Steve Hanamura is president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc. in Beaverton, Oregon, a firm he founded in 1986. Steve is a consultant, speaker, trainer and writer. He specializes in leadership development, diversity initiatives, team-building and organizational change. As a person with a disability (Steve is blind) he has a wealth of insights and experiences relating to issues of employment for people with disabilities. Steve kindly agreed to share some of his ideas for this issue of the OBLN newsletter.

OBLN: Steve, I understand that, in addition to your other areas of expertise, you have been doing work with business on issues of employment for people with disabilities. Can you share some of your insights with us?

STEVE HANAMURA: Sure, we recently published a book called "I Can See Clearly". The purpose of the book was to help employers go beyond the compliance conversation and create opportunities for executives to learn some leadership strategies to better relate to people with disabilities. We wrote to a very specific group of leaders. They are executives who are willing to break through whatever personal barriers they have around people with disabilities, who are inquisitive people and willingly curious about all kinds of different things, and who have a true desire to transform their organizations. These qualities put these executives in a position to comfortably meet all kinds of people with all kinds of experiences. From there, we encourage these leaders to engage in activities with people with disabilities in the context of their communities, and to engage in creative conversations.

We are focusing in these "transformational leaders". Subsequently, they are then the ones who can then get to those business leaders who are resistant, scared or nervous, about hiring people with disabilities.

OBLN: So what you are suggesting to your audience is that they proactively engage in some personal contact with people with disabilities?

STEVE HANAMURA: Yes, in the bigger context, the organizations that are into serving their communities, as well as adding to their bottom line, are already doing acts of kindness or good stewardship. They are engaged in community-cleanups, holding Cinco de Mayo days, etc. but they are very rarely involved like that with people with disabilities. Disability needs to become an equal part of a company's diversity initiatives. Disability is still at the back of the Diversity Bus. It is still behind all the other dimensions of workforce diversity.

OBLN: Do you have any idea why Disability is at the back of the bus?

STEVE HANAMURA: Yes, disability is something that we can all identify with. If I am black and you are white, you are never going to be black. If I tell you I'm being followed home by a police officer or followed around in a grocery store, you are never going to be able to relate to that conversation as a white person. But, as an able-bodied person, you could become a person with a disability in a heartbeat. Because of this, it is a little scarier to embrace the Disability conversation. The way to deal with that is to not deal with it.

OBLN: That's interesting... because disability is possibly a personally imminent situation, you would think that people would relate to it more readily. Yet, you are suggesting that because of their fear of it, they are choosing to avoid it.

STEVE HANAMURA: Yes. Even though, in other ways, people are already in the disability conversation. As we age, there are some pieces of the aging process that can become disability situations. Also, all of us are encountering disability in our family lives – even if it is a temporary situation. It is really weird because we are all there within the disability experience yet we don't make the connection to embrace it and translate it into what is most viable for employees with disabilities.

OBLN: So Steve, am I correct that you believe that some of the reluctance and hesitancy in companies to employ folks with disabilities actually comes for personal discomfort within their leadership?

STEVE HANAMURA: Yes, that is why we are specifically targeting "transformational leaders" – people who are already comfortable with taking risks and getting creative. Middle managers are too often just squeezed between the demands of top management and the complaints from the people below. But once their executive leaders are behind it, everything can shake loose for the middle managers to be more proactive.

OBLN: What I am hearing you say is that your recommended strategies for these leaders around disability are also strategies that aren't really specific to disability; but strategies that, overall, make it a more inclusive organization for everybody.

STEVE HANAMURA: That is exactly right!

OBLN: Steve, based on your experience, what advice do you have for people with disabilities in relation to employment and career growth?

STEVE HANAMURA: First of all, there is hope. Don't give up. You have to do your work. You have to do stellar work at all levels – personally and professionally.

We sometimes feel we are entitled to some things. People with disabilities have to be careful not to overplay an "entitlement" conversation. The biggest nightmare for an employer is to hear an applicant with a disability or their job developer say "What job are you going to GIVE me?"

Learn how to talk about your disability to put other people at ease. You have a brief window of opportunity, when you first meet an employer, to help them relax about your disability. First impressions are real important.

Hang out with people other than your own disability group. We tend to cluster in our own groups. It tends to be uncomfortable to go outside of your comfort zone but it is important. Look for opportunities to hang out with people who you share interests with, not disability-focused, like sports or music. Join organizations that focus on those interests. When you start working together with folks on a common project, then people get to know you and you get to develop some skills. I joined the local American Society for Training and Development and it totally changed my career. Get involved with something – your church, knitting clubs, sports organizations – whatever interests you.

There is better receptivity to disability in the workplace than there used to be. We have made progress. Hang in there.

OBLN: Steve, do you have any final comments that you would like to make in relation to all of these issues?

STEVE HANAMURA: Sure. This is for both employers and people with disabilities who are working to change things:

1. Don't be afraid to ask for help from others. (I think we try to do these things by ourselves.)

2. Keep hope. There is hope.

3. Everybody is going to have to work hard because it means stretching and growing.