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).

"It would be nice if we had the kind of government and managers that understand this concept so they'll be ready to employ (people) when and if (they) become disabled," she said.

Cohen said managers at both the public and private level need to prepare themselves to cope with an aging society and increased incidence of computer-related injuries and disabilities.

Cohen's CAP program is designed to eliminate barriers for the disabled and to increase the representation of the disabled in the Defense Department.

Last summer alone the Defense Department brought in 300 disabled individuals onto its staff, all selected from colleges throughout the U.S., she said.

At first, many managers are put off by the cost of hiring people with disabilities, Cohen said.

However, some 31 percent of the people with disabilities employed at the department cost the employer nothing in terms of funds requested to accommodate their disability, she said. A further 38 percent cost less than $500 per year.

The "rather elaborate" printer used by Cohen for her work costs more than the Braille printer used by her visually impaired colleague, she said.

Currently, as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Act established in the U.S. over a decade ago, five federal departments are utilizing a CAP program, Cohen said.

During a panel discussion titled "What we can learn from CAP," Keio University's Ikuyo Kaneko asked about the money required to operate CAP at the U.S. Defense Department.

Cohen said it amounts to some $2.6 million per year and is used to pay for accommodations needed by employees with disabilities.

She then added: "How much is the U.S. government paying to have people sit at home and do nothing? We are spending a lot of money for people to be unemployed or underemployed."

Also among the panelists was Nami Takenaka, head of officially recognized welfare corporation Prop Station, which provides seminars in Osaka and Kobe to equip the disabled with computer skills that will help them land jobs.