Hiring people with disabilities should be part of business diversity initiatives

From the intro to The Toronto Star story Sept. 27:

The gourmet sandwiches are mounded elegantly, the conversation is low but intense, the dress strictly business. In a classy Bloor Street hotel, some 100 Ontario university students with disabilities are schmoozing with 50 corporate connections to high-power careers in finance, technology and human resources.

This is networking at its best.

As the group drifts into the adjacent room for a short panel discussion, only one person is missing. Rich Donovan (pictured), the 33-year-old Newmarket whiz kid who has taken Manhattan by storm, is stuck in traffic on his way from the airport. He arrives just in time to say a few words and, suddenly, if you ever had any doubts, you know how different this evening is going to be.

Donovan clearly has cerebral palsy. It is also abundantly clear that he couldn't be more comfortable in his own body. Striped shirt open casually at the neck, tailored jacket lying easily across his shoulders, the former Merrill Lynch trader and founder of not-for-profit employment specialist Lime Connect is out to do nothing less than rebrand disability.

The current brand, rooted in medical terms and do-gooder expressions of pity, "is so negative, it's radioactive," he tells his audience. "Nobody wants to come near it." The result is "a mainstream view that people with disabilities are unable to produce and must be cared for."

Lime's approach? "Simple," Donovan says. "Kill the current brand with quality." Get the message out that "people with disabilities can, and will, deliver."

For companies, he has a few added thoughts. Give disability its rightful place when it comes to diversity recruiting. Remember that the world market represented by disabled people is 1.2 billion, roughly the size of China. Hiring employees who represent major markets is good business, particularly when employers are expected to face a shortage of skilled workers by 2020.

"Rich puts everything together," says Tej Singh Hazra, manager of corporate diversity and inclusion at IBM Canada. "He does a great job."

IBM is just one of the heavy hitters at Lime's upscale recruitment evening. PepsiCo, BMO Financial, Scotiabank and TD Bank Financial have all sent teams to talk to the students, who are studying everything from finance and human resources to journalism.