Paru le mardi 25 janvier 2011 sur The Gazette

Source
www.montrealgazette.com/health/Enabling+disabled+work/4161075/story.html

Enabling the disabled to work
Iam Cares Agency finds quality jobs to match abilities
By ALISON MACGREGOR, The Gazette January 25, 2011

Pascale Dansereau's life changed dramatically 15 years ago when she developed severe fibromyalgia, an incurable autoimmune disorder whose symptoms are chronic pain and debilitating fatigue.

Unable to continue working as a drugstore cosmetician, Dansereau went back to school to upgrade her computer and clerical skills.

"I don't have energy," she said. "I can't work standing up."

Eventually, she landed a secretarial position at a major Montreal insurance brokerage firm where she worked for 11 years.

That came to an end last October when she was laid off by her employer.

The 48 year-old hopes to find part-time work -and soon. The compensation and vacation money she received from her employer is running out fast.

"I'm beginning to get anxious," she said.

She hopes that IAM CARES will help. The Montreal nonprofit organization has been finding quality jobs for disabled people for more than 22 years.

The agency's philosophy is that some people with disabilities are able -and eager - to contribute their skills and abilities to the workplace.

Founded in 1989, the program has placed more than 4,000 people with disabilities into competitive positions in the workforce.

Agency director May Polsky said the biggest challenge her organization faces is convincing employers that disabled workers can be skilled, valuable and loyal employees.

The agency works hard to match its disabled clients with an appropriate position for the best possible outcome, she noted.

A hearing impaired client would not be suited for a secretarial position, for example, but would be well suited for position in packaging. A quadriplegic could be a machinist if equipped with an adapted numerical work station.

The organization gives workshops to clients to teach them how to present their disabilities to prospective employees. If workplace adaptations or special equipment is needed, counsellors will help track down government subsidies to cover the costs so the employer is not financially penalized for hiring a disabled person.

If a client, such as Dansereau, is physically unable to work the number of hours required for a certain position, there are government programs that can subsidize an employee's salary to make it financially feasible for a company to hire a disabled worker.

Enabling people who are at risk of being socially isolated to work in productive jobs is "clearly a good thing for employers," said McGill University sociology professor Michael Smith, who has studied employment and workplace issues.

The difficulty, he said, is that it is often necessary -and expensive -to modify workplaces, to accommodate the disabled person by making them wheelchair accessible, for example.

Polsky emphasized that only a small percentage of disabled people use wheelchairs.

But if renovations to accommodate a wheelchair are needed, "there are always ways of finding the necessary (government) funds," she said.

The payoff for disabled workers, employers and society is huge, Polsky said.

"Instead of people taking from society, it is giving them a chance to contribute -and to pay taxes," said David Chartrand, president of IAM CARES' board of directors and head of the Quebec chapter of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, which sponsors the agency.

In 2006, there were 408,920 disabled people in Quebec between the ages of 15 and 64. An Institut de la statistique du Quebec study found that 53 per cent of those people were unemployed.

That percentage drops to only 20 per cent for Quebecers in the same age group without a disability.

Although IAM CARES is successful, it struggles to maintain the quality of its services and retain staff members.

Polsky complains that despite paying competitive salaries and investing in training employees in everything from sign language to the complex management of disability cases, they are often poached away by the public sector or private firms that can offer higher salaries, better job security and benefits.

The agency does not have a consistent source of funding and must reapply every year to Emploi Quebec for an annual grant of $550,000.

As a result, it is not able to guarantee employment to the bright young graduate students who make up much of its staff.

Without an advertising budget, Polsky adds, the program is not as well-known as is could be.

In the meantime, Dansereau, who is working with a counsellor to find a job, hopes that an employer will see past the cane she uses to get around and give her a chance to prove herself.

"I can't stand anymore," she said. "But in a secretarial job you don't need to stand."

amacgregor@montrealgazette.com

IAM CARES also has a branch in Vancouver. For more information, visit www.aimcroitqc.org

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An example of jobs AIM CROIT-IAM CARES has found for its clients:

-¦A client with limited motor ability in one leg is employed as a service agent with an airline.

-¦A hearing impaired client works as a security agent with a security company.

-¦A client with asthma works as a mechanical engineering technician.

-¦A paraplegic client is employed as a laboratory technician.

-¦A epileptic client works as a Web designer.

-¦A client with cerebral palsy works as a company chauffeur.

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