Good evening ladies & gentlemen of the greater Kelowna business community and thank you for coming out tonight to hear us. 

At this point I would like to introduce myself to you.  My name is Michael Haines and I have cerebral palsy. 

Just one more piece of news before we start.  I know that my voice might be hard for those who have never met me.  I have brought a small piece of technology with me.  This machine will do the talking for me, as if I speak you will not be able to understand me as well.  I truly wish to be understood in all phases of my life.  Just one more accommodation I had to make, but it will be well worth it.   

Because of this physical challenge, the employers of the world were reluctant to offer me any sort of competitive employment in the open marketplace.  In fact, at one point in time I was told that I was unemployable.  I wish they could see me now.

However, tonight I’m not here to talk about my speaking services, I am here to tell you about my problems in finding employment in the greater work force, and then if we have time, I will get into my services that I can perform for you.

There is a Tim Hortons Operator in the Toronto area who has done a great job at hiring the disabled worker within his community.  I would like to let him speak in his own words as a proponent of hiring the disabled worker.

I’m a long-time Tim Hortons franchise owner with six restaurants in Toronto. Over the years, we’ve employed more than 125 employees with disabilities in meaningful and competitively paid positions. Today, 46 of our 250 employees identify as having a disability. These disabilities range from significant intellectual challenges to deafness, blindness, mental-health issues, physical disabilities and episodic disabilities such as multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy. They hold positions in our company ranging from entry level to senior management.

Recently, our company reached out to former Goodwill employees who had lost their jobs as that organization closed its doors in the Toronto region. These individuals are marginalized workers, and many have disabilities. We reached out to them because we know the massive barriers, they will face in finding new jobs.

The unemployment rate for Canadians with disabilities is somewhere between 60 per cent and 70 per cent. Officially, Statistics Canada says it’s about 50 per cent, but that doesn’t take into account the many Canadians who have no marketplace attachment, such as the four hundred and fifty thousand school graduates from the past five years who have disabilities and have never worked even a single day. (Of those, about 270,000 have a postsecondary education.) But they aren’t counted in unemployment numbers, so we know that the official numbers are conservative.

Imagine, then: If Canadians with disabilities who hold economics degrees and MBAs are unable to find work only because they have disabilities, what hope do the former Goodwill employees have in the search for new employment?

Our shout-out to the Goodwill employees went viral on social media. We received an enormous response. We will indeed be hiring some of those workers at our stores, but the most significant feedback I received was from other companies and corporations that said they had never thought about hiring a person with a disability. In 2016, I find that absurd and frustrating. It’s unacceptable.

More than 15 per cent of Canadians have a disability. Why do employers continue to ignore or fear such a large and untapped labour talent pool? How can an employer say they haven’t given much thought to this massive demographic group?

The answer is simple: Employers believe in a series of stereotypes, myths and misperceptions about including disabled people on their payrolls. They believe disabled employees will work slower and be less productive, need more time off, work less safely or be less innovative. Or that the accommodations required will be too expensive. These are all myths.

In fact, including workers with disabilities in real jobs with equal pay tends to have a direct and positive impact on a business’s profitability. Workers with disabilities are more productive, work more safely, stay longer, require less supervision, are more innovative and have less absenteeism.

In my business, for example, the absenteeism rate for my 46 employees with disabilities is 85 per cent lower than the 200 employees without disabilities. My annual employee turnover is 38 per cent, versus the 100-per-cent norm in the quick-service restaurant sector. I have never filled out a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claim for a workplace injury to a worker with a disability. And workers with disabilities have different problem-solving skills – and “different” is exactly how workplace innovation is bred.

This all adds up to an economic case. Being an inclusive employer has a major economic impact on a business once capacity has been built, yet most Canadian companies are still too fearful to hire a qualified, educated and skilled candidate who has a disability. They almost always choose the less-qualified and non-disabled applicant.

The economic impact to my business has been profound. Employee morale is higher overall – the turnover rate for my non-disabled staff is 55 per cent, just more than half the norm. And customers want to shop in retail outlets that are inclusive. That means more sales and more transactions.

