| Name |
Myth |
Explanation |
| 1 |
A person with mental retardation cannot be trained to perform a job as well as an employee without a disability. |
Over two-thirds of the 4,000 participants in Pizza Hut, Inc.'s "Jobs Plus Program" are persons with mental retardation. The current turnover rate among these employees with disabilities is a modest 20% compared to the 150% turnover rate of employees without disabilities. This means a drop in recruitment and training costs. |
| 2 |
An individual with a psychiatric disability cannot work in a stressful environment where tight timelines have to be met. |
All individuals perceive stress differently and their responses vary. Some individuals with psychiatric disabilities perform effectively in jobs that require specific timelines and structure. |
| 3 |
There is no way that a wheelchair racer can compete with the world's best marathon runners. |
It takes a good runner over two hours to run a marathon. A competitive wheelchair racer can complete a marathon in less than one and a half hours. |
| 4 |
A person with a developmental disability and difficulty with fine motor control is unlikely to be able to handle complex operations on the production line of a manufacturing plant. |
A person with this combination of functional limitations was hired for a production line job. The job involved labeling, filling, capping, and packing a liquid product. The only accommodation supplied for the worker was the creation of a plywood jig. The jig enabled the worker to hold the bottle steady for correct labeling. |
| 5 |
It is unbelievable that a person with a double amputation can compete with the world's fastest 100-meter dash runners. |
The world record is 9.9 seconds. A runner who is a double amputee ran the dash in 11.76 seconds, just 1.8 seconds off the world mark. |
| 6 |
People with severe disabilities can't compete in heavy duty weight lifting activities. |
A person with cerebral palsy has bench pressed weights in excess of 500 pounds. |
| 7 |
A person who is blind and has a missing right hand cannot perform a job as a machinist. |
The applicant lost his vision and right hand in Vietnam. He persuaded a community college to train him as a machinist and was finally given a job on a trial basis. From the very first day, he broke production records and caused others to do the same. His only modification was to move a lever from the right side of the machine to the left. |
| 8 |
Downhill skiers with one leg cannot really compete against racers with two legs. |
Top racers without disabilities have been clocked at 80-85 miles per hour; downhill skiers with one leg have been clocked at over 74 miles per hour. |
| 9 |
It is unlikely that a man whose right leg is amputated six inches above the knee can perform the duties of a warehouseman that require loading and unloading trucks, standing, lifting, bending, and delivering supplies to various sections as needed. |
A person with this type of amputation was hired to work in a paper warehouse. He performed the job without any modification. He worked out so well that the company moved him to operating heavy equipment, a log stacker. The company did not have to make any accommodations . He was able to climb ladders and the heavy equipment without any problems. |