Dr. Rosalyn Tamming:

One question that rears its head every now and again concerns the fact that although there are targets for public sector employment of people with disabilities, there are not targets for the private sector. There is always a bit of a debate and it dies down again. It certainly would not be popular with private sector employers. It would be difficult to monitor and could be seen as tokenism. In surveys and discussions with employers, if they are asked how many people with a disability work with them or how many who applied for jobs did not get them, the answer will often be that nobody who had a disability applied or that nobody who works in the company has a disability. There is so much hidden disability that it is likely there are people with disabilities who do not share that information. Even within the public sector, there can be a reluctance of people to share it, even though data are collected anonymously. If they share the fact they have a disability within their work, there is a perception they would be looked on unfavourably. It is an issue when people are applying for a job, whatever about when they have got into the job, if, when they are applying, they are seen to be somebody who is going to cost money or be more difficult to manage. There are some negative perceptions that need to be worked on with employers. As the Senator noted, when a case gets to the WRC, it is too late. It all needs to happen beforehand.