Hi everyone,

Do you work in a workplace that is an equal opportunity employer, and therefore open to hiring disabled people? Have you ever considered calling someone with a disability at your workplace lazy, and did you regret it later?

Here are some thoughts regarding rest, productivity, self-prioritization, and the special needs of some men and women with disabilities:

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2021/How-the-Laziness-Myth%E2%80%9D-Affects-Those-with-Mental-Illness

Here are my thoughts:

Basically, I think the main thing that employers and colleagues of disabled people should consider is how to make the most of the creative and productive time that a disabled person is working for you in your office. Is your mentally disabled colleague extremely creative for short spurts during the day, but seemingly struggling to focus at the same level of intensity and endurance as other workers in your workplace in general?

One thing I encourage employers to do is to try to measure employee productivity, including disabled adult productivity, objectively and without prejudice. Think outside the box--does your employee have a 2 hour period of extremely high productivity, followed by an unusual need for a 30 minute break right afterwards to blow off steam? If your disabled employee is adding unique value to your team, can you supply him or her with some easily/cheaply provided unique aid to address his or her special needs as he/she assists your organization?

Obviously, mentally different people are sometimes unique in some ways. I argue that it can be a stimulating challenge for good managers to figure out how to make the most of a disabled person's labor, while also assessing how to address such a worker's special needs in a stress-free and methodical way. In a good workplace, disabled people should both be productive and feel pretty healthy and good about what such individuals are spending valuable time doing each day.

Can you be competitive at working with disabled men and women and at making the most of their work while helping out their health while you harness what such people can do for your organization?

-Philip White (philipjwhite@yahoo.com)