Disability Inclusion - Delivering on the Promise

"Embracing Disability in the Workplace," the most recent webinar in our "DEI Knowledge Exchange" series, tackled valuable topics to make recruitment processes more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. Our panel included DEI, Disability and HR leaders from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Deloitte, Thermo Fisher and the Valuable 500, who addressed the following questions:  How do you create psychological safety to encourage candidates and employees to disclose their disabilities? What actionable steps can Recruiters take to accommodate neurodiverse candidates? How can mental health become a vital part of your diversity strategy? 

Co-hosting this installment of our roundtable series with Paul Modley placed me on a much-needed accessibility learning journey. I learned new ways of working to ensure our webinar was accessible to participants with visual disabilities. Thankfully, we had the expert help of one of our AMS ERG leaders, Jamie Shields, who is visually impaired, to guide us. Jamie, Stephane Leblois of the Valuable 500 - a Disability Advocacy organization for business, and our marketing team, helped us to secure accurate, real-time captioning of our audio content. Stephane also led us in providing audio descriptions during our individual greetings—detailing our appearance and surroundings for listeners with visual disabilities. 

In addition to the valuable tools discussed, like Deloitte's Neurodiversity Learning Guides and the case studies shared by panelists, I grew from the experience and I'm better prepared to advocate for accessibility. Frances Bacon said, "We rise to great heights by a winding staircase of small steps." I've committed to making small steps toward accessibility and inclusion each day.

To receive a recording of the webinar, register for "Embracing Disability" here.