Opening Doors: Job Search Tips for People with Disabilities

Work by its very definition is certainly no simple task. Finding a job can be challenging for anyone, but can often be uniquely challenging for people with disabilities. Why? People who have disabilities are often negatively stereotyped as being members of a, "sick" culture. As a result, people with disabilities are frequently unable to find and keep jobs which make it possible for them to contribute to society in an inclusive way.

For this reason, many people with disabilities often do not feel like they are adults with ideas and skills that are worth contributing to society. This is an unfortunate and untrue generalization. As a person with a disability who has successfully been employed, I would like to share some job search tips that are specifically targeted to help people with disabilities. I have found these tips to be very helpful to me in the past. I hope you will find them to be of some help to you in your search for your next job, too.

Emphasize your strengths. Suppose you have strong writing and communications skills. When your strengths relate to a specific question that is asked during your interview, be sure to cite examples of your usage of those skills. How did your skills make it possible for you to contribute in a valuable and lasting way toward improving your workplace for both your co-workers and the company in general? A good example of this scenario might be an instance when you collaborated in an effective way with your coworkers to create a document. Emphasize the ways that hiring you will be a, "win-win" for the organization.

Be open and honest about your strategies for overcoming challenges and limitations. For example, a person who has limited use of their hands and is unable to type can use a voice activated computer. Using voice activated software programs, computers can be trained to recognize a specific person's voice. This means that anything usually done by typing on a keyboard can now be done by simply speaking commands or dictating your text into a microphone! No longer are people with limited hand use dependent on others to write or type for them! It is very important to emphasize your ability to be productive and successful in the workplace. Everyone deserves a chance to contribute and be successful!

Share the ways that accommodations have made your success possible in previous jobs. In a past position, using a voice-activated computer enabled me to create reports and specialized documents independently! It is so important to emphasize the ways that an employer's willingness to reasonably accommodate your disability contributes to your ability to be successful and make a valuable, important and lasting impact on your workplace in the process! I offer my best wishes to you in finding a job and succeeding in the workplace. The right job is out there and waiting just for you!