Are those with physical disabilities at a disadvantage for employment when up against an LGBT person?
"All human rights legislation in Canada prohibits discrimination in employment on a number of grounds, including physical and mental disability. Employers cannot refuse to employ an individual, terminate an employee or discriminate against any employee with regard to the conditions of employment on the basis of a perceived or actual disability." http://www.benefitscanada.com/benefit/disability/article.jsp?content=20071019_174603_4596
In any work place other employees, or the customers are more often over heard complaining about the workmanship of a person with a physical disability. The only reason they do so is because they are judging the person before they know them. Just because they have a disability does not mean they cannot do the job properly. Yes it takes a bit longer to get done but it still gets done. LGBT, and straight people are not always the best for the job. They assume that because they aren't a 'little person', or have any other visible disability they don't have to work as hard. They are however taken more seriously than those with disabilities. Yes they can still be made fun of, but you don't come across it as often.
I work at a department store and we hire people of all races, sexual orientations, etc whether they have a disability or not. At one point there was an assistant manager that was a lesbian, and now the front end manager is gay. We also have a manager that is a 'little person'. Unfortunately for her the customers would rather speak to the managers of 'normal height' and take them more seriously. The same goes for the cart pushers. A year or so ago there was a boy with a physical and possibly mental disability that we had let go. Of course we couldn't fire him for being who he was, we had to fire him because of all the situations that would arise. It took awhile before they could actually let him go as they needed to get proof that things were happening. If he were physically fine, he would have been fired on the spot.
Although LGBT, and those with disabilities are still discriminated against, there are laws that help keep the disabled employed over the LGBT. In this day and age nobody should be looked down upon and there should be no laws saying some people are guaranteed jobs. They should just be hired. It's a shame, but its also life.
- Brittney M
I couldn't agree more Brittney. I don't understand why people feel the need to look down upon someone else. I wonder if it's curiosity sometimes and people get caught up and come across as being rude. Like the example you gave about a customer wanting to talk to a gay average height person than a "little person." I really don't understand why people can't just look at everybody else as an individual, we really don't all have to be the same. You would think that in a work place it would be a good idea to have people from all areas of life be that age, sexuality, abilities etc. It is just really sad that this is really going on. No human being deserves to be treated like anything less than anybody else in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa V
I found your post to be very interesting, as I share the same beliefs. It is a shame that people in this world are not treated equally. It should not matter whether a person is homosexual, average height, or a little person; all of these people have the potential to be great at the same job or similar jobs. It is as though the majority of people in society want everyone to be of similar height, appearance, and have about the same intellectual level. If this was the case, I believe that society would be boring.
ReplyDeleteAshley R.
I believe it is very true that people tend to judge before they know the other person. To be truthful, I catch myself doing this once in awhile, but I do know this is wrong and have been trying to change this bad habit. I believe most people tend to judge and don’t even realize it. I also agree with Ashley’s comment that life would be boring if everyone acted the same and had similar appearances. We need all different personalities in the workplace and it should not matter whether your homosexual, mentally ill, mentally disabled etc,.
ReplyDeleteMelanie.F
Hello Brittney, yes I agree that everyone should have an equal opportunity to employment regardless of a sexual orientation or a disability. Snap judgments and not only be wrong but harmful. everyone deserves a fair change at employment and other aspect of life and we have to remember as people of society and social workers that these individuals have to face these hardships and we need to do what we can to change it.
ReplyDeleteNicole G
This post made a lot of sense to me, especially because you were able to relate it to personal experiences you have been aware of. I also beleive people should be able to recieve employment regardless of their disability, race, sexual orientation etc. It's true that within oppression there are different levels, and classes. Sometimes, like for the case of the little person they were treated poorly because people could visibly see that they were different. People who are homosexual are also often acted toward in a discriminatory manner, however, we cannot decipher someones orientation based on their appearance alone. This is the difference between prejudice and discrimination. Though people might hold prejudice views their actions may not always be discriminatory if they do not have enough information about a person. It is a sad truth that often times if your "difference" is not visible you will not be treated as negatively as people who have obvious "differences."
ReplyDelete-Eliza R.
I agree with you that in this day and age no one should be looked down upon. I also think that no matter who a person is, if they have the skills for the job they should be hired. Being physically disabled or gay or Aboriginal or all three should not limit people in their chance at succeeding in the world today. We as a society need to be more cooperative in providing different procedures for different types of people. This is important so that everyone has a fair chance at succeeding. Great post!
ReplyDeleteAlexis B
I really like your title and theme in this of how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. This happens way to many times in our society where people are stereotyped or looked down upon because of who they are. Every person should have the same chance of having and maintaining a job, regardless of what they carry along with them. Each person is different and can bring something new to the workplace.
ReplyDeleteIt's disturbing to hear that your work had to get evidence to fire the employee just because he had some sort of disability. I have also heard plenty of times a straight person being hired over someone who is gay. Mostly because of how it will look on the company that hires them. Canadian society needs to start taking a new outlook on people with a disability, or who are gay.
-Jessica VL
Good post! I thought that the Canadian government has a law against asking any questions that would lead you to disclose your sexual orientation and that it does not pertain to the job qualifications. Equality to me means that you should not have to hide your sexual orientation and if you have a physical disability, the resources should be there so that you can get the job done like everyone else. It also seems that if you don't hide that you are gay, that they could find reasons to fire you. This does not seem fair at all.
ReplyDeleteTiffany
Yeah there is. I just found a website that has a guide to the screening and selection for employment. It also shows that people with disabilities can be turned down for jobs if their disability hinders their ability to do that certain job. I totally agree with you about equality and I think it's sad that most have an equal right to be hired but the circumstances of being fired are completely different.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/screening_employment-eng.aspx
that's the link, it explains more.
Brittney M
If you feel like you have been fired unjustly you can use the labour standards, labour rights or human rights legislation Acts or Regulations to file a complaint. I think all employers need to have evidence of why they fired you but discrimination can seep into that process. It’s awful that some people may be fired solely on discrimination and that a lot of these cases won’t be brought to court due to how expensive and tiring the legal process is.
ReplyDeleteJessica N.