You probably think your business doesn't have any ableist employees. But you're wrong. And it's a big problem.
If you're reading this, then congratulations! You're already miles ahead of most of society when it comes to being a disability ally, simply because you made it through the first step of fighting ableism: realizing it exists.
While you've realized ableism exists, you probably don't understand the nuance and history of ableism and, unless you have a disability yourself, you’re lacking the understanding that accompanies lived experience. All you know is that you are a person who cares, and that if your business wants to grow and serve more people, it needs to evolve.
That's where I come in.
I have lived my life as a disabled person, starting my work in international advocacy spaces, and spending the last 9 years of my career in marketing and sales roles. I know exactly how nuanced the world of disability is, and how to navigate it - both to make the world a better place for disabled people and to benefit your bottom line.
Let's start with you: You have no problem with disabled people. You're a normal person, right? You think disability is just another part of who someone is - just like their gender, race or sexual orientation. But does that mean you're not ableist? Not at all.
Ableism manifests itself in many ways, but the two lenses I teach about are systemic ableism and internal ableism, also called implicit bias.
When we talk about systemic ableism, we are inherently exploring the entanglement ableism has with sexism, white supremacy, colonialism and capitalism. Ableism works alongside these other forms of systemic bias or oppression because it is a part of what co-creates the idea of an “ideal” expectation of body and mind: a non-disabled body and mind.
Even though ableism is a systemic form of oppression it is the least talked about in DEI trainings - which is the exact space it should be talked about the most. When I describe “a system of oppression” I mean that there is and was prejudice, or a particular way of thinking, which believes that disability is a bad thing. This thinking was shared by most people who built the legal, physical, political infrastructure that we all live in, and that the effect and impact of that shared negative perspective is oppressive to subgroups of people - whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Because the individuals who crafted how our society functions shared this negative thinking towards disability, you and I are consistently steeped in these same beliefs every single day - just by participating in the world that they built. We all have ableism in us - and it is something we need to be constantly working at to change.
Just like you have ableism in you, so do your coworkers. So do your clients. So do your teams. Because they participate in a world that was built from an ableist mindset, then the stigmas and stereotypes that surround them affect their implicit bias, too.
Our world is just not built for disabled people. That isn't a secret, and it’s not your fault. However, you have the opportunity to be a part of changing it. Nearly all HR leaders report that disability inclusion is extremely important to their companies, yet more than 96% of companies do not include disability within their DEI initiatives. Disability equality is not only something which companies should prioritize for moral reasons, it also pays off financially. A disability can hinder someone from performing well in their role, so it's just good business sense to provide accommodations that will allow disabled employees to do their jobs effectively.
It's important to ask:
What would happen if businesses were truly able to understand and accommodate disabled people? What if they took advantage of the power of neurodiverse thinking without relying on stereotypes? How much more powerful would their teams be if they were truly inclusive?
Well, one answer we know is that revenue would increase. Companies which intentionally hire more disabled people have 30% higher economic profit margins, 28% higher revenue, and double the net income.
The bottom line is this: if your organization wants to be a disability-friendly workplace and grow to its fullest potential then you have to be proactively inclusive. That doesn't mean putting diversity posters around the office. It means having company wide education opportunities about ableism, disability rights, and implicit bias. Disabled people deserve dignity—and your company can’t get left behind in the twenty-first century. If you've ever tried to address these barriers by working on your own, then you’ll know that it can feel daunting, exhaustin, and futile. But what if that wasn't true? What if all you needed was someone to break down extremely nuanced topics and provide expert resources? Well, that’s what I’m here for.
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