Melanie Guza from Open Door Group gives a presentation during the disabilities resource fair last week. Photo by Trevor Nichols
On September 24 two small rooms at the Oliver Community Centre hosted an open house that organizers hoped would mean big opportunities for attendees.
The 2015 Disability Resource Fair—hosted by the Open Door Group—aimed to connect people with disabilities to the myriad of organizations, programs and groups in the area that exist to support them.
“A lot of people feel stuck, feel like they don’t really know where to turn or where the support is. I’m hopeful that this event will just show people that there are a lot of free resources in this area,” said Melanie Guza, one of the organizers.
Open Door Group is a not-for-profit organization that provides a wide range of services aimed at helping people facing employment challenges find work. It provides specialized employment services on behalf of WorkBC.
About a dozen organizations set up booths at the job fair—everyone from the Red Cross to Elections Canada to the Neil Squire Society—and there were several presentations on topics like technology at work, banking options for people with disabilities and specialized employment services.
While the event featured examples of all kinds of support, it was the last topic that organizers worked particularly hard on to get the message out.
Guza is the associate program director of WorkBC in Oliver. Speaking to a group of about 20 people she explained that there are plenty of places in the workforce for people with disabilities
There are more than 546,000 people in BC over the age of 50 who identify as having a disability.
But Guza said that while the average cost of accommodating an employee with a disability is less than $500, the employment rate for people with disabilities is 18 percentage points lower than people without disabilities.
“We know that there’s an untapped market of a lot of qualified people out there who could be working, and sometimes the way that human resources structure their hiring it makes it very hard for people to get in who might need a small accommodation,” she said.
To combat that, WorkBC promotes inclusive hiring programs in the province. They reach out to employers and key them into the benefits of hiring an employee with a disability, and provide support for their clients once they enter the workforce.
“You’d be surprised actually, at the prevalence of disabilities. We always think of someone in a wheelchair when we think of somebody with a disability, but there’s a lot of hidden disabilities,” Guza said in an interview before her presentation.
“And sometimes people just need a little bit of support to get work, or their employer just needs to provide a minor accommodation and they’ll be just fine – they’ll be contributing like anyone else. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of change.”
Between the various speakers and presentations, a man, leaning back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other, strummed softly on a guitar.
Jeff Fenton has accessed some of the Open Door Group’s services in the past. He said providing background music for the open house was a great way for him to share his love of music, and that he was a big supporter of the Open Door Group because of the help it had given him.
“I’m happy to support such a great event,” he said.
And while Fenton was one of only a trickle of people who checked out last Thursday’s fair, Guza said the event was also an important way to connect organizations to each other, and spread the message of job support for people with disabilities to employers.
For more information, call the Open Door Group at 250-498-2911.
By Trevor Nichols
