10 ways to make your organization more inclusive of people with disabilities
Rebecca Cokley and Vilissa Thompson work for the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress.
1. Realize that your organization is already employing or working with people with disabilities.
1 in 4 people have disabilities, which means about 25% of your workforce is people with disabilities. Should you serve a marginalized community in your work, whether working at the nexus of race, gender, immigrant status, sexual orientation and/or gender identity, you’re even more likely to be supporting people with disabilities because we are disproportionately represented in other marginalized communities.
2. Disabled people are not a “problem.”
When talking about issues facing people impacted or served by the reproductive health movement, it has been common to talk about disability as a negative “social determinant of health” or as a “deficit” in a health equity approach. Sometimes we talk about prenatal diagnoses using language such as “fetal abnormalities.” All of this language helps further support the ongoing discrimination faced by people with disabilities in the progressive movement. Disabilities are a natural part of life. Thinking about how we detach ableist language and sentiment from the terminology we use is key to creating a movement inclusive of everyone. For further information, check out these resources by Austistic Hoya and Brian Oaster.
3. Develop a telework policy and/or remote work policy.
An organization that’s able to meet the needs of employees with disabilities is an organization that is better for all employees. Many disabled folks would benefit from having remote work and flexible working hours as an option in the work that they do. Working from home is something that employers may be resistant to, and that attitude can discourage disabled folks from applying or to overextend themselves in the work they're doing. This is an accommodation that would be best mentioned in the job description of positions so that disabled applicants can be aware of how to inquire about it during the interviewing process. Not all jobs need to be done in person. If there are positions that can allow a prospective employee to be able to work remotely—either sporadically or on a regular basis—this could be a huge benefit for a person with a disability or a chronic illness that could make a regular 9-5 office job more difficult. A good example of this was brought up during the confirmation hearings of Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia; previously he cross-examined a productive employee who wanted to telework because she had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and was frequently in need of using the restroom. Secretary Scalia’s response was that she should just wear adult diapers. That is not a reasonable accommodation.
On the flipside, it is critical that employers do not use telework or remote work as an alternative to making an office environment accessible. Telework should be an option, but not abused in order to negate an organization’s lack of access. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is almost 30 years old—if your location is inaccessible, you’re not doing work grounded in “progress.”
4. Prioritize mental health mental health care as much as physical health care.
Mental health needs to be valued equally as physical health care in the workplace. Work to create a culture where taking a ‘mental health day’ is respected at the same level as staying home because an employee has the flu. Create a workplace where a therapy appointment is respected equally as someone going to the cardiologist, and where someone coming back to work after having a child and dealing with postpartum depression doesn’t feel like they have to hide that part of themselves—but can disclose if they want—and feel safe and supported in doing so.
Most folks come to movement work because of trauma, and the work of movements can be traumatizing. In failing to recognize this, we ignore the burnout that many of our activists, advocates, and others face, which just compounds the trauma. Check out programs like Self-Care Check in, or Dior Vargas’ work, to help create a workplace that centers the mental health of all staff, and centers the lived experience of people with mental illness.
Avoid using ableist/sanist language like “crazy,” “insane” to describe the state of the world, and instead be more deliberate and more accurate. So often people use sanist language to describe the President; for example, rather than describing him or his actions as “evil, “immoral,” “corrupt,” and “fascist.” Once you start noticing it, you quickly see just how embedded sanist language is in our vocabulary. Its effects are chilling. Mocking disability or misusing disability diagnoses as insults tells your employees that you don’t think disability or the oppression that disabled people face are real things. They will be less likely to disclose their disability or related accommodation needs.
5. Understand that disability is truly represented across all communities.
Disability is often perceived of as a diagnosis and not an actual identity or culture. As a result, it is erased or ignored in key work around intersectionality, cultural competence, or diversity and inclusion. Disability is both a cause and a consequence of poverty and the ongoing fight for bodily autonomy is one grounded in sexism, racism, ableism, and classism. To ignore that people with disabilities have been involuntarily sterilized, bred for freakshows and circuses, have their children removed solely on the basis of diagnosis, and represent a large percentage of those incarcerated erases a large part of each of our communities.
To do the healing that needs to be done for our movements to thrive, disability must be recognized as key constituency, and in that, a constituency with power, agency, and history. Additionally disability is a constituency that exists within every other community, and how it is regarded varies and can be more complicated when ableism intersects or is compounded by additional other forms of oppression. There is no issue today that doesn’t impact the disability community, whether it be reproductive justice, immigration, ongoing attacks on healthcare, cuts to nutrition programs, restrictions on democracy, or the expansion of the surveillance state. Until we as a movement realize this and actualize it as part of work, we will always be leaving people behind.
