More small businesses look to expand opportunities for disabled workers

On any weekday morning, Miles Thornback is working on marketing campaigns for real estate agents or dealing with tricky tech issues at the office.Thornback, who has cerebral palsy, got hired three years ago at the RE/MAX Prestige real estate agency in Costa Mesa, Calif., after the owners heard that he’d spent six years applying for jobs at hundreds of companies and finding nothing but negative mindsets.Many small business owners are open to hiring or specifically recruit people who have disabilities, sometimes because they want to expand the opportunities for people with talent and skills but who can’t find jobs. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities who want to be hired is 8 percent, more than twice the national average.“I think a lot of people assume that if you’re disabled, you can’t work,” says Thornback, 36, who uses a wheelchair.While some jobs he applied for would have required him to do errands, which he couldn’t have done, at many places he never got a clear explanation of why he wasn’t considered. In his job, he coordinates with real estate agents and data providers to create postcards and letters that advertise properties for sale.