Inclusion in the company.Technologies at the service of the disability manager

By making the most of every resource, the disability manager makes the company as a whole more efficient and competitive.Some technologies can facilitate this.

• The disability manager is the professional figure who creates the conditions for a disabled person to fit profitably into the company.
• This task becomes easier thanks to the wide range of technologies and services available to businesses.
• Valuing each person with their disability, and not "despite" their disability, benefits the organization as a whole.

What is the use of a disabled person in the company? The question is deliberately provocative, almost incorrect, but it can serve as a stimulus for broader reflection.Because the laws in force limit themselves to requiring companies with more than fifty employees to reserve some jobs for the so-called protected categories, but they say nothing about the added value of these resources.Discovering it, and highlighting it, is the task of disability manager.Which can now also count on the precious support of technologies.

What does the disability manager do?

The disability manager in Italy it is a rather new professional figure.In the public administration it began to be talked about in 2009, but it was formally established by the Jobs Act of 2015.His task?Create the right conditions for a disabled person to fit profitably into the company.The “how” depends on the specific context, because companies are not all the same, and neither are people.

As is clear from the name, it is one managerial figure.This means that it must know the needs, processes and objectives and choose the right people who can take care of them, interfacing with various interlocutors.For example, it is up to him to follow the insertion of the disabled person in the company, make sure that the workplace is accessible and equipped with all instruments necessary.Like any manager, he must measure the results of all these activities and any investments made:and it must do so by choosing the right parameters (what in company jargon are called kpi, key performance indicators).

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Technologies to break down barriers

Breaking down obstacles, creating what the English would call a level playing field, allows disabled people to express their potential.To the benefit of their own performance at work, but also of the company as a whole.

Any examples?When it comes to architectural barriers it comes naturally to think of stairs, doors that are too narrow, entrances without ramps.In this hyperconnected society, in reality, digital barriers are as important as physical ones.Let's think for example about how frequent, and indispensable, the conference calls for anyone who does an office job.

For a deaf person they can be an insurmountable obstacle:So this is where an app like this comes into play Pedius, capable of transforming voice into text and text into voice in real time, thanks to artificial intelligence.By actively participating in the conversation, the person makes a real contribution without the need for mediation.Colleagues, for their part, knowing his disability activate that emotional intelligence that leads them to respect shifts and times, avoiding overlapping.

The added value of disabled people in the company

If with the right degree of empathy it is all in all quite simple to identify with a motor or sensory disability, the issue becomes more complex when the neurodivergences.All those conditions in which the brain functions differently compared to the standard fall under this umbrella term:invisible from the outside, but very impactful on daily life.

The disability manager has the task of creating an environment in which that specific person is able to express their skills profitably and, why not, authentic satisfaction.Also in this case there are support services. Work-Aut, for example, it is a cooperative that develops ad hoc training and apprenticeship projects for people autistic.An approach light years away from welfare, because it directs each person towards those activities for which they are best suited;be it quality control of goods, packaging, maintenance and so on.The company, therefore, requests a certain service and has the guarantee that an already established team will carry it out.

Even a specific learning disorder like the dyslexia, usually experienced as a setback at school level, can become invaluable at work when there is a need to think outside the box to find creative ideas.It is no coincidence that the British entrepreneur Richard Branson, founder (among others) of Virgin Group, defines it as his “superpower”.

This is precisely the task of the disability manager: valorise every person with their disability, and not “despite” his disability.This benefits the organization as a whole which, in doing so, is led to look at the world with different eyes, develop emotional intelligence and broaden its horizons.