How to Avoid Just ‘Checking the Box’ on Disability Inclusivity in the Workplace

In last month’s Disability Inclusion Summit, part of Adweek’s ongoing DEI event series, eight leaders in the marketing and advertising industry brought their unique experiences and perspectives forward to discuss the biggest opportunities for advancement for the disability community. We teamed back up with our amazing panelists to cover some outstanding but crucial questions from the audience. Ranging from questions in hiring and recruiting best practices to creating a more inclusive workplace, read on to see what these experts had to say about how to best address the gaps within the disability community in the advertising world. A big thank you to our panelists who contributed: Becky Kekula, director, Disability Equality Index KR Liu, head of brand accessibility, Google’s Brand Studio Josh Loebner, director of strategy, Designsensory Christina Mallon, global head of inclusive design and accessibility, Wunderman Thompson Storm Smith, producer, BBDO LA Bryan Stromer, product marketing manager, Microsoft HIRING AND RECRUITING Adweek: Why do you think there is a gap between intent and action in terms of recruiting disabled talent? Any solutions to bridge the gap? Storm Smith: It’s all about harmful biases and assumptions that create gaps. [There are ] many factors at work. People may not put enough effort to recruit talent. There's a fear [that keeps recruiters from] proactively learning about the communities that remain untapped. There's a lack of knowledge in some recruiters' thinking when it comes to hiring people with [certain physical or mental challenges]. They don’t believe [potential candidates in this group] have the job qualifications, lack of training, and more. Status quo, biases, and assumptions need to be challenged. There are many good numbers of disability-related organizations and events, including Disability:IN, Ruderman Family Foundation, NBDA [National Black Deaf Association], Gallaudet University, and more. More articles are written by people with disabilities more than ever where you can read their articles and blogs, reach out to them, and recruit. Recently, Bryan Stromer and I co-founded and created the new disability community at ADCOLOR. This space will provide the opportunity to attract more talent with disabilities all on levels and from different industries to speak, present, attend, meet and exchange resources. This is among the many ways you can recruit talent. KR Liu: I think it's all about better understanding how to support disabled people from the recruiting process, all the way through to the onboarding process. It's why it's important to have disabled people as the recruiters and as part of your HR team. What are some resources to find talent with disabilities? Becky Kekula: AAPD (American Association of People with Disabilities), Disability:IN, Diversability, GettingHired, LimeConnect, and the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP). Smith: Ford Foundation, National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT, Disability Visibility Project, and attend any disability-related events that promote on LinkedIn that you can find talents there. Bryan Stromer: I would recommend that companies start ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) for employees with disabilities. You may already have talent with disabilities and not realize it. Having an ERG gives your talent with disabilities the opportunity to come together and support each other. Liu: My new favorite resource was built by the community, Black Disabled Creatives. We need more disability representation in the creative space, and this was a super helpful resource. Christina Mallon: Inclusively is a disability job platform created by a neurologist with a disability. Josh Loebner: I would suggest connecting with disability organizations such as Lights! Camera! Access! among others. Reach out to area colleges and engage with their student disability services departments. Reach out to any of us to help guide your search. What are some ways the track data on disability inclusion in our workforce? Kekula: The Disability Equality Index (DEI) is a joint initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and Disability:IN. It is a national, transparent, annual benchmarking tool that offers businesses an opportunity to receive an objective score, on a scale of zero (0) to 100, on their disability inclusion policies and practices, and identify opportunities for continued improvement. The DEI questions and annual report includes collecting information on disability self-id. In 2018, Accenture released research proving that DEI participating companies that embrace best practices for employing and supporting more persons with disabilities in their workforce have outperformed their peers, according to our new research, in partnership with Disability:IN and the American Association of People with Disabilities. Learn more here. Loebner: First, share an email and/or virtual meeting defining what disability is, why it matters to your organization, some examples of initiatives you're striving towards and how hearing from your staff is important to these initiatives. Create a baseline of total employees with disabilities and then segment and stratify that information alongside other minority groups in your organization, departments represented, pay scale and level within the organization. Develop a longitudinal tracking plan and set associated goals to see where you're succeeding in your workforce and where you need to improve. Conduct employee surveys to find out if there are any impediments or challenges, such as accessibility issues, lack of mentors or limited corporate programs recognizing disability. Determine if disability and accessibility are a part of your employee diversity, equity and inclusion training procedures. Track and monitor growth and goals within affinity groups, employee resource groups and external workforce relationships, such as business resource