In any business, large or small, our people are our most treasured asset. An inaccessible workplace holds back a large percentage of our workforce – nearly 1 in 4 people have a disability – from reaching their full potential and contributing to company success. Furthermore, low accessibility is a hidden barrier not only for disabled people, but for your entire team.
Consider this question: Is your company, business, or workplace accessible?
You might be thinking, well of course it is! Your Human Resource and Information Technology teams have those in hand. Your company provides reasonable accommodations and makes sure online platforms are up to current standards. That should cover it, right?
Yes and no.
Accessibility Does Not Begin and End with Compliance
In my experience, the development of an accessible workplace occurs in at least three stages: Legal Compliance, Accessible Practices, and Accessible Mindset. Where are you and your organization on the path to an accessible workplace? One stage builds on the other. Think about the value of each step along the journey to an accessible workplace culture:
Legal Compliance: A robust set of compliant hiring, placement, retention, and promotion processes are needed to bring disabled employees in the door – and keep them there. Without legal compliance, barriers for disabled people start on day one. Compliance is rarely all or nothing – examining where this can be strengthened is a proactive approach. Without policies and protocols that are legally compliant, companies are unlikely to be ready for the full slate of accessibility practices that go above and beyond the bare minimum required by law.
Accessible Practices: These practices are cumulative, and can often be small things, such as meetings with standard features such as captions on video calls, agendas sent ahead of time, flexible work schedules, and clear guidelines for success. Without accessible practices in place, we cannot bring people together in a meaningful and equitable way. While our disabled colleagues continue to face access barriers to the very things that help us to be successful employees, we cannot be a thriving team.
Accessible Mindset: An accessible mindset is a set of values that seeks to remove negative assumptions about disabled people and build a systemic approach to accessibility. An accessible mindset is something that is shared. Without an accessible mindset, only a few members of our community will champion accessibility efforts, leaving disabled employees isolated and less likely to disclose out of fear of stigma and judgement. Furthermore, efforts to improve products, processes, and services for disabled clients and customers will fall flat. We can only truly draw from who we are, and it takes an accessible mindset to deliver authentically.
Building a Positive Team Culture
We as leaders strive to build a team culture that is sustainable, that feeds our people, that permeates who we are and what we do. An accessible workplace is not impossible to achieve, but it does take intention. Intention does not mean adding more to our already full plate. It is about directing our energy in a way that leverages the work that we are already doing as we lead and manage our teams. Here are three steps towards realizing those goals:
Learn
Even if you’ve been in your role for a while, there’s always something new to learn about disability, ableism, and accessibility within your workplace. In so many cases, disabled employees come to me and say “I wish they would just listen.” Even when they raise issues and provide feedback, those efforts often fall flat, with little follow up or recognition. There is nothing more demoralizing than taking the risk to offer information (often disclosing in the process) that then leads to little or no change. In contrast, an empathic and open mind significantly improves relationships between management and staff, between company and customers. In your review and feedback processes, both internal and external, consider adding questions that help provide insight into experiences of disabled employees and clients. You’ll be surprised at what you learn.
Apply
As you build a deeper understanding of strengths and areas of improvement in your business, it's time to map out a plan for how to address and apply this information. Even if just a very small step – creating a standard checklist for how to run hybrid meetings, for example – each one builds upon the other. In no way is this your responsibility alone! A shared commitment is truly the only way to build that accessible workplace. In my experience, ending each conversation with the smallest possible action step (I write mine on a sticky note) provides an incentive to keep learning and growing. Stretch goals – those more ambitious tasks – can be part of larger strategic planning efforts already in place in your organization.
Amplify
Celebrating accessibility wins is a critical part of fostering an accessible workplace. Be they large or small, accessibility is valued when it is celebrated. This can be shown in how we evaluate our team members or leadership, in the metrics we track about our own success, in the intangible ways that we are better able to communicate, develop, and respond to our client’s needs. Even if we need to also identify areas for improvement, this reflects an intention and aspiration that reaps dividends, especially when leadership is involved in sending this message.
How to Get Started
Kick start your efforts by bringing disabled perspectives into the books you read and the media you consume. My book Disability Is Human: The Vital Power of Accessibility in Everyday Life, is full of relatable stories, timely insights, and actionable strategies that are sure to spark AHA moments. There are chapters specifically dedicated to frequently encountered questions about accessibility such as (a) What to do when you receive an accommodation request (hint: it’s not what you think)? or (b) How to gather input from disabled customers about your products and services? The accompanying Official Workbook provides a roadmap for working with your team, with planning tools and engaging activities sure to bring your team together and foster a more accessible workplace from day one.
Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD is author of DISABILITY IS HUMAN: The Vital Power Of Accessibility In Everyday Life, researcher, and consultant who brings relatable insights and real-world skills to her mission that – when we tap the power of accessibility – we ensure disabled people can thrive and succeed. Dr. Cawthon’s groundbreaking research has been funded by over $50 million in federal and other grants. In 2023 she founded the National Disability Center for Student Success at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is a tenured Professor of Educational Psychology. She brings a lived experience to her work. In addition to her congenital hearing loss, she has several mental health and physical disabilities that have a significant impact on her ability to engage in important life activities. Dr. Cawthon earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Stanford University and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. For more information, please visit www.StephanieCawthon.com
