A vision impairment made it difficult for Nancy Suarez Lee to drive to work every day, so her husband worked it into his schedule to drive her to the office. The only trouble was that his work hours were different from hers. Fortunately, Lee’s employer, Verizon, was willing to accommodate a schedule change. In addition, Verizon has provided her with special computer monitors, screen reader software, and other equipment she needs to do her job. When she travels, Verizon does not hesitate to pay for car services or taxis.

Thanks to her initiative and Verizon’s support, Lee moved during the past nineteen years from an entry level clerk position to her current job as director of international human resources at Verizon’s offices in Irving, Texas. “They have always, without a pause, helped me,” says Lee. She now advises the company on disability issues as head of the policy committee of the Disabilities Issues Awareness Leaders, an employee resource group. Recently, she tested a Verizon website for accessibility from a vision perspective. “At a company like Verizon, it’s not about your disability. It’s about your ability,” she says.

Nancy Suarez Lee	Photo by Christian Peacock	Isela Luevano

Breaking down the barriers in everyday life is a constant challenge for Latinas with disabilities in the workforce. Many disabled Latinas face not just physical barriers, but prejudice, ignorance, and even fear on the part of employers. As a result, disabled Latinos, often with less education, face higher rates of unemployment than other disabled Americans and non-disabled Latinos.
In the mid 1990s, the United States Census Bureau reported that 51.9 percent of Latinos with disabilities, and 75.4 percent of Latinos with severe disabilities, were not working. Those who are employed are often under-employed in low-paying jobs.
The reasons for this bleak picture are complex: they include discrimination, lack of affordable and accessible education, inadequate transportation and housing, lack of mentors, and lack of support from community organizations, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Labor. Yet changing attitudes towards diversity and disability, and a growing commitment from government and corporations like Verizon to open the workforce to all people, is helping to turn this around. Outreach to people with disabilities in Latino communities is also helping. Women like Nancy Suarez Lee, who show both courage and competence, are setting examples of what is possible. To others who are in her shoes, Lee advises: “Don’t hold back. Go for whatever it is you truly want to do. Don’t lower your expectations.”
Not that it’s ever easy. “As a person with a disability, I’ve always felt people’s attitudes are our biggest barrier. People are afraid. Disabilities provoke a lot of fear within people,” says Kathy Martinez, executive director of the World Institute on Disability, the nonprofit research, training, and public policy center promoting the civil rights and social inclusion of people with disabilities, in Oakland, CA. Like many disability advocates, Martinez, who was born with congenital blindness, speaks from experience.
In 2001, the World Institute on Disability launched Proyécto Vision, a national initiative to connect disabled Latinos to employment. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration, Proyécto Vision developed a toll-free hotline providing information to jobseekers, and a website with news, resources, employment opportunities, and many success stories. An annual job conference and regional trainings about disability awareness for recruiters and large companies are also helping to change attitudes.
Supporting young Latinas with disabilities as they move into adulthood is the focus of Eleanor Gil-Kashiwabara, a clinical psychologist at Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute for Human Services in Oregon. Pursuing a career is full of pitfalls for anyone, but a young Latina with a disability faces “a triple whammy,” says Gil-Kashiwabara, who is conducting a study on adolescent Latinas with disabilities transitioning to adulthood.
To find participants for her project, entitled “Helping All Latinas Achieve (HALA),” Gil-Kashiwabara went to local schools to find Latinas in Special Education classes, but she couldn’t find any girls. She saw that many Latino families don’t know the educational services exist. Immigration status and language barriers also deter families from seeking help. “The services are not set up to reach Latinas. Latinos don’t know how to access services,” she says.
As a result, many young Latinas with depression, ADHD, or physical disabilities, are not getting the support and training they need; instead, they encounter failure. Through the study, she hopes to better understand how to help young Latinas with disabilities succeed in school and the workplace.
Often, Latinos want to protect and care for a family member, and don’t feel comfortable getting help or encouraging their independence. Independent living services for disabled Latinas need to consider the cultural differences, says Gil-Kashiwabara and others. While American values promote independent living, Latinos with disabilities may prefer to live at home, but still contribute to the household income. “Latinos have the same goals, but with a slightly different meaning,” says Gil-Kashiwabara. “Family is so core to their lives.”
Like many in her field, Gil-Kashiwabara recommends that young women find mentors in their field to show them how to move forward in their lives and careers.
In the workplace, the outlook may be improving for minority employees with disabilities. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, which protects the civil rights of people with disabilities, does not allow employers to ask about disability when hiring, so companies cannot recruit people with disabilities. However, many large corporations, such as IBM, Merck, and Sodexho, are actively trying to integrate people with disabilities in their workforces.
