Disability discrimination in recruitment is part of a systemic prejudice. Despite increasing demand for diverse talent, disabled accessibility is a major barrier for many.
Listen to the voice in this 2 minute description. What picture does your mind create for this person?
Patterns of Experience: Covering
Patterns of Experience refer to the recurring challenges or advantages that individuals
from different groups encounter throughout their personal and professional lives.
Covering is the behavior of downplaying or hiding aspects of one’s identity to fit into a workplace culture. In the context of disability, it often means people feel pressured to minimize their needs or abilities to appear more “normal.”
Our participant recalls how this showed up for them: “I always tried to learn from people better than me physically. I feared other disabled people might drag me down, and I often tried to prove I could handle the same tasks as others.”
Over time, they realized that covering created stress and unnecessary hurdles. It prevented them from embracing their full identity and seeking the support they needed.
Acts of Inclusion: Barrier-free environments
An Act of Inclusion is any gesture or behavior that you can use to invite and welcome a person
(and their perspectives) into your environment.
Making workplaces more accessible to everyone is an Act of Inclusion. Accessibility isn’t just about physical infrastructure—it creates mental freedom too. When people don’t have to think about how they’ll navigate a space, they can fully engage in their work.
What Leaders Can Do to Interrupt The Bias
- Pay Attention: to your coworkers, partners, clients. If someone has more physical difficulty moving around, ask how you and the company can assist? For some reason it’s typical (and polite) to do this with folks who have a temporary disability – Think pregnancy, person in a cast, someone using crutches or a cane (hip replacement anyone). But are we paying attention to this fact for people living with a significant disability?
Conclusion
This story highlights the importance of disabled accessibility in the workplace. Simple, thoughtful actions like choosing barrier-free buildings allows for a wider spectrum of physical abilites to fully participate and focus on their work. Accessibility opens up space for innovation and inclusion, benefiting everyone.
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