Canadian businesses must realize that excluding the disabled, willfully or otherwise, is holding them back. A business cannot consider itself to be an outstanding employer if it excludes 15 per cent of the Canadian population.

There is one more compelling figure that should make companies want to get on board: Although 15.5 per cent of Canadians identify as having a disability, adding in those individuals’ direct family members brings the number of Canadians directly affected by disability to 53 per cent.  Now that is a figure no business can afford to ignore.

Let me move this to a personal story, then I will tell you how my company can help you today.

After several misstarts I was lucky enough to find a job at The Cerebral Palsy Association of Alberta, as the Public Relations Officer, which meant going out and giving talks to school age kids from Kindergarten to Pre-Med.  I spoke to well over 150 schools in 2 years, from all over the province.  It was truly an amazing experience.    

This gave me the confidence to open up my own speaking practice roughly 4 years ago.  Within that time frame I have spoken to numerous groups and businesses.  I have one deep burning belief that will follow me, and that is we all deserve quality customer service no matter if you arrive in a wheelchair or walk in your business, for the person that we serve is the customer.

I have spoken to many restaurants about how they can make their staff more aware of the needs of the challenged person entering their establishment. From how to greet the person on the phone, to ensuring that you have curb cuts to give the wheelchair user easy access to your building is very important

I have spoken to Kelowna Tourism on how they can make their guest with challenges feel much more valued as they embark on a stay in our beautiful city. I made several suggestions on how their facility could be more user friendly from a challenged persons perspective, and am happy to report that all my suggestions were carried out.  

I also wrote a book.  This was a true labour of love, and yes, I did have help. The book is called How to Serve Customers with Disabilities.   If I may, I would like to give you a real flavor for how this E book could help your business.

I believe every business should have this book as part of their training manual.

This is a very small part of the text contained in this E-Book.

Disabled – a physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s ability to engage in certain tasks or actions or participate in typical daily activities and interactions

                                                                                    Merriam Webster Dictionary

People often jump to all sorts of assumptions or negative conclusions about the words disability or “disabled”:

  • not able to do anything
  • need to be looked after
  • always needing help
  • unable to think or make decisions
  • unlovable, uninteresting, unmotivated

These negative statements are totally untrue, detrimental, discouraging and demoralizing.  Negative attitudes in your workplace can be a barrier to accessible customer service. I like to use the word “challenge”. Thinking of myself as “challenged” rather than “disabled” uplifts me. It gives me a positive outlook and motivates me to overcome life’s hurdles.  I try to uplift others and help them view their challenge as an opportunity, not something they lack.  

Speaking personally, my arms & legs do not allow me to run a race or play soccer. That doesn’t mean that I can’t go on a date, host a party or travel. I’ve been to Las Vegas & Cancun recently.

The use of the word “challenge” promotes a more inclusive society.  We all have our own challenges that life has dealt us.  For example, you might need glasses to read this document. It would be a challenge to try and read this article without glasses.

I look at people all day long – from the vantage point of my electric wheelchair.  I spend a lot of time at the mall across from my apartment.  I have come to recognize a lot of faces and I smile and talk and laugh with a lot of people.  I love to make people laugh. Many strangers have become my friends.

I think all people are miraculous, constantly evolving, changing, growing, learning. I am interested in people, not just people who are disabled or who have a challenge to deal with.  I ask lots of questions so that I can learn what makes people tick or what may be tough for them at the moment.

The reason I have chosen not to make this book a hard cover book is quite simple.  There are a number of hyperlinks in this document.  These hyperlinks open up the e-book in ways that bring the material to life.  I believe that we learn easier when we are shown how things work, and not told why things work, if you read this e-book and use the hyperlinks you will gain a real knowledge of how to serve customers with disabilities.

Another way I can serve you is by speaking to you and your staff about the interactions that they may have with your clients.  If you liked what I have done here tonight, then imagine what I could do with your staff.  Why don’t we talk afterwards and book a time for me to come and speak?  Just so you know, I don’t have a problem traveling. 

If you would like to contact me, please email me at mikehaines@telus.net

Once again thank you for coming out tonight to hear us.

Yours in service

Michael D. Haines