Steve Hanamura is president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc. in
Beaverton, Oregon, a firm he founded in 1986. Steve is a
consultant, speaker, trainer and writer. He specializes in
leadership development, diversity initiatives, team-building and
organizational change. As a person with a disability (Steve is
blind) he has a wealth of insights and experiences relating to
issues of employment for people with disabilities. Steve kindly
agreed to share some of his ideas for this issue of the OBLN
newsletter.
OBLN: Steve, I understand that, in addition to your other
areas of expertise, you have been doing work with business on
issues of employment for people with disabilities. Can you share
some of your insights with us?
STEVE HANAMURA: Sure, we recently published a book called “I
Can See Clearly”. The purpose of the book was to help employers
go beyond the compliance conversation and create opportunities
for executives to learn some leadership strategies to better
relate to people with disabilities. We wrote to a very specific
group of leaders. They are executives who are willing to break
through whatever personal barriers they have around people with
disabilities, who are inquisitive people and willingly curious
about all kinds of different things, and who have a true desire
to transform their organizations. These qualities put these
executives in a position to comfortably meet all kinds of people
with all kinds of experiences. From there, we encourage these
leaders to engage in activities with people with disabilities in
the context of their communities, and to engage in creative
conversations.
We are focusing in these “transformational leaders”.
Subsequently, they are then the ones who can then get to those
business leaders who are resistant, scared or nervous, about
hiring people with disabilities.
OBLN: So what you are suggesting to your audience is that
they proactively engage in some personal contact with people
with disabilities?
STEVE HANAMURA: Yes, in the bigger context, the organizations
that are into serving their communities, as well as adding to
their bottom line, are already doing acts of kindness or good
stewardship. They are engaged in community-cleanups, holding
Cinco de Mayo days, etc. but they are very rarely involved like
that with people with disabilities. Disability needs to become
an equal part of a company’s diversity initiatives. Disability
is still at the back of the Diversity Bus. It is still behind
all the other dimensions of workforce diversity.
OBLN: Do you have any idea why Disability is at the back of
the bus?
STEVE HANAMURA: Yes, disability is something that we can all
identify with. If I am black and you are white, you are never
going to be black. If I tell you I’m being followed home by a
police officer or followed around in a grocery store, you are
never going to be able to relate to that conversation as a white
person. But, as an able-bodied person, you could become a person
with a disability in a heartbeat. Because of this, it is a
little scarier to embrace the Disability conversation. The way
to deal with that is to not deal with it.
OBLN: That’s interesting... because disability is possibly a
personally imminent situation, you would think that people would
relate to it more readily. Yet, you are suggesting that because
of their fear of it, they are choosing to avoid it.
STEVE HANAMURA: Yes. Even though, in other ways, people are
already in the disability conversation. As we age, there are
some pieces of the aging process that can become disability
situations. Also, all of us are encountering disability in our
family lives – even if it is a temporary situation. It is really
weird because we are all there within the disability experience
yet we don’t make the connection to embrace it and translate it
into what is most viable for employees with disabilities.
OBLN: So Steve, am I correct that you believe that some of
the reluctance and hesitancy in companies to employ folks with
disabilities actually comes for personal discomfort within their
leadership?
STEVE HANAMURA: Yes, that is why we are specifically
targeting “transformational leaders” – people who are already
comfortable with taking risks and getting creative. Middle
managers are too often just squeezed between the demands of top
management and the complaints from the people below. But once
their executive leaders are behind it, everything can shake
loose for the middle managers to be more proactive.
OBLN: What I am hearing you say is that your recommended
strategies for these leaders around disability are also
strategies that aren’t really specific to disability; but
strategies that, overall, make it a more inclusive organization
for everybody.
STEVE HANAMURA: That is exactly right!
OBLN: Steve, based on your experience, what advice do you
have for people with disabilities in relation to employment and
career growth?
STEVE HANAMURA: First of all, there is hope. Don’t give up.
You have to do your work. You have to do stellar work at all
levels – personally and professionally.
We sometimes feel we are entitled to some things. People with
disabilities have to be careful not to overplay an “entitlement”
conversation. The biggest nightmare for an employer is to hear
an applicant with a disability or their job developer say “What
job are you going to GIVE me?”
Learn how to talk about your disability to put other people
at ease. You have a brief window of opportunity, when you first
meet an employer, to help them relax about your disability.
First impressions are real important.
Hang out with people other than your own disability group. We
tend to cluster in our own groups. It tends to be uncomfortable
to go outside of your comfort zone but it is important. Look for
opportunities to hang out with people who you share interests
with, not disability-focused, like sports or music. Join
organizations that focus on those interests. When you start
working together with folks on a common project, then people get
to know you and you get to develop some skills. I joined the
local American Society for Training and Development and it
totally changed my career. Get involved with something – your
church, knitting clubs, sports organizations – whatever
interests you.
There is better receptivity to disability in the workplace
than there used to be. We have made progress. Hang in there.
OBLN: Steve, do you have any final comments that you would
like to make in relation to all of these issues?
STEVE HANAMURA: Sure. This is for both employers and people
with disabilities who are working to change things:
1. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from others. (I think we
try to do these things by ourselves.)
2. Keep hope. There is hope.
3. Everybody is going to have to work hard because it means
stretching and growing.
Learn more about Steve and Hanamura Consulting Inc...