groups and vendor partners. Should I bring up my disability when applying or interviewing for jobs? If so, how can I do it confidently? Kekula: It's a personal choice. Are you able to perform the essential functions described in the job description without asking for any accommodations? Note that disclosure during the interview process has the potential to open a world of support. Or worst case, it can reveal an atmosphere in which you wouldn’t feel comfortable working, anyway. And hiding a major part of yourself—assuming you have that ability—takes its own toll. Loebner: Here are five ways to make job interviews less awkward and more accessible for people with disabilities and hiring managers. MAKING WORKPLACE WELCOMING AND INCLUSIVE What are some of the best practices to start incorporating disability into your corporate culture? Kekula: Intentionally include disability in every part of the diversity conversation. Offer disability etiquette training to all employees at all levels. Check out this Getting Started guide that will help you on this journey. Stromer: Talk about disability. Leaving disability out when you talk about diversity, leaves the impression that you don’t care about it. Make sure your website and materials are fully accessible. Taking simple steps like ensuring your videos have captioning shows that someone at your company is thinking about accessibility and helps shape a culture of inclusion. Be willing to make mistakes. No one is going to get this perfect. Be willing to make mistakes, but also be willing to learn from them. What’s one thing companies can do today to make their workplaces more inclusive? What about the work from home environment? Smith: When it comes to working from home, make sure any video conference platforms have more accessible features available for employees with disabilities, including captions, audio descriptions, transcripts, and more. We all want to make sure we can get our work done while taking care of ourselves [mental health/self-care]. Without accommodations and accessibilities, it can be challenging. Occasionally check in with them and ask how they are doing and anything that you can do to support them in any way. Invite them in the meetings, give them a seat at the table and welcome their ideas on how can make the company better and inclusive moving forward. Stromer: Always add a call-in link to your meeting invites. As someone with a mobility challenge, running from one building to another for meetings can be stressful. I always appreciated when call-in links were included on invites if I couldn’t make it to the meeting room on time. I hope that the practice of always including call-in links continues when we go back to the office. What role, if any, do you believe colleges and other secondary education institutions can play in normalizing disability inclusion in the workplace? Smith: All types of disabilities service/center need to be more inclusive with the students with disabilities, not just providing the services and accommodations they need. Take the time to include the students in the conversations and provide insights and feedback on how the center can continue improving and making sure the leaders and staff with disabilities work there. And build an inclusive and accessible bridge with the colleges and universities that include getting more funded and do not leave the center to be isolated or on the back-burner. Stromer: Colleges and universities must start to recognize disability as a form of diversity as opposed to just a compliance issue. I wrote an Op-Ed for the Washington Post on my own experience in college and why it is important for universities to recognize disability culture. Companies should also make sure that they are reaching out to University Disability centers when they are recruiting on campus and actively trying to recruit students with disabilities. Loebner: Every college course syllabus includes policy information for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, but rarely do the course materials, textbooks or faculty bring those points up as elements of lectures or learnings. Most professionals in the ad industry gained valuable skills while in college, whether to foundationally know how to write a creative brief, build a website, place media or manage a campaign, but few were taught the value of inclusion. Conversations and commitments toward DEI and disability inclusion need to take place at the college level to ensure more positive changes take place at the professional level. Are there any access/inclusivity rating systems that anyone is aware of, particularly something that includes both physical accessibility and web accessibility? Stromer: Accessibility Insights is a great tool to check the accessibility of a website. Loebner: What ratings, metrics or systems does your organization have in place to measure inclusion of people of color, women or other minority groups? Don't play the compliance game and simply check a box for accessibility for people with disabilities. Yes, you need to have an accessible website and your physical office space and virtual digital meetings need to be accessible, but that's a baseline that simply doesn't need to have a rating. Rating your agency or brands on how you welcome disability should start with knowing where you are and how to elevate disability in your market research, branded content, creative assets, campaign themes, in-house talent, external vendors, corporate responsibility programs and so on. Want to learn more about resources in hiring diverse talent? Check out Adweek's list of curated talent directories and diversity-focused staffing agencies.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

How to Avoid Just ‘Checking the Box’ on Disability Inclusivity in the Workplace

Here are the best practices for hiring, recruiting, and creating an inclusive workplace for people with physical and mental challenges

Heide Palermo

Luz Corona

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Heide Palermo

Luz Corona