The common refrain from some employers is that it just doesn't pay to hire people with disabilities. With that in mind, here are five myths that just aren't true when it comes to employing people with disabilities:

MYTH No. 1 - Workers compensation rates will go up for employers who employ people with disabilities.

FACT: Rates are based on relative hazards and accident experience not who is employed.

MYTH No. 2 - Absenteeism among the disabled who work is abnormally high.

FACT: According to former United States Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, DuPont found that 85 percent of the people they employ with disabilities had an average or above average attendance rate compared to people without disabilities.

MYTH No. 3 - It is too expensive to employ people with disabilities.

FACT: According to a “Working Trends” Report, 73 percent of employees with disabilities don't need a reasonable accommodation. What about those who do? What are the costs? According to one study, 20 percent of such reasonable accommodations cost nothing. Fifty percent cost less than $500. You know what the most asked for accommodations is by the way? A flexible work schedule - tell us what employer doesn't get similar requests from non disabled employees?

By the way there are a myriad of programs and tax deductions for those who hire people with disabilities that can offset these costs. Among them are: The Worker Opportunity Tax Credit, The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, The Veterans Job Training Act, The Disabled Access Credit, The Architectural/Transportation Tax Deduction, The Mentor-Protege Program, The Social Security Administration's Employment Network Cash Provision.

MYTH No. 4 - People with disabilities are harder to supervise.

FACT: According to a recent Harris Poll 82 percent of managers say that it is not harder to supervise people with disabilities.

MYTH No. 5 - People with disabilities are downers at work.

FACT: Sun Trust Bank, which has made it a point of hiring people with disabilities, may best show why this isn't true. “After hiring the first employee with a disability in his department, Sun Trust's manager found that employee morale and productivity had increased and there was a noticeable decrease in turnover,” according to Katherine O. McCary of Sun Trust Bank Mid-Atlantic.

So even if dispelling these myths were not enough, what else should convince the business community to employ people with disabilities? How about the bottom line?

According to the Center for Workforce Preparation, people with disabilities have $1 trillion in income, $220 billion of that is discretionary. We know that many businesses focus on the teen demographic, because they have $140 billion in discretionary income, people with disabilities more than one and a half times that much to spend.

With all that in mind, it is simple - hiring people with disabilities makes economic sense and is the right thing to do.

Thought of The Day:

“Good attitudes are contagious; employing people with disabilities generates good will and fosters positive attitudes among co-workers and customers. Hiring people with disabilities contributes to workforce diversity, which, in turn, contributes to the bottom line.”

- Former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman

Amanda Derby is the housing advocate for Options for Independence, located at 75 Genesee St., Auburn. She can be reached at 255-3447