Introduction
The topic of the article is ‘The impact of the 2007-09 recession on workers with disabilities. The author of the article is H. Stephen Kaye, Ph. D. This will give my thoughts about the article.
Discussion
It is evident that workers with disabilities are more disadvantaged compared to workers without disabilities. According to the article, disabled workers are in most cases the first to be laid off during recession and the last to be hired when the conditions improve. This is an unfair action since it means people with disabilities are looked down upon and through of as being unable to do tasks done by their health counterparts. Moreover, the disabled individuals are often employed in occupations which are less stable and have lower status.
It is evident that the 2007-09 recession greatly affected workers with disabilities especially those with mobility impairments. It is therefore clear that disabled people are the ones that are affected most by recession with the exception of those working in highly skilled occupations. Discriminating people with disabilities and making them feel disadvantaged in the job market makes them give up and cease seeking employment. According to the article, increase in Social Security Disability Awards suggested that majority of disabled workers who lost their jobs left the labor force instead of continuing to seek for employment.
It is therefore essential to employ workers according to their qualifications and merit regardless of whether they have disabilities or not. It is possible to have a disabled employee with more expertise that his or her health counterpart. Hence, disability does not equate to inability.