6. Develop inclusive branding and messaging.
Nothing is more welcoming than looking at an organization’s website and seeing the word “disability” (and yes, specifically disability, no euphemisms like special needs, differently abled, special abilities, etc) on it. The word “disability” should be in your diversity statement, and it should be included in any job descriptions that focus on targeted recruitment from marginalized communities. Whenever listing the ever-growing litany of organizations you’re working with, you need to include people with disabilities. When recruiting sign-ons for a letter or petition, or co-sponsors for an event or webinar, what disability organizations are you including?
We should also be represented in imagery. And while not all disabilities are apparent (like a person who uses a wheelchair, or a Blind individual using a white cane), including images of people with disabilities at your events, or that are a part of your team makes a big difference. And, to be inclusive, make sure those images include descriptor tags, so folks using your website can know what it is a picture of. Images are even better if they don’t just show people with disabilities as recipients of services, but as contributors and providers too. Other things to consider are: Are the videos on your website captioned? Does your podcast include transcripts (which, as a bonus, are also super useful for Twitter).
7. Accessibility is not optional.
Office
It is 2019. Your office space needs to be accessible. This doesn’t mean “we are accessible except for one step at the entrance.” This doesn’t mean “our office is great, but the accessible restroom is down the street and around the corner.” If you serve people with reproductive health needs, than you are serving people with disabilities, and you are NOT serving them well if they cannot access your space. There are incentives like a disabled access tax credit and a barrier removal tax deduction to help small businesses cover costs associated with remodeling. Your company’s website and technology should also be accessible, and be able to be accessed using various forms of assistive technology.
Events
You want people to show up at your event right? You wouldn’t do an event for a room full of people without lights or a microphone, so don’t do it without a ramp, sign language interpreters, and real time captioning. No event tied to your organization should be hosted at an inaccessible location. Ever.
Budgets for your events and your overall organization should include line items for accommodations. Any event invitation you send out should include a note with information on who to contact to request accommodations. Every organization’s event manager and HR team should maintain a list of CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation, captioning) providers, sign language interpreters, and if you do not own a ramp for any event that requires a stage, locations where to rent a map. Offer any speakers the option of speaking from a podium or a seated table.
Also, given the complexity of the issues that we work on, there is a lot to take in. Let’s be honest, a really intense program can just be a lot to handle. Keep a quiet room available for those who may need to take a break. Some folks who are Deaf and have had to stare at interpreters or read a CART screen for several hours may have eye strain. People who are Autistic may need a space where they can decompress from being on the receiving end of a lot of stimulation. A great resource can be found here.
8. Maintain a clear accommodations policy.
This is the same for people who work for you: have a clear accommodations policy (that complies with the law!) outlined in your employee handbook and shared in orientation. Train all staff on the Americans with Disabilities Act and specifically train managers on how to respond to an employee who does disclose their disability. Be familiar with resources like the Job Accommodations Network as a referral tool to employees and employers about what types of accommodations may work for what folks. Train all staff to think about accommodations not as extra or a special privilege, but as a tool that helps your team do their job. When interviewing prospective new employees, ensure that HR always includes information about what a candidate should do if they need to request an accommodation throughout the process. Remember: according to the ADA, an employee has the right to disclose a disability whenever they want to, from the first interview to a week before they retire.
9. Say the word “disability.”
Nothing is more uncomfortable than watching non-disabled people try to get around the word
“disability.” Non-Disableds will do a perfect 10 on verbal gymnastics to avoid saying it. Why? Because they’ve been raised to believe it’s a shameful word. The secret is, it’s not. And using it draws a very serious line between a person’s condition and the civil rights protections in place to enforce their access to society. The more comfortable your organization and its leadership become saying the word and knowing what it means, the more comfortable your staff and community will be in disclosing their disability and asking for accommodations.
Don’t let the years of ableist training scare you. It’s not a bad word. And you can even pair it with “community,” so it’s not just hanging out there. Try Wonder Woman stancing it and saying it in a list with other marginalized communities until it just becomes natural.
10. It’s not just enough to hire us, we want to be in charge.
For years, disability employment campaigns have focused on the single goal of hiring disabled employees, and left the conversation around retention, professional development, and promotion for another day. We aren’t satisfied with just a job, we want a lifelong career, we want to be the boss. So ensure that whatever programs your company has focusing on career ladders, or access to key professional development opportunities, actively recruit qualified employees with disabilities to participate.
This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but it’s intended to be a first step to pulling our partners in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements a bit further along the path to a more inclusive and accessible movement.