Be more "aggressive" about RTW, says Music Within expert

Employers must be "aggressive" when it comes to getting injured workers back on the job and workers with disabilities in the roles in which they'll flourish, according to internationally renowned RTW expert, Dr Richard Pimentel. He told the Comcare conference in Melbourne this week that there were "no good jobs for people with disabilities, but people with disabilities who do good jobs".

Music WithinEmployers, he said, should not match a disability with a job, but match the person with a job and then help them through any difficulties they might have.

Pimentel, an American whose life was captured in the 2007 film, Music Within, suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost most of his hearing while fighting in the Vietnam War. He also suffers from the effects of exposure to Agent Orange - a herbicide used by the US military in the war to defoliate bushland and deprive enemy soldiers of cover.

When he returned home from the war his military rehabilitation counsellor refused to support his desire to go to university, and gave him "every reason in the world" why he couldn't succeed and "shouldn't even try".

"This man knows a lot about my disability, but he doesn't know anything about me," he thought at the time.

Later, through his close friendship with a man with cerebral palsy, Pimentel realised that people with disabilities had few employment opportunities and limited access to public facilities, and began to lobby for disability rights, becoming a strong advocate for the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was enacted in 1990.

He also developed training programs to help employers integrate people with disabilities into the workplace.

Pimentel told the conference that it was a myth that managers were reluctant to hire people with disabilities because they lacked confidence in their capacity to perform a role.

"Employers lack confidence in their own ability to work with them," he said. Leaders must be trained to fill the "holes in their knowledge" on disability management.

Pimentel stressed, however, that when considering a job applicant with a disability or returning an injured employee to work, it was critical to think of the person and their goals first, and the disability or injury second.

"There's nothing wrong with people with disabilities, there's just something wrong with the way you react to them," he said.

"The shortest distance between where someone with a disability is and where they want to go is a road illuminated by their own dreams, not the dreams we have for them."

The success of workers with a disability or injury was assured if employers "are aggressive, proactive and care about them".

Source: OHS Alert
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