3 Ways Anyone Can Start Removing Digital, Performance, And Organizational Barriers In The Workplace

Becoming an accessibility ally!

In February 2017, the word “accessibility” wasn’t a topic or word that I talked about. It really didn’t mean anything to me. At the time, I was working at a failing fintech startup, and on top of that, I was learning how to be a first-time Dad. The stress of these things was causing my already poor sight to diminish even faster, to the point I could no longer see my computer screen.
 

I had kept my deteriorating eye condition a secret from employers throughout my career because I thought that they might see it as a liability, but I couldn’t do that any longer. I just didn’t believe there were many career options available for someone who was blind.

It was in these bleak times that my eyes were opened to digital accessibility. I read an article about software that was developed at a data science company called SAS, which allowed people who were blind to visualize graphs and charts using sounds. This touched close to home, because this type of software would have enabled me to get the data analytics certificate that I was pursuing a few years earlier, but had to drop because the data modeling courses just weren’t accessible to someone with low vision.

I came to learn that this software was developed by a computer scientist named Ed Summers who had the same eye condition as me, and lived in my hometown of Cary, North Carolina. I ultimately tracked him down (literally!), and after meeting him I realized that my career wasn’t over, and accessibility was going to ensure that.

Over the last six years, I’ve learned a lot about accessibility and living with a disability, which also led me to launch my own disability inclusion and accessibility business. I was initially surprised to learn that accessibility impacts a lot of people. In fact, there are an estimated 61 million people in the US, and over 1 billion worldwide, who identify with a Disability and who might be impacted in some way or form by it. Additionally, I realized that accessibility doesn’t just need to, or shouldn’t just, be championed by people who are directly impacted by it - anyone and everyone can be an accessibility ally to help remove the digital, performance, and organizational barriers in the workplace.

So, what does accessibility in the workplace really mean? Accessibility is the practice of making information, jobs, and work environments usable for as many people as possible. It doesn’t mean giving people added benefits, or making things easier, but rather removing digital and organizational barriers. And workplaces that are accessible, are those where people are able to access and take part in all roles and opportunities with reasonable accommodations.

There are several ways that leaders can help create a more accessible workplace and become an accessibility ally, but here are three things to get you started!

1. Make Accessibility an Implicit Priority

In many ways, your website is the lobby of your organization - it’s often the first experience others have with your business. That means it’s even more important that your website is accessible for people with disabilities who use assistive technologies, and that the content is easily understood by all visitors. If your site allows candidates to apply for a job, then it should also be accessible to people with disabilities.

To ensure that your site is accessible, advocate for your site to be tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and get feedback from users with disabilities to know if there are any barriers to accessing information.

Remember, accessibility is a journey. You might start off with your customer-facing websites but be as intentional about your internal content and experiences as you are with your external ones, and you will set yourself apart from the pack!

2. Create a Safe Place for People to Self-Identify and Request Accommodations

According to a 2019 study by the Center for Talent Innovation, only 39% of people who identify with a disability have disclosed it to their managers, and even less, 24%, have let their teams or HR know. And of those people who are open about disclosing their disability, they are regularly twice as happy and content at work, compared to those who aren’t. As a leader, you want your team members to be happy, you want them to feel safe, but employees with disabilities are fearful of being perceived negatively and seeing their careers stall if they disclose.

As a leader, you can make changes to indicate to your customers and employees, both current and potential, that you are inclusive of people with disabilities by making sure disability is included in your diversity strategy, ensuring that the process for the request is clearly communicated and easy for people to access, and provide proper disability inclusion training for your leadership and staff. These actions will result in people seeing your organization as inclusive, more likely to disclose, and more importantly, happier.

3. Live the Mantra “Nothing About Us, Without Us”

As leaders of organizations and teams, you make decisions daily that will impact a lot of people, without fully understanding how those decisions will impact all people. The idea behind “Nothing about us, without us” is to make sure that you include people with disabilities when making decisions and policies around accessibility and disability. This is as simple as requesting feedback from employees and customers who identify with having a disability, to including decision makers to the table who identify with having a disability. There is no one better to identify the needs and barriers that need to be removed than the people who are going through the experience themselves, so ask them!

These are just a few intentional steps that you can start to take, as you open your eyes to become an Accessibility Ally!

Author Bio

John Samuel is the CEO and Co-founder of Ablr, a disability inclusion and accessibility business working to remove barriers that hinder people with disabilities from all aspects of life. In college, he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic and degenerative disease that caused him to lose his eyesight. After struggling to belong and succeed in the sighted world, John now empowers both individuals and organizations to overcome accessibility challenges and build more inclusive environments. Visit www.johngsamuel.com Connect John Samuel