It’s to a company’s advantage to have a disability-friendly workplace, say advocates. Hiring a person with a disability can help improve company morale, according to Jonathan Kaufman, 34, founder of Disabilityworks, Inc., a strategy and consulting firm that helps corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions create disability-friendly work environments. He sees the disabled population as an “untapped resource” for employers, and urges companies to see the many ways they can be integrated into the workplace. People with disabilities are used to being flexible, a quality that helps in the workplace, says Kaufman.
Companies are discovering that a diverse workforce is good for business. Verizon, a leader in serving customers with disabilities, is nationally recognized for cultivating employees with disabilities. “We try to create a workplace that celebrates differences,” says Magda Yrizarry, vice president of Workplace Culture, Diversity and Compliance at Verizon.
The company partners with Hispanic student organizations and colleges, as well as disability groups, to find talented recruits. Providing assistive devices such as magnification productions, sign language interpreters, and amplifiers is another way Verizon supports employees. The telecommunications giant also runs employee resource groups both for Hispanics and workers with disabilities.
To undertake a successful job search, Latinas with disabilities need to know their rights, and arm themselves with a little savvy. “Focus on your strengths, not your disability,” advises Kaufman, who was born with cerebral palsy and never let it slow him down. When you first go into a job interview, Kaufman advises, emphasize what you are able to do and what you can offer the company. You aren’t required to disclose your disability. If your disability is obvious, then you might want to explain that you can do the job with some accommodation, he says. Otherwise, there is no need to mention it until the application process develops or you get a job offer.
An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodation, which means an adjustment in the job or workplace, allowing the employee to apply for the job and work just like every employee. This might be a computer with large print, a lower or higher desk, a buzzer for a phone, or schedule changes, such as a shorter workday or more frequent breaks. The average cost of a job accommodation is only about $500, and some are much less. Fast computers and broadband connections are becoming less expensive and more reliable, making it easier for people with vision loss, spinal chord injuries, or even panic attacks to work from home.
Often it is a simple mix of personal determination and necessity that drives women to overcome the challenges of a disability and succeed in their careers. Mary Rios’ oldest son, who is now 25, cannot remember when his mother was able to walk and play tennis. He is used to her driving sixty miles to work in her Ford Econo van, shopping, relaxing in the park, and keeping their family going. Maybe that’s because she makes everything look easy, even when it isn’t. Like many Latinas with disabilities, Mary Rios, who lives in Southern California, never slows down. Instead, the challenges she faces every day just make her try harder.
Rios was a 29-year-old single mother with four children when an accident nine years ago resulted in paraplegia. She didn’t have time to go into mourning over her sudden disability. “I had to go on for the kids,” she says. Still, it was “starting from scratch again,” said Rios, who had worked at a textile company for ten years.
Rios’s life changed after she learned about the Southern California Community Rehabilitation Services, an independent living center in Downey, offering practical assistance to people with disabilities. Rios started rolling her wheelchair a mile each way to the center, where she learned ways to make her life easier, such as using paratransit services to get her to the doctor or supermarket. She was introduced to assistive technology, like reaching tools to pull food cans out of the kitchen cabinet, to make daily chores easier. To make her home accessible, Rios installed ramps and wider doorways. A personal attendant assisted her, until Rios “got creative” and learned how to do daily tasks on her own.
Soon, Rios began volunteering at the center in order to help others with disabilities. Her boss, who had a more severe disability, was an inspiration. Within eight years, Rios moved from volunteer receptionist at the center to executive director. She started support groups and translated information for underserved disabled populations, especially Latinos who did not speak English. Today, Rios provides advocacy services for disabled clients at Protection and Advocacy Inc., in Los Angeles. Her plans for the future include learning Sign Language and attending law school.
For one young Latina, it was her energy, enthusiasm, and a willingness to take on new responsibilities that drove her to succeed. Broadcast journalist Isela Luevano grew up in Downey, California, in a Mexican-American family, the oldest of three daughters.
Although she was born with cerebral palsy, Luevano, 30, does not identify herself as having a disability. Only her walk is affected. “I don’t need any kind of special accommodation. My regular day to day life is normal. I lucked out,” she said. After high school, Luevano took a course in radio broadcasting, and went straight to work at a Spanish-language radio station.
Before long, she had jumped from production assistant to newscaster. From there, she was recruited to a radio news service. From the start, her bosses encouraged her to use her talents. She won several scholarships and internships through the National Association for Hispanic Journalists, including a summer stint at National Public Radio in Washington, DC. At the same time, she got her degree at California State University at Fullerton.
Accomplishments like these show that with the right support from families, communities and the workplace, disabled Latinas are making it happen!