Managers who recruit disabled people and work to accommodate them not only tap an underused well of talent but simultaneously create an environment that will ease the transition of able-bodied workers should they fall victim to repetitive stress injuries or other perils of the modern office.
That was the message of a U.S. Defense Department official, who stressed the importance of supporting and employing the disabled by making the most of information technology, at the opening session Wednesday of a two-day U.S.-Japan symposium on IT and the disabled.
"The real leaders of tomorrow are the managers who understand how to take advantage of the technology we have at our fingertips and the population of disabled people," said Dinah Cohen, director of the U.S Defense Department's Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP).