Celebrating Disability Blog

Setting Goals for Disability Inclusion

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The importance of goal setting

Put plainly: setting goals for disability inclusion enables us to recognise when we have achieved them. Not dissimilar to writing a shopping list. We all go to the supermarket now and again without one and how often do we regret that decision?

Generally, we will remember one or two items, forget a lot more and pick up many items that we would not have otherwise. 

Whereas, when we write a shopping list, we are more likely to stick to it. We have already spent time thinking about the items that we need to make the meals we want to cook. Many of us will have a budget in mind and this budget provides a guide. We may pick up one or two items along the way that are not on the list. However, these items generally complement the overall shopping list. We can walk away from the supermarket feeling positive and confident that we have what we need to do what we want.

This analogy can be attached to goal setting for disability inclusion: when we understand what we want to achieve, it is easier to achieve it. And, is easier to identify when it has been achieved. As a result, we can then understand where the gaps are and what still needs to be done. 

Establishing goals for disability inclusion

The first thing to consider is what you want to achieve. Starting by asking what the barriers to disability inclusion are in your workplace. In the past, clients have identified a lack of information and awareness about what the barriers are. Other clients identify a lack of resources to implement.  This blog may offer some ideas to start.

Consider what people will go away thinking, feeling and doing as a result of the service. This creates a visual image of what the workplace looks like as a result. You can then work backwards to consider how to get there. 

How to set your goals

Goals setting can be a daunting task if you think you have to do it alone. The great thing is, you don’t! The most effective goals are set in collaboration with other stakeholders: colleagues, co-workers, disability networks, or ERGs. You can also engage Celebrating Disability to help you set your goals! When we talk to you about delivering a service, we don’t just leave you to it. We help you through the process. That includes helping you think about what you want to achieve and setting those all-important goals. 

How Celebrating Disability Help

There are many stages where we support you to determine your goals and next steps for disability inclusion:

1. When we have an initial conversation with you, we will ask you some of the questions that are listed above. As a result of the answers you provide, we will tailor content for the service we are delivering to reach that outcome

2. Often, when delivering a talk, we find that many organisations can define their next steps through the content that we are delivering. This is because we provide information about barriers faced by disabled people in the workplace that enable people to think about what the problem is and therefore what they want to achieve.

Within talks, we often use the tool Mentimeter. This provides opportunities for participants to interact anonymously. The data gathered from this interaction will enable us to identify what needs to be done

3. When delivering a talk or a training session, we provide opportunities for participants and delegates to set pledges. We follow up on these pledges a few weeks later to provide you with information about how achievable these pledges have been for participants.

4. Pre and post-session benchmark surveys can support you to understand where knowledge, confidence levels and abilities have developed as a result of the training

5. We can carry out a gap analysis or audit of specific areas within your workplace to understand what needs to happen. We will then provide recommendations alongside quick wins

This sounds a lot, where do I start?

It may sound a lot and it may even sound daunting but it’s very exciting. You’ve made the first step already by deciding that disability inclusion is a priority. You should congratulate yourself on that.

The first thing that I suggest for you to do is to get in touch with us. We can arrange a time and date for us to talk together about your goals for disability inclusion. We’ll talk about your workplace, what (if any) barriers you have identified that exist and then we can suggest to you ideas of where to get started. Ready to do that straight away? Click this link to book a date and time to talk to Esi.  

Here are a few other ideas that can get you started when thinking about your goals for disability inclusion:

• Find an opportunity to free-flow your ideas. This could be as a mind map, a bullet list, or anything else that works for you. I find when I talk out loud, my ideas flow more freely than when I purely think about it

• After you have free-flowed your ideas, challenge yourself to think about what else. Repeat that sequence. Keep going like that until you have run out of ideas 

• Consult others, this could be inside the workplace but could also be external. If you need to keep specific ideas confidential, talk about them in general rather than the specific 

How we’ve helped others

If you’re interested to see how we have supported other organisations to achieve their disability inclusion goals, click here to read some case studies.

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Spoon Theory: Disabled People’s Energy Levels

When I started delivering training, people would say to me all the time:

I asked if a disabled person needed help and they were rude to me so I don’t want to ask again 

And my response was often: 

I think, as disabled people it is our responsibility to be polite because, if we are rude, next time people may not ask again 

I don’t say that anymore. For many reasons, I don’t think it is our responsibility as disabled people to educate society. Personally I choose to take it as my responsibility. However, I don’t believe that just because a person is disabled, they must take responsibility for everybody else’s learning. 

Unnecessary use of a disabled person’s energy levels

Thinking back to where we started in this blog article, often when a disabled person snaps, it is not because they are meaning to be rude, it can be because a person has come to the end of their tether. Considering all of the other barriers that person may have faced in the day, one more barrier may break the camels back as it were.

This is a nomad way suggesting that it’s okay for people to be rude. I am simply trying to offer another side of the coin to consider.

It is also not a suggestion that nobody should ever ask a disabled person a question. However there are appropriate times to ask questions and there are times when it is not appropriate:

An appropriate time may be when a person has built a rapport with the other person. Due to their relationship, they understand that this is something that is welcomed.

An inappropriate time maybe on the street because the person doesn’t know what else to say. I have experienced this from time to time. It may be when I’m ordering a drink, it may be waiting for a bus.

Spoon Theory

I came across this theory originally hypothesised by Christine Miserandino. She utilised this as a way of describing disabled people’s energy levels; that everyone has a finite amount of spoons per day. Spoons translate to the levels of energy we have. Each spoon represents one strand of energy. Depending on the circumstances, our experiences, our encounters that day, our backgrounds, our exposures to oppression, how we identify – we may exert more or less effort and therefore energy over certain tasks. Everyone has 10 spoons per day and when those spoons are gone, they are gone.

A disabled person, exposed to ablism may at times, may use several spoons on one activity. To another person, this activity may seem relatively simple and straightforward and it’s hard to understand why it would take so much effort to achieve. However, to that disabled person, attempting to achieve a task in an environment not designed to support them, this can be quite difficult. We talk about ways in which the workplace can be made more accessible for disabled people in many other blogs. Including this one.

People with invisible disabilities sacrifice their spoons because as well as managing their impairment on a daily basis, their energy levels are used up when forced to justify their impairment time and time again.

For disabled people, it’s often hard for us to articulate how the spoons are being utilised. Especially when much of what is happening is going on behind-the-scenes. But many of us have an invisible backpack that we carry around every day. Depending on the day, we may manage fine, another day, everything may be too much. The example below is taken from the perspective of somebody with anxiety and depression. 

You wake up with your alarm at 7:30. You were anxious during the night and therefore could not turn off and did not sleep very well.

You look out the window and realise it’s quite cloudy outside. You were hoping for better weather as you thought this might improve how you’re feeling. You’re just gonna have to manage. All you want to do is crawl back under the covers

Your daughter comes running in with marmite all over her hands telling you that she’s made her own breakfast! She comes to give you a hug, misses and get marmite all over your bedsheets

You pull yourself out of bed and go into the bathroom. You realise that the toothpaste is empty and has been put back in the toothbrush holder. You feel exhausted

After rummaging around for another tube of toothpaste, your anxiety is building as you realise that it is now 8:15 and your daughter is still not ready for school

It’s so hard to find the energy to get dressed. However, somehow you manage

Your partner calls upstairs to say that they are take your daughter to school. Although this relieves some of your anxiety, it is swiftly replaced with guilt for not doing yourself

Somehow it’s 9 o’clock. How did that happen? You go into your home office and turn on your computer but it has decided to do an upload. You are going to be late for your 9:15 am meeting

You are revelling in the peace and quiet you have for 5 minutes. Just as you are beginning to relax, your partner comes in and offers you a cup of coffee. Your moment of peace is lost

The zoom meeting loads up, your manager sees you have entered the room and says: “nice that you could join us”. You burst into tears

A lot of the time, many of the tasks that we face as disabled people go on behind the scenes. They can be, as the example above suggests be internalised. However, they can also be physical barriers that happen without anybody seeing. For example, a physically disabled person in accessible loo wouldn’t necessarily be showing that they were struggling because they were behind the door before. An individual may think that they are taking a longer amount of time but do not realise what is going on in that room. Meanwhile that disabled person may be using energy on such activities as:

  • Mentally scooping the room to see where the dangers and potential trip hazards are 
  • Manoeuvering a wheelchair to park in a certain place 
  • Shutting and locking the door 
  • Reaching for the toilet roll without falling off the toilet

All of which may be happening whilst they know that their family/ friends/colleague/clients are waiting for them. They may be aware that other disabled people are queueing outside to use the toilet or that whilst they are in the toilet, they are missing the event/gig/talk/meeting that they are meant to be in. 

2 questions to consider: 

How do your spoons get used up? 

How can you articulate to your customers, colleagues and employees that you realise they have spoons of their own?

Our video demonstrating accessibility versus inclusion enables practical applications of how disabled people’s energy levels are used up on daily basis. Click here to watch the video

Including Disabled People

When we consider including disabled people, there are many terms that bounce around the disability inclusion and diversity inclusion space:

  • Equity and equality
  • Impairment and disability
  • Accessibility and inclusion

Including Disabled People: Accessibility vs Inclusion

We will focus on the former at a later point but today, I would like to focus on accessibility and inclusion. I believe this is an example where there is a lot of speculation about the meanings of the two. I’ve seen them used interchangeably; suggesting that they mean the same thing. But they don’t:

Accessibility means a person can access something. This relates to the tools, resources and structures available. They may be tangible. For example a ramp into a building or an automatic door.

They can also be intangible. For example a hearing loop installed in a building or closed captions available on a digital meeting.

Inclusion means that the attitudes and behaviours of the people surrounding the person that needs access are such that the person actually wants to be there. For example, for a person to feel included and valued as a customer, the business will have considered the customer’s experience:

For example a restaurant may have an accessible toilet installed. However, if a disabled person has to manoeuvre through tables of patrons and ask every single one of them to move out of the way, then that person may not feel welcomed, included or valued.

Beyond the Physical

The feelings evoked by disability exclusion are not just exclusive to people with physical disabilities: people with invisible disabilities also have similar experiences. In a workplace meeting. It may be expressed that anyone can move around during the meeting if they need to. However, the meeting will not stop for anyone. As a result, somebody with ADHD who is unable to stay still for long periods of time feels isolated and is prevented from taking part in discussions.

Lived Experiences

Over the last few years, I’ve asked around for people’s experiences of what inclusion means to them. Overwhelmingly, people have commented that including disabled people happens when a person feels relaxed: as disabled people, often we have to think five steps ahead of what is coming before anything happens. This is so that we can plan for the worst but hope for a good experience. This happens as a result of knowing that society has not fully thought about our barriers. Society has also not fully thought about how we would like to share in an experience.

A disabled person may be able to access the bar. However if the bartender does not take the time to communicate with us in the way that we need them to, then our experience is diminished. It’s very hard to only remember the good experiences of the night out when half the night has been taken up by battling to get a drink, get on the dance floor, have a conversation, etc.

Iterations

We can see iterations of this same thing repeated everywhere we look:

  • On an online booking page. When a disabled guest has to call to check accessibility rather than the website providing clarity that this will be provided
  • An accessible toilet that is always locked. Requiring a specific key (radar key) to unlock the toilet. Although not all, many disabled people need support to open and accessible toilet as radar keys are not accessible for those with limited dexterity. Meaning that we cannot go to the loo without asking for support from the public. An inclusive alternative would be to leave all accessible toilets open for everyone
  • A workplace reasonable adjustment policy that requires a disabled person or their line manager to take several steps before something can be implemented. An inclusive alternative could enable a one step, simple process for implementing a reasonable adjustment

An Animation to Demonstrate Including Disabled People

With all this in mind, we have created an animation video to demonstrate the valuable difference between accessibility and inclusion. We were lucky enough to work with video production and animation agency Cass Productions to create this video. Please take a look and if you have any questions, please do reach out and speak to us.

Remember Accessibility

Throughout all of this, please remember to prioritise accessibility at the same time. After all, there can be no inclusion if there is no accessibility. If a disabled person cannot access the venue or the meeting, there is no point in making it inclusive. In order to work together, consider accessibility and inclusion on their own merits.

It’s not imperative to get it right first time. There is no such thing as fully inclusive or fully accessible. “Fully” accessible or inclusive cannot possibly exist because every disabled person is unique and has unique requirements.

Many disabled people (including myself) believe that as long as we can see the intention, it doesn’t matter if the access is not perfect. This is because the intention and behaviours of people supporting us make the experience inclusive.

How Do I Make My Business Inclusive For Disabled Customers?

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Could your business be missing out on the Purple Pound? The Purple Pound is the spending power of disabled people in the UK and is worth £274 billion per year. Considering accessibility and inclusion can support disabled customers to feel welcome and valued in a business.


1 in 5 UK consumers have a disability. And studies show that 85% of disabled people and their friends/families have walked away from a business due to inaccessibility or poor customer service.
In addition, 73% of disabled consumers experience barriers on more than a quarter of websites they visit. On top of this, it has been found that UK businesses lose approximately £2 billion per month by ignoring the needs of disabled people.


As a business, it is your responsibility to make your business accessible for disabled customers; both within your business premises and online.

Provide Employees With Disability Awareness Training


Your employees are the heart of your business. If they do not know how to help disabled customers or colleagues, it can be a big problem.


Disability awareness training will provide your employees with the knowledge and information they need to be inclusive of disabled people. It will raise awareness of barriers that disabled customers face, and highlight ways in which you and your employees can help to break down those barriers.


Aside from being more understanding towards customers, disability awareness training will also be helpful for when you are managing a disabled employee within your business.

Make Physical Changes To Your Business


If your business has a physical location that welcomes customers or clients, it is crucial that it is accessible. This may be a retail store, restaurant, office, leisure facility, tourist facility or healthcare business etc. Without accessible features, potential customers and clients will not be able to visit your business. Typically accessible adaptations include:


Ramps
Ramps are necessary if there are steps at the entrance, exit or inside your premises. They make it possible for wheelchair users and those with mobility aids to easily enter your premises. Grab rails can also be added to provide additional support.


Clutter-Free And Spacious Aisles
Your business premises should be spacious enough for wheelchair users to seamlessly manoeuvre around the space, without the risk of bumping into something. It is important that any aisles, corridors and shop floors have clear walkways and clutter-free entrances/exits.

Accessible Bathroom
If your business is expected to provide customer toilets, they should always be accessible. An accessible toilet has specialised equipment that enables disabled people to use the bathroom safely.
Some toilets, such as Changing Places toilets, are designed for people who need a bit of extra space. They provide enough space and appropriate equipment, including hoists, for people to safely and hygienically use the bathroom unaided or with a personal assistant.
If you have adequate space, an existing room can be adapted and turned into an accessible Changing Places toilet. Alternatively, modular toilets are available.

Parking
If your business offers customer parking, the parking spaces closest to the entrance should always be allocated for disabled customers. The spaces should be widened and should be clearly signposted.

Signage
Aside from car park signage, your business premises should also have signs directing disabled customers to the nearest accessible exit, accessible toilet and lift, if applicable.

Make Digital Changes To Your Business
Have you ever considered whether or not your business website is accessible to disabled customers? Studies show that only a tiny fraction of websites are accessible. In 2019, a survey found that less than 1% of website homepages meet accessibility standards.
Without an accessible website, you could be missing out on disabled consumers. Perhaps they are visiting your website to purchase a product, or maybe trying to find out more information about your services. Maybe someone is looking for your opening times.

Without accessibility features, many disabled web users will not be able to use your website effectively. These changes can make a difference to the accessibility of your website:

Choose the right content management system, such as WordPress, when building your website and ensure it is built in an accessible template.

Make sure the website is keyboard friendly and can be navigated using the keyboard only (rather than a mouse). Navigating a webpage with a keyboard is usually done using the Tab key.

When writing content, use headings (H1, H2, H3 etc.) correctly and in the right order so that screen readers can easily interpret the content.

Ensure each image has a detailed alt text containing the message you wish to convey through that image.

Think carefully about the website colours as well as the text size and font. Aim to have high contrast between the foreground and background colours, such as white letters on a black background. Avoid thin fonts where possible.

Provide the option to enlarge font size (without breaking the layout of the page).

Give internal and external links descriptive names. For typing the content “click here” or “find out more” make sure this is pre-faced with text describing what people are about to click. Therefore, someone using a screen reader can interpret what the page and the link is referring to.Ensure any forms (contact forms, sign up forms, download brochure forms etc.) are designed for accessibility by labelling all form fields correctly.

Get In Touch

Want to find out more about making your business accessible? Get in touch with Celebrating Disability by clicking here today. We provide a range of services, including Disability Awareness Training, to enable equality and inclusion of Disabled People in the UK.

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Disability Awareness Session – What’s Your Goal?

What are you doing before and after your disability awareness training session or talk? How are you measuring the impact of the session? How are you ensuring you meet the needs of the audience?

Now, when I say meeting the needs of the audience, in this context I am talking about making sure the content matches the information needed. Meeting the needs of the audience can also mean making sure it is accessible and inclusive for engagement purposes. I have written articles about this as well. To find out more about this topic, you can read this article here.

It’s all about return on investment

That may sound cold, but it’s not. You have not only invested in me or your trainer of choice to deliver your session. You have also invested in the employees to deliver the service/product that you hired them to deliver. We may know of the business case for diversity and inclusion. Caroline Casey, Founder of The Valuable 500 talks about the business case for disability inclusion here. Therefore, when we create cultures that are inclusive, welcoming and safe for disabled employees, the outcomes, innovation, psychological safety, happiness and productivity of the whole workforce is improved.

Much of the reservation around disability inclusion is not knowing what, why and how. By providing training and consultancy support in the right way, you can work with your employees stamp out and eradicate the elements that stop people from purely opening up, communicating and learning from each other. With that in mind, try to ensure that your disability awareness session meets the needs of the people that are not only going to be in the room but are indirectly going to be benefiting from the session in the long run. These may be: colleagues in the office, direct reports of line managers, disabled employees and candidates across the organisation and disabled customers using your service or product. To name just a few!

Why do you always say disability awareness and not disability inclusion?

If the disability inclusion expert used language in her blogs that nobody ever searched for and therefore never read, do those blogs exist?

Where I write on my website and on my blogs, I deliberately use language that people are going to search for when they’re looking for answers. Otherwise, nobody would ever find anything! It is not common language to use terms like “disability inclusion”. Therefore, to engage you in the first place, I will use the language that you will be typing. However, as you will know from content written, awareness is just the start; inclusion is what we will do together.

Why are you focusing on disability?

This is not a trick question. For many organisations, disability is not an obvious priority. For many organisations it is a far 3rd after persons of colour (POC) and women. Although there are many reasons that this may be the case, we will not go into that in this article.

As a disability inclusion expert, I of course am going to champion disability for being a top priority as it should for many reasons including the fact that the prevalence of disability is growing and disability is diverse and intersectional. By this, I mean that as a disabled person, within the realms of disability alone, I identify as a physically disabled wheelchair user with limited mobility and extra care support needs. That is not even getting into all the ways I identify beyond my disability.

You might be looking to create a more inclusive recruitment process that extends the talent pool pipeline of potential candidates. Or understand more about what the physical barriers to the built environment are that stop disabled people physically accessing and therefore feeling included in the workplace. It may be developing the routes to engagement on your website.

Finding your reasons

This isn’t something that you should feel you have to do alone. After all, this is part of what your trainer is for! As well as your trainer, you can utilise your assets. By this, I’m talking about your employees. They will definitely have an opinion. As we discussed above, disability is intersectional. Therefore, just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. This also means that you will need more than one experience to help you find your reasons.

So… Here are some of the ways you may want to get started:

Co-creating and co-designing

Co-creating and co-designing is where every user group comes together to design the outcome. Everyone in the room has the same level of agency, access to the same tangible and intangible resources and information. Co-creating a service or training session with your disabled and non-disabled employees ensures everyone’s experiences are heard and implemented into the structure and outcomes for the session.

Equality impact assessments

Equality (or equity) impact assessments are used to audit policies, documents and any process within the organisation from strategy to operational. They are designed to assess the impact on the workforce and/or customer base in terms of equality, fairness, diversity and inclusion. After completing an equality impact assessment, you will have a better idea on what needs to be improved and where to start.

Your delegates

Don’t forget to ask your intended delegates what they would like to receive from their disability awareness session. Many of the time, the delegates attending and participating in the session are operational and strategic staff. Having insight into what it is like working within the organisation on a daily basis and/or working with disabled customers will really help to shape the delivery of the training.

Ask the audience

There are many ways that you can instantly ask your audience for feedback. Understand how they are getting on, whether they feel included and what they feel needs to be improved. This will be a really easy and simple step to help you create your goals for your disability awareness training.

If you would like to talk informally about how we can support you to implement some of the suggestions above and to deliver disability awareness sessions within your organisation, speak to Esi. You can do this easily by clicking here.

Choose to Challenge Positively

Choosing to Challenge is not always that easy

Yesterday was International Women’s Day and the theme is “Choose to Challenge”. Now, don’t get me wrong. I think this is a really good theme for a day that is all about empowering others. However, I think that the statement “Choose to Challenge” leaves room for interpretation. Not least of all, it assumes that the individual that is choosing to challenge has the confidence and the psychological safety to do so.

It assumes that the person doing the challenging, has the capacity to articulate in a way that is going to be understood by the receiver.

The other thing about Choosing to Challenge when you are not confident to is that all of your energy is taken up on speaking and saying the words. A big part of positively challenging somebody’s perceptions is how we come across. How we hold ourselves – our body language, the terms and vocabulary we use and our literal tone the voice. Without confidence, this all goes out the window. If you are not a speaker, imagine the feeling of having to get up in front of a room of people and present an idea. How do you think it will come across? Perhaps you will stutter your words. Perhaps you will look uncomfortable, perhaps you won’t look at the audience and you will rush through your slides. This is what will happen to an individual who is not confident but feels as though they have to challenge.

I don’t doubt the people behind the campaign slogan had all the intentions of the campaign message receiver to do this at their own safety and with their own autonomy. But reading the campaign slogan alone does not suggest this.

I wish I was more like others – others are very good at taking pictures when hosting an event. This shows everybody what they’re doing and it is not harmful from a marketing perspective either! I am rubbish at selfies. I think about them far too late in the day when everybody has left the event.

Being a good ally

However, a couple of weeks ago I ran a talk for LiveWest – here is what they said about the event. The talk was on being a good disability ally. During that talk, I spoke about the importance and the ways to go about being an ally for disabled people. The message was that you don’t have to have experienced something to be a good ally, you must be willing to listen and learn from the individual to understand what support they need from you. Sometimes that support can be challenging a bias. Sometimes it can just be listening and being somebody that someone else can bounce an idea off. This is definitely what I found helpful from allies in the past.

A good ally can support an individual to develop the confidence to challenge in a positive, successful way. This brings both parties along the journey to learn something for and about themselves. So let’s explore the notion of supporting another person to develop confidence and to articulate feelings.

Understanding and articulating feelings

There is a model of counselling called person centred counselling. Unlike some others such as psychodynamic counselling, it stays in the conscious and does not venture into the unconscious. For example, everything discussed is what the patient already is aware of about themselves. The principle is that the counsellor holds up a mirror to reflect back to the patient what they cannot see for themselves. In person centred counselling, active listening is utilised. The main principles of active listening are reflecting, summarising and paraphrasing. Using these skills, an ally can support an individual to understand the situation and to articulate the feelings that are revoked.

Supporting development of confidence

It’s not always easy to have confidence. For people that are confident, it is sometimes tempting to say “just have the confidence”. However, this is because it is not an issue for us. Or even if it is, we are very good at covering it. My motto in life has always been “fake it until you make it” and I am very good at compartmentalising. I’m very good at leaving things at the door and returning to them later. This may have been a result of studying as a psychodynamic counsellor where I was taught to leave things at the door. My mantra is quite often “what’s the worst that can happen?” Most of the time I am right. The worst thing that can happen is that somebody says no.

However, for many people this is so much more easily said than done. Experience might tell people that it never works out the way they want it to. It may actually end up 10 times worse. Mental health impairments might be a huge factor in a persons ability to feel confident. Personal backgrounds, family experiences for example, might be ones where people have said that it is not worth trying. These examples and many more are why people do not have the confidence to speak up for themselves when otherwise they might.

We, as allies, can support this by understanding and empathising with the person’s situation. We can utilise active listening to support us when learning where the other person is coming from.

It doesn’t have to be done by the individual

In social care, often, the term “independence” is twisted to mean something that it doesn’t. It is utilised as an excuse when trying to get out of paying for a disabled person’s support. Time and time again as disabled people we here: you wanted to be independent so I don’t need to help you”. The suggestion being that if you’re independent, you can do it yourself. However, this is not what independence is. Part of being independent is having the autonomy and personal authority to be able to ask for support when you need it, the way you need it. And this is sometimes the role of the ally.

It may be to support your colleague/friend/coworker to understand we don’t have to do it alone. They might want you to attend a meeting with them or even to have the meeting or the conversation on their behalf.

So, perhaps instead of internalising the idea of Choosing to Challenge alone, the slogan can evolve to say: supporting each other to feel valued. Not as punchy but perhaps a little more accurate.

Disability Inclusive Cultures – Where To Start

Starting your disability inclusive culture as you mean to go on

When it comes to disability inclusion, it is important to have the right culture in place. This will enable organisational growth, a sense of belonging and true engagement and inclusion required for developing a disability inclusive culture.

Did you know, depending on where you look, it can take between 2 and 7 years to change a culture? Predominantly because when a culture is already embedded, it takes awhile for people to change behaviours, thought patterns and processes. Those inbuilt, systemic, learnt behaviours can be hard to break. However, whilst there are definitely no “quick fixes”, there are “quick wins” to make the journey a little less arduous.

Many organisations I work with through Celebrating Disability know that they want to be inclusive of disabled people and they want to develop the culture of inclusion for all, they’re just not sure where to start. The barrier that stops them knowing where to start is not really understanding why. Understanding why is the key fundamental to unlocking the how and the what. Because it’s how we drive forward as human beings to achieve anything. I know for a fact that I don’t do anything without a reason. When the reason is meaningful to me, it is sustainable and enjoyable to complete the tasks associated.

I used to run drama workshops for adults with learning disabilities. I really enjoyed the time I spent doing this. One thing I learnt very quickly was that that people need to be supported to understand why they would participate in such a workshop. For me, a person who is able to holistically think of the situation and the pros and cons of that situation, it was easy for me to think about why I was there and what I was getting out of it. But for the people I was working with, this was not as simple. Through a series of questions and answers and activities, we were able to work it out together. After we did this, everybody enjoyed themselves and participated because they knew why they were there. More importantly, everyone wanted to be there.

For individuals to understand their why is slightly different to organisations understanding their why. The former relies on one person making a decision. The latter relies on a community making a decision. This, understandably, has its own complications. Let’s explore some of the areas to consider:

Getting to grips with the fundamentals of your inclusive culture

There’s no point in doing anything unless you know why it needs to be done. As we have just explored. So, here are a few starter questions you may want to consider: Why is it important to be inclusive? Why do disabled people need to feel included? What are the ways that people don’t feel included? How are disabled people not included? What would need to happen for disabled people to feel included? What does this mean when disabled people don’t feel included?

Answering these questions will help you have a starting point.

Ensuring everyone can engage

Is not up to a small group of people to have all the answers. The more people involved in the conversation, the more representative of your community the outcome will be. The more stakeholders who can engage in the process, the more likely you will be to find a holistic solution that works for you, your organisation and other people interacting with your organisation. I.e., customers. Utilise many different tools and avenues to engage with as many people and stakeholders as possible. Celebrating Disability blogs cover many ways you can do this and many things you may like to think about. Try this blog and this blog for a start.

Removing systems that oppress

A person can only engage if they feel safe and welcomed to do so. For disability, a very simple visual representation of this is the following:

If a building has step free access meaning that a wheelchair user can enter but once inside the building, the staff and the other guests ignore that disabled person, then oppression has not been removed.

It is our responsibility as leaders and colleagues to support a disabled person to feel valued and included. How is your organisation supporting the celebration of difference and opinion?

A Self Assessment Solution

The Disability Inclusion ScoreCard is designed to help you consider where you are in your disability inclusion journey. By answering 20 easy to answer questions, you will receive an instant evaluation of where you are now and what the quick winds are for you to take your organisation to the next disability inclusion step.

Accessible Online Events – 6 Quick & Easy Tips

In This Blog: Ensuring you are always hosting accessible online events will support participants to feel engaged, welcome and included regardless of their access requirement.

Quick links

We are all working to keep in contact with our colleagues, employees, friends and family.  Many people are getting to grips with online platforms as a way of ensuring that we can still feel engaged, and part of society. This is working well for many people and in many cases disabled people.  There have been many studies that have shown over the past few months that for many disabled people in the workplace, remote working and online events have been a positive experience:

  • Remote working has helped people to feel less isolated 
  • Disabled people have felt more included and engaged in the workplace culture 
  • Disabled people have felt more productive as they have all their requirements around them 
  • Online events have enabled disabled people to attend and participate. These are often events that people would not have been able to otherwise access 

However, in order to ensure this can remain reality, online events must continue to be inclusive and accessible for disabled people.  I have attended many meetings as a participant and read many articles about how to host a successful online events and meetings. Often these do not consider the needs of disabled people.   The results of these are less engagement of your disabled audience; whether they be customers, employees or potential candidates.  As discussed in an earlier blog, if it is accessible and inclusive of disabled people, it is accessible and inclusive for everyone.  

Engagement during your online event

As hosts of online events and training sessions, we strive to ensure we are engaging as many participants as possible.  We strategise to ensure participation and to make sure that people are alert in order to receive the information we are giving.  We encourage (and sometimes insist) that participants and attendees turn their cameras on. We often don’t consider that accessibility is not just about the physical elements. 

 This is especially true when we are talking about digital platforms.  We must be mindful of those with mental health impairments.  Impairment such as these may not need physical access adaptions.  Instead, an inclusive and mindful approach to how we expect others to interact in our sessions.  This will go a long way to ensuring someone feels safe and confident to engage and interact. 

Quick & easy tips for your accessible online events

Below are 6 quick and easy tips to ensure your online events are accessible and inclusive for disabled people:

Meet access requirements 

This is a relatively obvious one but is often not covered.  The question can be easily inserted and embedded into many of the pre-existing processes.  Perhaps one of the main reasons for this is an assumption that the access requirements people request will not be feasible for the host to deliver.  The reality is, many of the access requirements disabled people request are easy and cheap/free to source.  We will talk about many of these further in this blog. Much of the time, many of the more expensive requirements have already been sourced by the disabled person themselves. 

Ensuring your participants can tell you about any requirements they may need is discussed in another blog.  There are several touch points where you can ask the question. The most important thing is that you are proactive in showing people that you are willing to make your digital event as possible. 

Some key stages to ask the question are: 

  • On the registration page 
  • In the confirmation email and any reminder emails 
  • At the beginning of the session.  This question can be asked as part of general housekeeping

I remind participants that I have my own access requirements that I need them to be mindful of.  I offer them the opportunity to tell me in the chat or in a private message about any requirements they would like me to consider during the session. 

In order for people to tell you about their access requirements, it would help them if you could outline the main elements of the session.  This is not to say you will have to go into content.  However, the more information you can give about what will happen, the more informed participants will be to tell you about anything they require. 

Support participants to engage

I have witnessed many confirmation and reminder emails that have insisted I have my camera on throughout the online event.  For me, this is not an issue.  I feel comfortable and happy to have my camera on and to engage and interact in the discussions.  However, for many, this is not the case.  There are many reasons why this may be an issue for some people. To name a few examples:

  • Unfamiliarity and lack of confidence with digital equipment
  • Unfamiliarity with the other people in the room
  • Anxiety around the subject

Another factor to consider is the subject matter you are discussing.  A colleague Sarah Burrell and I delivered a workshop to Southampton University on disability awareness and mental health.  As our training styles are interactive, we were aware the subjects we were discussing were personal and maybe for some people, difficult subjects to talk about.  Whilst encouraging people to turn their cameras and microphones on, we were aware that people may not want to do that so offered them alternative solutions.  We designed these to enable participants to interact whilst remaining comfortable.  As a result of offering this alternative way, as the session developed, more participants felt able to interact by turning cameras on and speaking through the microphone.    

Insistence from the host to have cameras and microphones on may also create a physical barrier for some.  I know several people with speech impairments who to a differing factor, feel uncomfortable speaking aloud on a digital platform.  This is especially true when nobody on the online meeting platform knows each other. One colleague always prefers to type in the chat box as for him, he’s more confident his message will be delivered clearly and precisely. 

There are many reasons why people may not feel confident to interact via camera and microphone.  The reasons listed above are just examples of a few.  However, what is clear is that there are several preferred methods to engage.  As hosts, it is our responsibility to support our participants to feel confident to participate in whatever way is meaningful for them.  The more you can show your participants you are mindful of alternative methods, the more confident they will feel; encouraging microphones and cameras to be switched on.  

 “Mute yourself when you’re not talking” 

This one seems obvious doesn’t it?  At a time when there are children in the background, washing machines going, people working in other rooms and general background noise, it is sensible to ask participants to mute themselves when they are not talking.  In a room with many participants, you may be tempted to ask people to raise their hands – digitally via the online platform or physically via their hand when they would like to talk. 

This request can inadvertently create an unnecessary barrier for some.  One example of this may be a participant who for whatever reason cannot access the mute button.  I have been to several online events where this request has been made.  However, this is made under the assumption that people can access the buttons on the screen.  If your participants cannot access that button or if they cannot see that button, they cannot mute.

 In other blogs, I have talked about why disabled people may not disclose a disability.  By asking people to mute when not talking, you are inadvertently forcing an individual to disclose a requirement.  For people who are unfamiliar with the platform, asking them to mute themselves may simply be a challenging request as they cannot find the button.  Unnecessary time is then reassigned to supporting people to locate the buttons they need.  This limits the time that you as the host has to spend on your content. It could also create concern or anxiety for the participant who cannot find the button.  A feasible alternative to this is to ask people to mute themselves if they are able to. 

