Category: Accessibility-Featured

Featured Accessibility content

Is Your Business’s Online Job Search Process Accessible for People With Disabilities?

Posted on by Daniel Golden

By Charles Catherine | Essential Accessibility Blog | October 28th, 2021

 

Close-up of a computer mouse clicking on a link titled "Jobs"

 

If you look around your neighborhood these days, chances are you will see a lot of “help wanted” signs dotting the business landscape.

As we repeatedly hear, a labor shortage is gripping our nation and employers are struggling to find people wanting a job.

But below the surface is another story. People with disabilities say they want to apply for job openings but often can’t get past the application or interview process. Many online applications are not accessible to screen readers, for instance, and captioning isn’t always available during online job interviews. This leaves many people with disabilities discouraged and unable to even take the first step toward employment.

 

Is your application process accessible?

 

In some ways, it’s a real paradox. More and more companies are committed to providing accommodations for their employees with disabilities, making sure they have the technology necessary to work remotely, for example, yet the application process may be riddled with online barriers, preventing these individuals from even applying in the first place.

At the National Organization on Disability, we understand it is not always easy for companies to know everything involved with recruiting and hiring people with disabilities. Adding to the complexity, many people are not likely to disclose a disability during the application process, for fear of discrimination. And they have good reason to feel that way: a Rutgers University study found that employers expressed interest in candidates 26 percent less often if they disclosed a disability in their cover letter.

NOD, whose mission is to make sure all Americans can work, would love it if the current underemployment situation became a boon for people with disabilities. However, only 36 percent of people with disabilities who can work have found jobs in the current economy. This is compared to an average of about 76 percent for their able-bodied peers, according to a recent report.

But we can turn this statistic around. As the saying goes, we don’t know what we don’t know. Companies may need outside help to open up their online employment process to everyone. They also might consider reevaluating their disability inclusion programs.

 

Track your website’s accessibility

 

NOD’s  Disability Employment Tracker allows companies to see where they stand against their own disability benchmarks and against those of other companies. We have found that 72 percent of those who have completed the Tracker have a website that is accessible. That is a good beginning but leaves room for improvement when it comes to other digital assets like recruiting sites and accommodations during the interview process.

 

Here are some ideas for businesses as they consider their online hiring practices:

 

  • Assign a disability champion who makes sure digital accessibility is a priority
  • Closely examine (and test) all of your digital properties to make sure they are accessible
  • Provide disability inclusion training for the HR team and others
  • Think about whether your presentations, videos, website, online job application, and interview process are all accessible
  • Designate a point person for prospective employees if they have questions or difficulties applying or interviewing for a job
  • Be certain your onboarding materials are accessible once someone is hired

You should also ask yourself a few questions:

  • Is our website compatible with screen readers?
  • Do we have an accessible landing page specifically for job seekers with disabilities?
  • Do we use plain language in all of our job postings and messaging?
  • Are we including captioning on videos and during online interviews?
  • Do we have access to sign language interpreters?
  • Do we have proper accommodations for online interviews with neurodiverse candidates?

 

By making sure the online application and interview processes are inclusive to people with disabilities, companies will tap into a greater pipeline of talented job candidates, and by doing so, change the culture of their workforce for the better. And while this is a great conversation to have as we close out National Disability Employment Awareness Month, it’s the NOD’s hope that finding ways to help people of all abilities easily apply for a job becomes an ongoing discussion.

4 Ways Telehealth Is Changing Healthcare Consumer Behavior for the Better

Posted on by Daniel Golden

Virtual care has the potential to address inequities, inconveniences and public health risks if access continues to grow and evolve, a PwC study finds.

Posted July 21st, 2020 | By Brian Eastwood

 

Data from the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that U.S. consumers made a massive shift to telehealth. What’s more, a majority of new adopters want to keep using it in the months ahead.

Five percent of Americans have used telehealth for the first time since the onset of COVID-19, according to a report from the PwC Health Research Institute, which surveyed more than 2,500 consumers in early April.

Applied to the entire U.S. population, that equates to more than 16 million Americans, the consultancy estimates. Moreover, nearly 9 in 10 survey respondents said they would be willing to use telehealth again.

Data from other sources paints a similar picture:

  • The nonprofit claims analysis group FAIR Health reported a dramatic increase in telehealth claims from private insurance — more than 4,300 percent from March 2019 to March 2020, and more than 8,300 percent from April 2019 to April 2020.
  • Medicare claims for telehealth jumped 11,000 percent from early March 2020 to mid-April 2020, according to federal data.
  • Forrester predicts that there will be more than 1 billion telehealth visits in the U.S. this year, even though only 24 percent of healthcare organizations had an existing virtual care program as of January.

As healthcare organizations begin to resume operations and provide both urgent and elective care, leaders need to prepare for a future where telehealth plays an increasingly important role.

Despite its quick and often successful growth, telehealth will face new challenges. A Commonwealth Fund analysis suggests that telehealth use started to plateau in May as hospitals reopened, although the service remains far more popular than before.

In addition, relaxed telehealth restrictions during the pandemic — such as interstate licensure, reimbursement rates and limits on which services were covered — may be put back in place when the national public health emergency is lifted.

However, findings from the PwC report indicate that consumer behavior amid the pandemic will impact healthcare organizations in four key ways — and telehealth is positioned to guide the response.

  1. Reduce gaps in care: Nearly 1 in 3 consumers plan to spend less on healthcare services as a result of COVID-19, primarily by skipping visits, PwC found. And more than 1 in 5 consumers plan to spend less on medications, either by skipping doses or not taking medications at all. These actions all have negative health impacts and lead to increased spending on high-acuity care. Virtual visit technology enables consumers to see physicians or nurses from the safety of their homes, while medication adherence tools help consumers stay on track with reminders and refills.
  2. Manage chronic conditions: Of new telehealth users during COVID-19, PwC found that more than two-thirds had chronic conditions. Another 12 percent used telehealth to address their mental health needs, which are closely linked to chronic medical conditions. This shows the value of telehealth and remote monitoring technology in providing consistent care for consumers who often visit the doctor’s office — and must miss work or secure childcare — for routine consultations or vital-sign readings.
  3. Address social determinants of health: Survey respondents said COVID-19 heightened the impact of the nonclinical factors that influence their well-being: mental health, isolation, nutrition, employment, finances, exercise and more. Increased access to care via telehealth, available in part because of looser regulations, can help to address some of these concerns — but health systems should be prepared to invest in outreach and even put technology directly in the hands of consumers.
  4. Share critical information: PwC found that the likelihood of social distancing increases with age: 95 percent of Americans 65 and older were practicing social distancing, compared with only 58 percent of those who are 18 to 24. Social distancing efforts also varied by ethnicity, according to the report. Although one’s employment, financial status and access to broadband internet all can impact social distancing, PwC suggested targeted electronic communications to different consumer segments — such as patient portal messages or app notifications — could help share important information to lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission.