Transition for an employee with a disability

At one of Canada's major post-secondary institutions, Michael Nkruma, a visually impaired employee, was laid off. Grant funding to the employee was discontinued and the employer supported an adjustment period of 3 months required for reemployment investigations. In addition to monitoring newspaper postings, Mr. Nkruma contacted the local CEC and the CEC funded outreach counsellor at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB).

Mr. Nkruma was conscious of his reduced employment options due to the impairment. The few employment opportunities available would be aggressively sought by a large number of applicants. Consequently, he wanted to make the best use of available resources. To his discouragement and frustration, CEC advised him that he was not entitled to support until he was officially unemployed.

Historically, unemployed job seekers contact their local CEC office for needs determination and subsequent CEC or contracted help (counselling, job search assistance, labour market analysis, resume writing, employability skills self-inventory assessment, etc). To a lesser degree, the CNIB outreach counsellor would facilitate some of these services. However, to minimize duplication in service delivery systems, the CNIB counsellor is now kept from accommodating client requests because the CEC is the only authority permitted to make referrals.

Mr. Nkruma was also denied access to information; CEC-supported outreach offices are not linked to central labour market and job posting data banks. Given the high level of technological advancement in the last decade, it is odd to learn that outreach counsellors must go to the CEC office to find out critical labour market information pertaining to their applicant case load.

This example shows how systems can present some of the most costly and troublesome barriers to those who are looking for work, especially those who continue to be ignored in the design of policy and physical delivery systems that are perceived by social policymakers to be responsive to all labour market partners. The cost to the system was greater simply because a visually impaired person was denied access by virtue of eligibility criteria. He was forced to draw UI benefits when there was an option to make a successful job-to-job transition.

Advance notification of employment termination can prepare the employee for successful transition. Self-concept and self-worth, in addition to on-the-job professional support, are critical elements in successful reemployment without a period of unemployment. Mr. Nkruma did not experience problems as a result of his impairment as much as because the system did not respond to labour market conditions. The challenge for this qualified person lies in the fact that he sought merit-based consideration in a labour force delivery system that does not recognize that impairment is a function of individuals, not their employability.