Be mindful that when you muting participants from your end, it may create a barrier for those with access requirements if they would like to speak.  Considering that for many, accessing the buttons can be a challenge, they will not be able to raise their hands, or write in the chat box.  Therefore, they will not be able to actively participate in the session. 

Share screen and slide decks 

As a host, I have taken on best practice within Celebrating Disability to read aloud content on the screen as standard.  In turn, whether in an online meeting or face-to-face, every participant can access and understand the content on the screen.  If I had a participant with dyslexia, or a participant with a sight impairment, they would not have to inform me beforehand.  This also forces me to be selective with the content on each slide; if I write reams and reams of information, I will be reading for ever. Similarly, my participants will be disengaged as the slides will not hold their attention.

I also try to keep images to a minimum; especially images that replace text.  In an online setting, and indeed a face-to-face setting, I would have to describe each image in detail to ensure that every participant can understand what is being portrayed in the image.  

If you are able to invite people to tell you about their access requirements on registration, participants may ask you to send the slide deck ahead of the session.  This is often an access requirement that can help people who have sight impairments.  Screen readers can then be utilised to interpret content and images in the slides or to simply enlarge the text.  Offering this service to participants will help with engagement.

Consider captions 

As a result of a request, I was able to source a service that could offer closed captioning throughout my live events.  This service enabled participants with hearing impairments to participate and engage in the sessions I was delivering.  I have since seen the service pop-up at several points on the Internet over the last few months. 

There are several ways to embed live close captions to your events that do not have to be very expensive. The service that I use is through a company called TakeNote.  There is a close caption feature embedded within PowerPoint.  This How To video on YouTube will show you how to turn live captions on your PowerPoint presentation. 

You don’t need to have all the answers 

It’s not always possible or even necessary to know all the answers straight away. However, what makes a difference is a willingness to be agile and think outside the box to meet individual needs.  Recently, I participated in a training session hosted by The Business Speakeasy.  The online session I attended was designed to support trainees to develop engagement strategies for online training.  The session was brilliant, I would highly recommend it!  

During the session, there were a couple of activities that were inaccessible for me to complete using the method prescribed by the trainers.  Some of these activities were pre-warned and somewhere on the spot.  The trainers created an environment where I as a disabled person felt confident to request an alternative method.  Each time, the trainers very competently found alternative ways for me to participate in a meaningful way.  Sometimes this involved consultation with myself and sometimes they already had an alternative up their sleeve! 

Have you heard about the Disability Inclusion Community? A brand-new online membership community designed specifically for professionals working to develop disability inclusion in their workplace. Join live sessions, engage and interact in the community forum and benefit from a library of resources. Click here to see how your organisation can benefit

Does Disability Inclusion Exclude Others?

In This Blog: disability inclusion is possible for everyone in every business with every level of impairment. Here we will dispel the myth that it is not possible

The Cambridge Dictionary defines inclusion as:

“the idea that everyone should be able to use the same facilities, take part in the same activities, and enjoy the same experiences, including people who have a disability or other disadvantage”

We’ll revisit the idea that disability is a disadvantage in another article.  Although the definition is clear, many people are still pondering how to include everyone in an activity/event.  If you have read this article you may have some ideas. But, is it possible?  What do you think?  How, when disability is so varied and unique to the individual is it possible to be inclusive of everyone? 

I think we need to start with tackling the assumption that we need to do all the work ourselves to ensure disability inclusion.  Yes, as the event host/employer/responsible party, we need to take ownership and initiative over ensuring everyone feels included.  However, this does not necessarily mean that we have to have all the answers.  After all, if everybody is unique, how is that even possible?  Unless you are a mind reader.  

Is disability inclusion another form of exclusion?

I have heard people say to me “well in order to be inclusive we are actually excluding others”.  This is really not the case.  To use a fairly obvious and popular example:  if there was a ramp up to a building instead of a flight of stairs, it does not mean that non-disabled people cannot get to the top.  However, it does mean that a wheelchair user will be able to get to the top.  The same principle applies to what we are talking about here.  If you make it inclusive for the majority, the people who do not need the extra thought will still successfully be able to manage. 

Ensuring disability inclusion takes a little bit of research and preparation.  In the case of an online event, you cannot expect that every single one of your participants attending will not need any extra support or any adjustments made to the style of your presentation. After all, many disabilities are hidden and undisclosed.  It does not necessarily have to be difficult; for example, somebody with ADHD may struggle to concentrate in a webinar lasting longer than one hour.  Therefore, adding in a few extra breaks, a few activities to break up the session would support that specific participant to successfully participate and engage.   

Recently, I discovered on PowerPoint, on the slideshow, you can turn on automatic closed captions.  This means that participants with a hearing impairment will be able to follow along and understand what is being said.  

Those are just a couple of examples of how you can ensure the majority of participants can engage in your event.  However, returning to what I was saying earlier, there are ways to encourage your participants to tell you their access requirements. 

Wait for it:  Ask them!  Yes, it really is that simple.  By asking the question, you are hearing from people themselves about the support they need to engage and participate.  You’ll need to do some groundwork in order to encourage people to feel confident about telling you.  You need to show that you are genuine.  There are many ways to do this and they do not have to be time-consuming or expensive.  A simple statement when asking the question will go a long way to support people to understand why you are doing what you’re doing.  

Oh no wait, it’s that terminology barrier again.  The fear of offending a disabled person by asking the question in the wrong way often prevents people from opening a dialogue.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to ask about somebody’s disability to find out if they have any access requirements.  A simple question is:

“Do you have any access requirements you would like me to be aware of?” 

