One in four Americans lives with a physical, mental, or developmental condition. This means the vast majority of the American population either has a disability or knows someone who does – either a relative, spouse, child, friend, coworker, or peer.
And yet, companies often treat people with disabilities as if they are a niche group of relatively unknown people. For the most part, that’s because they are. People with disabilities come from all walks of life, and you can’t generalize people based on whether they have a disability or not.
If companies intend to approach disability fairly – be that in their marketing efforts or hiring and employment practices – business leaders need to rethink how they approach this concept. Let’s break down disability as a generalized term and focus on four truths that can lead to better discussions about accommodation, outreach, and opportunity.
Hidden disabilities: not everyone wants to talk about it
If a person enters your office using a wheelchair, you might glean that they have a physical disability and accommodate them appropriately. However, not all disabilities are visible. Advocates use the term invisible disability to cover every form of disability that doesn’t necessarily have a physical manifestation. This covers disabilities like chronic pain, limited hearing, developmental disorders, neurodivergence, and anxiety – just to name a few.
One way that companies can immediately rethink how they approach disability is by recognizing that it’s not always obvious – and not everyone wants it to be. Consider the workplace:
- Only 39% of employees with disabilities have disclosed this fact to their managers.
- 24% have disclosed their disabilities to their teams.
- 21% have disclosed their disabilities to their human resources departments.
Employees keep their disabilities to themselves because they fear discrimination. But they also do it because they feel like their disabilities don’t need to be public knowledge in the company – just like any other medical condition.
The same can be said for your customers. They shouldn’t have to disclose their disabilities to your team to receive good service. You likely work with customers every day who have disabilities and don’t want to tell you about them.
Disability doesn’t discriminate by race or gender
Another way to challenge how your company approaches disability is to rethink who gets disabilities. Disability doesn’t discriminate by age, race, gender, income level, or personal beliefs.
Consider the high levels of undiagnosed ADHD in women. “ADHD is still presumed to be a male disorder,” says Dr. Fred Reimherr, director of the University of Utah Mood Disorders Clinic. “The women had a much more frequent history of having been diagnosed with other emotionally based psychiatric illnesses, such as a mood disorder or anxiety … A woman might come in presenting emotional symptoms, and the ADHD that’s underneath might be missed.”
Women are also more prone to masking, which means hiding their thoughts and emotions to better blend in with society around them. A woman with a mild developmental disorder might be able to navigate the workplace without most people noticing their struggles.
Another example is the diagnosis disparity between white and non-white people with disabilities. Black teens often have undiagnosed mood disorders and are instead labeled disruptive, angry, or aggressive by teachers and adults. This can lead to higher rates of disciplinary action that shape the life outcomes of these kids. White youth are far more likely to receive a mental health diagnosis when they experience similar symptoms.
Until society has a better of who can have a disability and how disability may be hidden, discrimination against employees and customers will continue.
Disability isn’t a punchline
Plenty of companies are using their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to highlight the importance of disability and inclusivity. However, one often overlooked factor is the microaggressions, such as the unfunny, annoying comments that people with disabilities have to put up with.
Emily Ladau, disability rights activist and the blogger behind Words I Wheel By, shared how exhausting and frustrating it can be to deal with daily jokes regarding her wheelchair: “Got a license for that thing;” “You’re going to win the race;” “Don’t go hurting anyone out there.” These comments may not be intentionally malicious, but hearing them can feel like being treated like a toddler in a go-cart, not an adult using an assistive device.
People with invisible disabilities also live with these comments. They range from joking that a person with ADHD is easily distracted to people without OCD claiming they have the disorder just because they like to be organized.
Rethinking disability in the workplace means developing DEI efforts that go beyond outright discrimination. It means creating space for employees with disabilities to have identities beyond their diagnoses. Otherwise, can you blame them for trying to hide their conditions?
The individual comes before the disability
Companies love when data arrives in neat little research packets that simplify complex information. Marketing teams dive into target market data and develop buyer personas, while HR teams map their ideal candidates for new positions. Unfortunately, people with disabilities can’t be painted with a broad brush.
Take people-first language as an example. At Accessibility.com, our best practice is to put the person before the disability. Rather than say “the blind student,” our editorial guidelines suggest saying, “the student who is blind.” This allows the person to have an identity before the disability is introduced.
However, some people don’t mind – or even prefer – disability-first language. Rather than hide their disability, they want to own it as a proud identifier.
Joe Shapiro, NPR correspondent, shared his experiences interviewing people with disabilities. As a best practice, he always asks his interviewee how they want to be introduced. This takes two minutes and shows respect to the individual.
The final key to developing effective practices to support employees and customers with disabilities is to realize that your company can’t develop sweeping guidelines based on generalizations. While you can develop best practices, rules can and should be broken if it means supporting your team members.
It’s okay to still be learning with your disability inclusion efforts
It’s never easy to admit that you don’t fully understand something, especially in the workplace. However, most companies don’t know how to support employees and customers with disabilities while creating a better experience for them. It is better for your team to know that you have a lot to learn than to develop one-size-fits-none DEI guidelines for your team members.
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