Telecommuting can be solution for disabled

By Bob Mook
Fort Collins Coloradoan

Working from home sounds like an ideal arrangement for many people — no more commutes, pesky co-workers or hovering supervisors. It also gives employees more flexibility to balance personal demands with professional ones.

While those factors appeal to many workers, some believe working from home is especially beneficial to those with disabilities, particularly quadriplegia and mental illness.

"Any stigma or misperception is removed when you're working on the Internet," said Steve Sutter, owner of CreateAbility Concepts Inc., a Fort Collins, Colo., company that develops technology to help people with disabilities in educational and vocational settings.

Working from home helps disabled employees tailor their work environment to suit their needs, and affords them the flexibility to schedule physical therapy or medical appointments, Sutter said.

For some disabled people, the morning commute is a daily ordeal, said Mark Beck, a professional writer and quadriplegic who works from home. He has used a wheelchair since being injured in a skiing accident 13 years ago.

Routine tasks most people take for granted leave some disabled workers exhausted by the time they get to the office, he said.

Eliminating the commute allows disabled workers to focus on their jobs. And new advances in technology, such as voice screen readers and keyboards that don't require much motor-visual control, make tasks easier. Cheaper videoconferencing technology also makes it possible to supplement interaction with face-to-face meetings.

Employers who hire disabled telecommuters gain a highly motivated — and often highly educated — workforce, Sutter said.

Unfortunately, just as employers have been slow to accept telecommuting, they've been equally reluctant to make special exceptions for the disabled. A 2001 survey sponsored by AT&T found 28 million Americans worked from home. While that's 17 percent higher than the previous year, it's still a small fraction of the overall workforce.

Reg Foster, CEO of Golden, Colo.-based Alpine Access, relies almost entirely on telecommuters, many of them with disabilities. The company employs about 2,000 home-based agents who handle customer service calls over the Internet.

"Our clients obtain a more highly motivated person than the average person who works for a physical call center," Foster said. "This translates to better customer service."