Tips for making your NGO disability inclusive

MELBOURNE, Australia — Leading by example is key to overcoming the cultural, social and economic barriers facing people with disability globally — especially in developing countries. Jane Edge, chief executive officer of CBM Australia, said NGOs can progress that agenda by being an attractive employer to people with a disability. She discussed with Devex her five tips for making NGOs disability inclusive. 1. The recruitment process needs to target people with disability. Encouraging people with a disability to apply for a position is an important first step. But sometimes, traditional recruitment and advertising channels may not reach people with a disability or appear open to their application. “At CBM, we utilize a network of organizations, including the Australian Disability and Development Consortium, and ensure roles we have are placed and promoted through those networks with a view to reach as many people as possible,” Edge explained. Advertising a position, or all positions, through disability networks promotes the organization as being “open” to disability communities. And more applications from people with a disability should lead to more people with a disability being employed. 2. Disability declarations are optional — and should never lead to discrimination. Many people with disability do not disclose their disability in early stages of applications for fear of being discriminated against, and culled in the process. A disability-inclusive NGO should never be discriminatory, and should only make disability declarations optional. “It’s a challenge for most employment environments to ensure people with disability are comfortable in disclosing that and ensuring they won’t be discriminated against,” Edge said. “Declaring a disability is entirely up to them.” But when applicant declares his or her disability, take that as a good sign — they are comfortable with you as an employer. 3. Build an accessible workplace. A disability-inclusive workplace needs to be accessible and flexible to support the needs of people with a disability. “This is always a work in progress,” Edge explained. “It can be things like ensuring there are translators for our staff who are deaf, but essentially it is just ensuring that there is reasonable accommodation for people who declare a disability when they join — if they choose to declare it.” Needs will differ depending on the type of disability and the person themselves, so ensure the employee is comfortable discussing their needs in order to be able to support them in the workplace appropriately. 4. People with disability should play prominent roles. Employing a single person with a disability in a dull role does not make an organization disability inclusive. Ensuring people with disability are playing important roles in your organization does. CBM Australia provides in-country training for disability-inclusive development. For them, this is an opportunity to ensure people with disability are speaking directly to people on issues affecting people like them. “When we are supporting or providing disability-inclusive training to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other NGOs on the ground, our practice is that we will only do that with people with disability,” Edge said. “Part of our approach is actually to build the capacity of local organizations to choose to engage — it equips and builds capacity for advocacy, but allows people with disability to build confidence in taking on that role themselves.” The principle for CBM, Edge said, is to be “on tap, not on top.” “It has proven to be a very effective approach because we want to ensure people with disability are included at every level — and we are leading by example.” 5. Don’t underestimate the value of word-of-mouth. Peer-to-peer recommendation is critical for any potential employer in building a reputation as an organization people want to work for. For people with a disability, this can be even more important in understanding how supportive an organization will be to their needs. “Word-of-mouth is the strongest dimension that I hope we can rely on,” Edge said. If a person with a disability feels comfortable, confident, wanted and supported, they will tell others. And then that organization may have done enough to consider themselves disability inclusive. Devex delivers cutting-edge insights and analysis to the leaders shaping and innovating the business of development. Make sure you don't miss out. Become a Devex Executive Member today.