Stepping Up

It sounds easy for many, stepping up, it is something you ‘just do’ when it’s time to do so. The contrary is true, stepping up for your rights is not so easy. It takes courage, it takes a thick skin, it takes persuasion, it takes a endless effort to repeat your message over and over again till people listen. With some recent experiences in mind, I’d like to start a short series on ‘Stepping up’ where I’ll discuss several challenges people with disabilities face, when stepping up to get what they are entitled too.

Is it effective?

Why would you do it, if you don’t see direct results? In my case, I cannot not do it as it became my mission in life. Today I’d like to talk about the people who have the courage to step up for the first time in their lives, and what they face doing so.

In my personal opinion it is always effective if people step up for what they need. For example, tell their colleague they cannot participate in a meeting when people talk through each other and you are hard of hearing. Or when a colleague sends out a call for support because he/she cannot perform a training, or needs assistive technology to do their jobs. It takes a lot of courage to step up and tell others you cannot do what they can do so easily, you have to show your vulnerability. This article is about these people who take this first step into a courageous journey to improve their lives and the lives of people around them.

Can you be vulnerable?

It is not easy to step up and show you are vulnerable, even if there are people who make this seem easy to do (I know people think this about me too, I can assure you it is not). It can bring 2 types of responses, actually 3 types, namely:

• Let us start with the most obvious one: The pity response, where people tell they are sorry and the person who steps up feel victimized instead of supported. It is not about the issue and how to fix, it is about the person with the disability and what impossibilities this brings in to the situation.
• The second type of response is increasingly winning terrain in business, including ING: The ‘I’m sorry, how can we fix this’ response. Even if it is not always easy to fix, the effort to find a solution is surely appreciated. In extension, when a business informs stakeholders about the outcome, it can be a positive reputational and personal customer story too!

With these 2 types of responses, you can probably imagine it is not easy to step and show your vulnerability when it comes to accessibility and your (temporary) disability. You’re at risk of ending in a pity show and in many countries it is quite likely you get this response.

What about the 3rd response? It is the “Who is responsible?” Response, this is the response where it is not clear who can provide support. In this case it is not clear what role a business has when it comes to accessibility and the person stepping up needs to explain why accessibility matters and who benefits.

Arm yourself!

In general my advice, for those ready to face unwelcome responses due to limited knowledge with the receiving party, is to arm yourself with knowledge. Learn about accessibility, what accessibility means and how it can increase your participation in the world, at work, in school, at the university or wherever you go. There are many ways to arm yourself with knowledge. Books on this topic are widely available. With this knowledge you can even start a career in accessibility when you are ready to get out of the closet that is called ‘not able too’ which is a huge missed opportunity for society and businesses!

Bianca Prins is Global Head of Accessibility at ING Bank, and trailblazer in the business disability community. A pioneer in the development of a global strategic Accessibility approach in the fast evolving business roles to include people?with a disability in business. With LinkedIn articles Bianca is sharing insights on accessibility business opportunities, challenges and struggles towards an disability inclusive world for all!

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