Myths & Facts About Workers with Disabilities

General Myths & Facts
Employment Myths & Facts
Some Myths about People with Mental Illness
Some Myths about People who are Deaf

General Myths & Facts

Myths	Facts
All people who use wheelchairs have the same disabilities.	People use wheelchairs for a variety of reasons: amputations, spinal cord injuries, degenerative diseases, strokes, etc.
People with disabilities always need expensive and high-tech assistive devices.	Many assistive devices that are most critical in helping people with disabilities live independently are inexpensive and as affordable as an eating utensil or a Velcro strap.
A person who is blind only sees darkness.	The majority of individuals who are blind have some useable vision. Many people who don't are able to distinguish lightness and darkness.
All people who are deaf can read lips.	Many people who are deaf are taught to read lips but it is difficult to become skilled at it, and even a skilled lip reader can only understand 30% of what is being said.
People who use wheelchairs cannot drive.	There are adaptive devices that can assist individuals who use wheelchairs in driving. Some of these devices include, but are limited to, hand-controlled accelerators and brakes, and hydraulic lifts for vans.
All people who are blind read Braille.	The type of alternate format for printed material is a personal preference. Only 8% of the overall population of people who are blind use Braille.
People who are deaf cannot drive.	People who are Deaf can drive, but are required to have an extra mirror on the passenger side of the vehicle.
All people who are blind use white canes or guide dogs.	The type of mobility aide a person uses depends on personal preference.

Employment Myths & Facts

Myths	Facts
Hiring persons with disabilities increases Workers Compensation Insurance rates.	Insurance rates are based solely on the relative hazards of the operation and the organization's accident experience, not whether workers have disabilities.
People with disabilities need to be protected from failing.	People with disabilities have a right to participate in the full range of human experiences including success and failure. Employers should hire persons with disabilities based on their qualifications to do the job, and they should have the same expectations of, and work requirements for, all employees.
It is expensive to accommodate employees with disabilities.	Most employees with disabilities require no special accommodations. Of those who do, over 65% cost less than $500. A full 15% of those cost nothing.
Employees with disabilities are absent more often from work than employees with disabilities.	Employees with disabilities are not absent any more frequently than their peers with disabilities.

Some Myths about People with Mental Illness

Did you know?

One in three persons in the U.S. experience mental illness at some time in their lives.
One in five Americans in any given 6-month period will have some form of mental illness.
One in four families in the U.S. is affected by mental illness.
Ten percent, or about 26,000,000 of all people in the U.S. are estimated to need treatment for a mental illness.
Mental illness is the #1 reason for all hospital admissions.
It is estimated that up to 20 percent of students entering college may need of mental health treatment.

Myth	Fact
People with mental illness are violent.	Only a small percent of people with mental illness are violent.
People with mental illness have a lower than normal IQ.	Most people with mental illness are of average intelligence, some have a lower than normal IQ, some higher than normal.
Mental illness is very rare and unusual.	Mental illness is neither new nor uncommon, being found all over the world.
People with mental illness who are psychotic are psychopaths.	When a person has a psychosis, he perceives reality in a distorted way. A psychopath commits antisocial acts mainly for emotional or material gain, and generally lacks a conscience.
Mental illness can be cured.	These illnesses cannot be cured, but can, for the most part, be controlled. People with a severe mental illness can expect to have problems to some degree for life.
Having schizophrenia means having a "split personality".	A "split personality" or multiple personality disorder, is a very different condition from schizophrenia.
Mental illness is contagious.	It is not.
The mentally ill are bad or evil.	The mentally ill are not bad or evil. They have done nothing to cause the disease. However, many people are ashamed to have mental illness in their families.
The mentally ill are morally weak.	People with mental illness cannot stop their illness by trying harder, just as someone with a hearing disorder cannot hear by listening harder.

Some Myths about People who are Deaf

Like all minority groups, deaf people suffer from stereotyping who don't know and understand them. A number of myths about deaf people circulate widely in our society and get in the way of understanding between hearing and deaf people.

Myth	Fact
All hearing losses are the same.	The single term deafness covers a wide range of hearing losses that have a very different effect on a person's ability to process sound and, thus, to understand speech.
All deaf people are mute.	Some deaf people speak very well and clearly; others do not because their hearing loss prevented them from learning spoken language. Deafness usually has little effect on the vocal chords, and very few deaf people are truly mute.
People with impaired hearing are "deaf and dumb".	The inability to hear affects neither native intelligence nor the physical ability to produce sounds. Deafness does not make people dumb in the sense of being either stupid or mute. Deaf people, understandably, find this stereotype particularly offensive.
All people use hearing aids.	Many deaf people benefit considerably from hearing aids. Many others do not; indeed, they find hearing aids to be annoying, and they choose not to use them.
Hearing aids restore hearing.	Hearing aids amplify sound. They have no effect on a person's ability to process that sound. In cases where a hearing loss distorts incoming sounds, a hearing aid can do nothing to correct this and may even make the distortion worse.
All deaf people can read lips.	Some deaf people are very skilled lip readers, but many are not. This is because many speech sounds have identical mouth movements. For example, p and b look exactly alike on the lips.
All deaf people use sign language.	Many deaf people, especially prelingually deaf people, use sign language. Many others do not. In addition there are several kinds of sign language systems.
Deaf people are not sensitive to noise.	Some types of hearing loss actually accentuate sensitivity to noise. Loud sounds become garbled and uncomfortable. Hearing aid users often find loud sounds which are greatly magnified by their aids, very unpleasant.
Deaf people are less intelligent.	Hearing ability is unrelated to intelligence. Lack of knowledge about deafness, however has often limited educational and occupational opportunities for deaf people.
Deaf people are alike in abilities, tastes, ideas and outlooks.	Deaf people are as diverse in their abilities, tastes, ideas, habits, and outlooks as any other large group of people.