Disability Pride Month
TaChelle L.
Turn cultural intelligence into profit | Author of Black is NOT a Credential: The Corporate Scam of DEI | Advisor for CEOs | Speaker | DM “DEI Scam” to learn more
July is Disability Pride Month, and I want to use the opportunity to highlight a part of DEI that is frequently overlooked or forgotten.?Scroll through LinkedIn or search the hashtag #DEI and you will find endless content geared towards women and people of color.?This is great and long overdue, but employers and DEI professionals need to make sure that individuals with disabilities are an integral part of their efforts to improve diversity and inclusion.?When we think of disabilities, we often forget that the vast majority of disabilities are invisible, yet one in four Americans live with one.?Here are a few ways to tell if your DEI efforts are truly inclusive of individuals with disabilities:
Are the “essential functions” in your job description actually essential??
I have seen many job posts that state applicants must be able to lift a certain amount of weight… for a desk job. These types of physical requirements for a job that will be mainly spent working on a computer are simply not essential, and any reasonable employer should have alternative solutions for the rare occasions in which an accountant may need to lift something heavy.?
Do employees feel comfortable asking for what they need??
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An important part of DEI in general is ensuring that employees feel comfortable speaking up when things aren’t right or when they need something.?It’s leadership’s job to communicate this, not the other way around.?If an employee is hard of hearing and needs closed captioning during Zoom meetings, they should feel comfortable asking for this and for whatever other reasonable accommodation they need to succeed?at their job.?
Is leadership and HR educated on (as opposed to simply aware of) disabilities?
If an employee discloses that they are neurodivergent, does management know what that means? Do they know what type of support to offer? Of course disabilities can be unique and vary greatly even within the same category, but leadership still needs to have a basic understanding of accessibility and what that can mean in different situations in order to offer support and help employees succeed.