Home  -   About Us  -  Organizations  -  Relevant Links  -  Feedback < Back to Employer Resources > Facts About Disabled Workers Barriers to people with disabilities entering the mainstream of work are perpetuated through myths and stereotypes. To set the record straight, here are three facts from the President's Committee on the Employment of Persons with a Disability in the United States: Myth 1: A person with mental retardation cannot be trained to perform a job as well as a person without a disability. Fact 1: More than two-thirds of 4,000 participants in a Pizza Hut jobs programme in the United States are people with mental retardation. The current turnover rate among these employees is 20 percent, compared with 150 percent turnover for employees without disabilities. This modest turnover translates into a significant drop in recruitment and training costs. Myth 2: A person whose leg has been amputated six inches above the knee cannot load and unload trucks or deliver supplies to various sections of a warehouse. Fact 2: A person with this type of amputation was hired to work in a paper warehouse. He performed the job with no accommodation. He worked out so well that the company moved him to a position in which he operated heavy equipment. He was able to climb ladders and use the equipment with no problems. Myth 3: A person who is blind and is missing his right hand cannot perform a job as a machinist. Fact 3: A man who lost his vision and right hand in Vietnam persuaded a community college to train him as a machinist and was given a job on a trial basis. From his first day on the job, he broke production records and inspired other workers to do the same. The only accommodation required was moving a lever from the right side of the machine to the left. Read the full article Untapped Talent from http://www.staffingtoday.net/memberserv/0301ss/story2.html. Back to top