I have a disability – here are 3 powerful ways companies can foster a more inclusive work environment

Disability Awareness Month isn’t just about recognizing the challenges that disability can bring. It’s also about celebrating the work that folks with disabilities do and how we can make physical spaces, policies, and practices more accessible in the workplace.

I have lived with spinal muscular atrophy for over two many years, but I have never let it affect my position in the corporation. I have seen first-hand what true integration can do for an organization.

Here are three necessary ways businesses can have a good time Disability Awareness Month and make lasting change:

1. Organizing educational workshops and training

Team building trainings and workshops are the best ways to have a good time Disability Awareness Month. Workshops can dispel myths and prejudices about people with disabilities and educate employees about proper etiquette and awareness when discussing and working with people with disabilities. This includes appropriate and inappropriate behavior and language, accessibility issues, and more. Workshops and training sessions can function a foundation for creating a supportive environment that can promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in the workplace.

• Invite special guests: Invite experts, advocates, or someone living with a disability can share their insights and experiences. Real stories can help employees higher understand the struggles and triumphs that folks with disabilities face. These events are also a way for employees with disabilities to be guests, further foster dialogue, and build a sense of community and belonging.
• Sensitization workshops: Conduct workshops to show employees tips on how to interact with people with disabilities and use the correct terminology. The workshops must also create a protected environment where people can learn more about people with disabilities.

Employees will have a higher understanding of disability, which can result in more welcoming and supportive work policies and higher workplace accommodation practices and policies.

2. Increasing accessibility and adaptive practices

In honor of Disability Awareness Month, take a closer look at your organization’s current accessibility and accommodation practices. Ensuring that your work environment is physically accessible to everyone is the foundation for creating an inclusive environment. Accommodation policies are designed to supply a barrier-free environment that permits people with disabilities to access employment, public services, and facilities as independently as possible.

Accessible workplaces are not only about meeting minimum legal requirements; they are about ensuring that every one employees can do their jobs to the better of their ability without unnecessary barriers.

• (*3*) audit: Have accessibility experts conduct an assessment of your physical and electronic workplace. This will reveal where accessibility could also be lacking, whether it’s ramps and signs, or web sites and internal platforms that are more user-friendly for people with visual or hearing impairments.
• Update on accommodation rules: Re-evaluate your policies incessantly to make sure they are being fully implemented across your workforce. Requests to update your accommodations policy shouldn’t be met with friction—don’t mechanically reject accommodation requests or have an inflexible policy that doesn’t allow for exceptions. Implement a easy and transparent process so employees can submit accommodation requests through a dedicated portal with step-by-step instructions where they feel heard and supported. This can mitigate potential aggression or harassment and create a more inclusive and supportive work environment. It can also result in a great opportunity for empathy training for HR and senior management.
• Invest in enabling technologies: All employees should have access to tools and gadgets that may increase their productivity, similar to screen readers, voice recognition technologies and ergonomic office supplies.

Employers who provide access to their workplaces for all consider this to be good inclusiveness policies. Such actions would profit not only specific disabled employees but all employees, as diversity is an aspect of mutual respect for employees and results in higher morale and productivity.

3. Celebrate and recognize the contributions of disabled employees

Another effective strategy for celebrating Disability Awareness Month is to have a good time employees with disabilities. Recognition and gratitude can be shown in a number of ways, including recognition, awards, and talent achievements.

Recognition raises awareness and highlights the sense of value that disability brings to employees.

• Top stories: Feature stories of employees with disabilities in company newsletters, social media, and internal communications. Share their stories, accomplishments, and contributions because they assist your team feel inspired and educated.
• Awards and Recognition: Establish awards specifically dedicated to honoring hard work and achievements All Employees, including disabled employees.
• Talent shows: Host an event where employees can showcase their talents and skills in art, music, writing, or other artistic fields to have a good time the diversity of talent inside the organization.

Celebrating and recognizing the contributions of all employees boosts morale and makes them feel a part of the team. It is also a great opportunity to understand all types of diversity in the workplace.

Application

Disability Awareness Month provides an ideal way for companies to extend inclusivity and support for employees with disabilities. Ways to realize this include educational workshops, improving office accessibility, and recognizing the contributions of individuals with disabilities.

Not only would this profit disabled employees, but it might also really strengthen the culture of the organization, making it more resilient and much more cohesive. Embracing all of those elements makes a real difference in a person’s life, where every worker feels valued and in a position to contribute to the better of their ability. As someone who has passed through the challenges and triumphs of being in the corporate world with a disability, I can attest to the huge difference true inclusion makes.

Let this month not only be about awareness, but also about concrete actions that may change the lives of employees with disabilities. Together we can build workplaces where everyone has a probability to develop.