Labor shortage calls for more jobs for people with disabilities
When Shannon Maher first started working for ComEd right after graduating from college, she admits to “trying to conceal who I was.”
But then she quickly realized “I needed to embrace that I was a female with a disability who can add value” to the workplace.
The 29-year-old Aurora woman was born with a form of cerebral palsy that causes spasms in her legs from the waist down. That means she relies on a wheelchair when at work or in the community. It’s also meant seven operations and ongoing injections to keep leg muscles from “over-firing” and ease the pain that seems to intensify as she grows older.
But except for that brief period of uncertainty as a young new employee, Maher has never allowed those limitations to make her feel different or to slow her down, thanks in large part to her parents, Jeff and Jeanne Webster, who not only encouraged her to get up when she’d fall during T-ball or ballet but also taught her the importance of “advocating for myself.”
The Naperville Central/Marquette University grad also is using those “adapt and overcome” experiences to her advantage as the recruiting specialist with Exelon by helping others with physical disabilities seek employment opportunities.
And what better time to do that than now, the 2016 Ms. Wheelchair Illinois told me when we spoke in the closing days of National Disability Employment Awareness Month
— and at a time when there’s a labor shortage across the country.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, there are more than 10 million vacant jobs in this country. Yet, noted Maher, 68% of the 61 million people with disabilities nationwide are looking for employment, men and women with plenty of skills but who are not connected to the job options available in the community.
While most businesses are becoming more committed to diversity, to equity and to inclusion, too often those “buzzwords don’t apply to the disabled,” who continue to still be overlooked, she said. Which is why Exelon, she said, is among a growing number of corporations “trying to bridge that gap.”
Hiring the disabled makes so much sense, insisted Maher, who relies not only on her own personal experiences but also as a leader with groups like Exelon’s ENABLED, which networks with other partners seeking more education, awareness and action.
For one thing, she told me, because of all the ways they have had to navigate through life, the disabled are the “most adaptable employees,” which has become more critical since the pandemic changed the structure of the workplace.
“We are used to having to figure it out, to be innovative and to be flexible when things don’t go perfectly right,” Maher said. “That’s why those with disabilities tend to thrive in work environments and take the lead.”
The problem is, she added, many disabled people feel limited by government subsidy programs that make it difficult to work full-time. Plus, many are not seeking higher education because there’s no vested interest in meeting their needs or connecting them with college services for the disabled.
“So they get put off to the side and get discouraged,” Maher said.
That’s why more business-to-business networking is needed, she noted, and why Exelon is ramping up its recruiting strategy for the summer of 2022 and utilizing more partners to tap into an available talent pool.
All those Help Wanted signs mean the time is now, insisted Maher. “Companies want to hire those with a disability because they are realizing what they can bring to the table.”
It’s a message she promotes whenever possible.
Maher did not capture the Ms. Wheelchair America title when she competed in 2017 at the Pennsylvania pageant. But she did win Best Platform, and guess what the topic was?
“The thing is, the disabled are not only the largest group of untapped talent out there,” Maher insisted, “it’s a group that transcends all minority groups and one that you can enter at any time in your life.”