Including People with Disabilities in the Workplace

I attended a disability awareness training a few years ago and was we were reminded that anyone can become disabled in an instant. “Yes, that’s true,” I thought. More than I realized. On November 1st I stepped on a patch of black ice and did an unintentional half-split. Blinding pain. I learned the following week that I had torn all three tendons of my hamstring off the bone. Another week later, I had it reattached by a very capable surgeon, and I’m healing nicely. I’m in a leg brace and using crutches through December and will then start regaining strength and flexibility toward anticipated full recovery.

I’m lucky that my disability is temporary, but now I know it to be truer than ever than anyone can become disabled in an instant. I am profoundly grateful to my husband, neighbors and township for their help. I am also profoundly grateful to the disability advocates whose years of organizing and advocacy culminated in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. What the ADA has meant to me in the last three weeks is that I can enter pretty much any facility on crutches or in a wheelchair. What it means for people with permanent disabilities is a much greater ability to participate in everyday activities and work.

While the ADA provides powerful protections for people with disabilities, it is far from a comprehensive solution. The unemployment rate of people with disabilities is twice that of people without disabilities, and people with disabilities participate in the labor force at only one-third the rate of those without.

It is up to every employer to ask the question, “Why?” and to set about discovering how to make a difference. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) can help lead the way. As an example, I led a team within the Ability at AbbVie ERG, and we partnered closely with our Talent Acquisition leadership to institute disability awareness training for all recruiters, hire a talent with disabilities sourcing partner, and make it easier to request an accommodation in the hiring process. We also set the stage for a program to hire neurodiverse talent, and a pilot was launched the year after I left. With prompting from ERG leadership, AbbVie now provides closed captioning for all internal videos.

There is much to celebrate and be grateful for in disability rights, and much work yet to be done. There’s no blueprint for where to start, but it all starts with asking “why” and “how” and making small but meaningful differences that educate and open opportunities for others. In the case of disability inclusion, those opportunities may even benefit you.