As businesses across B.C. continue to grapple with labour shortages, one organization is highlighting what it calls an “untapped workforce.”
Inclusion B.C. has launched a campaign focused on helping businesses understand the benefits of hiring people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“There are thousands of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities who at this time are not experiencing employment,” Karla Verschoor, executive director at Inclusion B.C., told Global News.
Nearly 80 per cent of people with these types of disability are currently unemployed in the province, Verschoor said.
That’s despite the benefits they can bring to employers.
“People with an intellectual disability tend to have a higher retention rate, show up for work, and really contribute to positive work culture within the organization, which I think benefits both the employees as well as the businesses themselves,” she said.
It’s a message Persephone Brewing on the Sunshine Coast has taken to heart.
The brewery has employed about two dozen people with varying disabilities since it launched more than a decade ago.
That includes Amber, who has autism, and who has helped tend to the brewery’s farm for a dozen years.
“I love it … It’s almost like my second home here,” she said.
Advocating for inclusivity is personal to brewery co-founder and CEO Byan Smith.
Smith, who worked in the disability field before launching the brewery, said integrating inclusivity has long been a priority. But it became paramount when he became a full-time wheelchair user after a bicycle crash in 202e left him paraplegic.
“Some people are uncomfortable with knowing how to talk to me and other people with disabilities, but what we are trying to do and I think we are getting better at normalizing that these are conversations we would have had anyway, I just happen to be sitting down for it,” he said.
While the majority of the brewery and tasting room have always been wheelchair accessible, Smith said the injury helped them take a second look at how people move around the property and highlighted the mission to ensure inclusion is genuine and meaningful, rather than tokenism.
It also renewed a sense of activism around inclusion, including staying awake to the reality of invisible disabilities.
“Our message has always been that we need people with disabilities in our lives,” Smith said.
“We need people with disabilities in our families and our communities and in our businesses because they make our businesses stronger.”
That idea is at the heart of Inclusion B.C.’s campaign.
Verschoor said people with disabilities face a variety of barriers to entering the workforce, sometimes starting early when they don’t get the same career planning help in high school.
But she said community organizations exist to fill the gap, which can be a powerful tool for employers open to inclusive hiring.
“What we really hope is that those who have been considering it but for some reason have been holding on to some fear or some biases about hiring inclusively really start to look at the opportunity that presents for them and really take that chance and show they can take a leadership role,” she said.
“Reach out to community partners that are there to be your support and take that first step to hiring inclusively.”
It’s a message Amber also hopes employers keep in mind when they go through the hiring process.
“Treat us like every other normal person,” she said.
You can find out more about the campaign and how to integrate inclusive hiring into your business at Inclusion B.C.’s website.