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Tips in Interviewing People with Disabilities

Mesriani_Law_Group | May 13, 2010 |

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Getting a stable job serves as an assurance of financial stability for someone, especially if that person has an obligation to his family and relatives. That is why no matter what a person's current state is, whether he's perfectly fine or has a medical condition that needs medication, he will still seek for a job that will help perform that obligation.

People with disabilities are no exception. If back in the day, those who are blind, deaf or mute have a feeble chance of landing a job, they are now backed by laws that allow them to get a decent job. The Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA, along with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, makes it illegal for employers to deny employment to disabled people without justifiable cause. The law also gives the disabled the right to enjoy telecommunication services, public accommodation, and government services.

Nowadays, there are companies that employ disabled applicants. A disabled person may have talents that could benefit the company just like a normal employee can. Employing people with disabilities may give a wide range of applicants for the company's job vacancies, improve the company's services by having a wider range of user experience that are based on the disabled people's perspective, and avoid unnecessary charges of discrimination.

The interview is an important process in hiring a new employee. Here are some tips on how to interview a disabled applicant:

Ensure that the company's employment procedure complies with ADA, which prohibits asking disability-related questions during pre-employment. Ask only questions that are related to the position being applied for.
Accommodate the applicant during the interview. Provide help if necessary, like getting a translator for a mute applicant. Necessary accommodations should be provided unless it presents difficulty.
Make the applicant feel relaxed. The interviewer should focus on the applicant, not on his disability. Concentrate on his technical or professional knowledge, abilities, work experiences, and interests.

Respect the applicant and his condition, like how a normal applicant without a disability is treated. Think of all the applicants as equal; do not give them special treatment just because they are disabled.
Describe effectively what the job is about so that the applicant will know whether he can do it with or without reasonable accommodation. The interviewer can ask how the candidate will perform his task through description, as long as the other applicants will be asked to do it too.