bloke in a wheel chair to serve at the counter and to make his job easier they have lowered a section of the counter for him and put a phone there.

I have watched him work and am amazed at how he manouvers that wheel chair around, he goes out the back gets the part the customer wants and serves at the counter just as quickly (if not quicker, jeez he can move that wheel chair) as an able bodied person.

His knowledge of car parts is excellent.

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