“Aside from being discriminatory, it is also false” Mrs May continues.

“Many costing myths exist regarding employment of people with disabilities.”

Jessica believes that the insurance cost “is the most common assumption”.

This is false for a few reasons, not least of which is “statistics show that people with disabilities are marginally less likely to be the victim of an accident at work”.

Another false assumption is the cost of providing access, be it to the building itself or to any equipment an employee may need to use.

“There are a number of regional and national schemes and funds available to either completely cover the cost of modification of the workplace or a substantial fund that they can apply to” Jessica illustrates.

Mrs May then pointed out the specific example of the federal Government’s Employment Assistance Fund.

“Workplace modification includes adjustments to doors, installation of ramps, lowering steps and other physical modifications. 

“Human resource costs come with certain extra considerations for people with disability; new computer hardware such as a special keyboard or a mouse, software for people with poor eyesight for example, or specialist office equipment” like the desk or chair.

“All of this equipment in Australia is covered under the Employment Assistance Fund.”

Jessica also asserts that “people with disability have a lower attrition rate – are more likely to stay in a job – and are more productive.”

This increased loyalty has been shown by multiple surveys and studies, and it has clear benefits for those looking to fill a position for the long term.

Mrs May also referred to a study entitled “Overlooked and underutilized: People with disabilities are an untapped human resource” by Mark L. Lengnick-Hall, Philip M. Gaunt and Mukta Kulkarni.

At the end of the abstract for it they wrote “Results show that most employers are not very proactive in hiring PWDs and that most employers hold stereotypical beliefs not supported by research evidence.”

However, maybe you have already thought about hiring someone with a disability – for the short or long term, full- or part-time – but don’t know how to go about it.

This is where a service like Enabled Employment can come into the picture.

Jessica’s company has “an entirely new approach to eliminating barriers to employment for people with a disability.

“Enabled Employment has brought together multiple innovative elements to make this happen including the use of remote work, the employment agency business model and the latest cloud technology to make the process easy for businesses and candidates.”

Whether you need to fill a vacancy or would like to find suitable work, visit www.enabledemployment.com to find out more.