Health
1News

Employers encouraged to take on more workers with disabilities

February 17, 2018

ACC and a leading recruitment agency are trying to dispel common misconceptions.

Employers are being encouraged to take on more workers with disabilities.

ACC and a leading recruitment agency are trying to dispel common misconceptions about those with disabilities.

Mano Thompson's rugby league dreams were crushed after a severe spinal injury.

"I was lying there and I remember it so clearly. All I could do was feel my face nothing else. I couldn't move my arms. I couldn't move my legs. I was paralysed from my shoulders down," Mr Thompson told 1 NEWS.

He needed six months of rehabilitation and it took three years until he was back in a full-time job.

"Trying to find work and stuff, I found it real difficult. Employers will look at my CV and like 'what's this gap here?'"

Now he's teamed up with the recruitment fir Adecco and ACc in the hope of convincing employers to take on those with disabilities.

Tim Johnson, who was once a Paralympic athlete and is now a project manager with ACC says the biggest frustration is that people just don't see the individual for what they could do.

"They look at the individual for what they may not be able to do. And as soon as you flip that on it's head you're away, guns flowing."

One in four New Zealanders are limited by physical, sensory learning, mental health or other impairment.

ACC can help with the likes of technology and accessibility.

The Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says it's time for a change in attitude.

"New Zealanders with disabilities are underemployed in NZ.

"If we were to get those 88,000 people into work we'd see more than a $1 billion boost to the NZ economy.

"The opportunity is real, it is sizeable, it is there for use to grasp."

SHARE ME

More Stories