Employees with Disabilities Bring Creativity, Know How to Navigate Adversity

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An untapped resource. That’s how Theo Braddy describes the undersized role people with disabilities play in the United States workplace.

“To navigate through a world that was not built for you calls for a lot of creativity, a lot of resources, and a lot of spontaneity and ingenuity,” Braddy said. “And aren’t those things that any employer wants?”

Braddy would know. Disabled since suffering an injury playing football at age 15, he’s spent his adult life navigating that “world that was not built for” him and has become one of the country’s most celebrated champions for the disabled.

Braddy’s visit to Capital Blue Cross in 2023 – hosted by Capital’s Ability Beyond Disability Employee Resource Group (ERG) – focused on the varied benefits those with disabilities bring to employers.

His impassioned points made perfect sense to Patti Karper, Capital Blue Cross Vice President of Health Plan Operations and the executive sponsor of the Ability Beyond Disability ERG.

“Individuals with disabilities make great employees, and we focus on hiring talented people based on their capabilities,” Karper said. “We see beyond the disability, which is also why we named our ERG ‘Ability Beyond Disability.’ ”

Steps Employers Can Take to Be Inclusive

Braddy advises employers to actively include those with disabilities by:

• Making inclusion training a priority.
• Supporting local and national disability groups or other marginalized groups by sponsoring and volunteering.
• Attending diversity-focused conferences.
• Most importantly, interacting with people with disabilities. “Talk with them,” Braddy said, “not about their disabilities, but about everyday life.”
• Following Capital Blue Cross’ lead and form an ERG open to all employees so they can understand and support the unique abilities of people with disabilities.

The bottom line is that employees with disabilities are good for – well, the bottom line, Braddy said.

“They stick to projects, and bring a creativity that comes from their lived experience,” he said. “They make their co-employees more productive because they learn from each other, so become less narrow-minded.

“We (people with disabilities) successfully deal with adversity every single day. To have that at the table (in the workplace), an on-tap resource that people don’t really take advantage of, it makes sense.”

(For more health and wellness news and information that can benefit your business and employees, visit thinkcapitalbluecrossLink.com.)