However, how can the individual answer the question if they don’t know what is going to be happening?  It would be like me saying to you: how should I grow my audience?  You will need some context to answer the question; who I am? What’s my business?  What’s the product/service that I am trying to sell?  Which market am I trying to sell in? What is the target demographic? And so on and so forth.  

Offering context is beneficial

Whilst inclusivity and accessibility are not necessarily the same thing, they are not always exclusive either. As a wheelchair user, if someone asks me about my access requirements, I need to know if the building has step free accessibility before answering the question. If the building does not have step free access, I cannot be 100% included. Offering your potential participants some context will go a long way to helping them answer the question. Explain what you were going to be doing, how long you’re going to be doing it for, if it is a live venue, the venue.  Any breaks, essentially the more information you can offer an individual about what will be happening, the more they will be able to answer your question about any support they may need. 

Where and at what stage are you going to ask the question?  You can ask this question at many stages in the participants journey to your event:  

  • At registration 
  • In follow-up, confirmation emails/conversations 
  • Wherever you are promoting your event – alongside the information of the event, you can have some information about accessibility and inclusion. This could include contact information of the team/person that can be contacted for support or more information 
  • Following the event – many organisations (including my own) ask for feedback.  This is a great opportunity to ask about the inclusiveness of the event.  You could ask as a general question to all your audience members but also you could ask a specific question to people who benefited from your event’s inclusiveness.  Once again, without asking about a person’s disability, you could ask a question similar to the one above.  If the participant answers “yes”, they can be redirected to a couple more questions.  These questions could ask about their experience; how they found the general information, how they found the communication, how they found the event to be inclusive.  

After gathering all of this information, don’t throw it away, return to it and analyse the data.  What could you improve on next time?  What are your learnings?  What went well? 

If you don’t see any results first time, this does not mean that this was not a success or that it was unnecessary.  If customers and employees are not used to seeing these kinds of questions or actions from you, it may take a while for the trust to settle in.  It may also mean that because of the effort you put in at the beginning, there was no need for anyone to come forward.  However, the more you practice the above, the more people will approach you and give you feedback. 

Celebrating Disability Best Practice

Below are the Celebrating Disability best practice guidelines that are utilise when hosting any event to ensure inclusion:

Pre-event

  • Access requirement questions in registration 
  • Proof of genuineness and authenticity (on the Celebrating Disability website) – it’s not always about what you say, it’s what you do 
  • Pre-event questionnaire – an opportunity for participants to tell me anonymously about any access requirements they may have

During event

  • Describing and reading content on all slides and material presented

Post event

  • Inclusion questions in survey 

Is there anything else that I’m missing that you are doing to be inclusive in your events?  Share them in the comments. 

Assistive Technology in the Workplace

In This Blog: Assistive technology consists of systems and equipment; including physical devices and software. They are designed to maintain or increase performance for disabled people.

Disabled people in the UK face disproportionately high unemployment rates, with 53% unemployed compared to only 23% of non-disabled people.

Looking to leadership positions, the situation is even more stark – a survey of 1000 business leaders showed that 89% were apprehensive about recruiting disabled people to senior positions. The same survey found that two thirds did not know any disabled people in leadership roles. This is despite the fact that nearly 20% of the working-age population has some form of disability.

Accessibility and assistive technology

A major reason for this is that many workplaces do not set disabled people up to succeed. Accessibility issues are a significant barrier to work, including a lack of special aids and equipment.  Given the pivotal role that IT plays in most jobs, it is vital that computer workstations are made accessible for people with a range of disabilities.

Assistive technology can help to bridge the gap. 

Just as technology across the board has improved exponentially in recent years, so too has assistive technology. With proper implementation, this can open many new doors for disabled people in the workplace, regardless of impairment. 

Physical Disability and Motor Skills Impairment

Conditions that limit range of movement and muscular control, including quadriplegia, paraplegia, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, tendonitis, arthritis and amputations.

Speech recognition software

This software can replace conventional peripherals for individuals with dexterity limitations. The user can navigate a computer using only speech commands to access documents, programs and applications.

Alternative keyboards and pointing devices

There are a wide variety of keyboards and alternative pointing devices (used instead of a standard mouse) to aid computer accessibility. Common variants include split keyboards, keyboards that allow key activation via sliding rather than pressing. Also, the trackball mouse. This is controlled through a movable ball on top of the device.

Adaptive switches 

Often used in concord with the above, adaptive switches aid in using computers and other technology. These can be activated using the head, mouth, arms, legs, or whatever suits the capabilities of the individual. Common options include the head wand and mouth stick.

Sip-and-puff systems

Sip-and-puff systems behave much like a joystick, controlling movement in any direction via the mouth. They are a highly versatile option for people with paralysis or fine motor disabilities, and in addition to wheelchair movement can be used to type and operate a computer or mobile device.

Cognition and Learning Disabilities 

Conditions which impact cognitive capabilities such as memory, concentration and organisation, including dyslexia, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury. 

Cueing/memory aids

These are used to aid individuals who have trouble recalling certain information and provide reminders about events like appointments (when to do something) and steps to complete work tasks (how to do something). 

Word prediction software

This software helps individuals to select or recall appropriate language. It predicts logical words, corrects grammar and can even improve sentence structure by analysing the contextual meaning within a piece of writing. 

Blindness and Visual Impairment

Conditions which impact vision, including glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, retinopathy; ranging from partial visual impairment to total blindness. 

Screen magnifiers 

Screen magnification systems follow the mouse cursor as it moves along the screen and enlarges the text and images around it. Certain variants also magnify the mouse pointer, text cursor and icons. 

Screen readers 

Screen readers interpret data that is being displayed on a computer screen and represent it as braille, text-to-speech or sound icons. They are highly configurable and can be adjusted to meet their user’s needs, including the option to announce punctuation or ignore it. Some screen readers also have scripting capabilities, meaning they can be optimised to function with individual programmes or applications. 

Speech synthesisers 

Speech synthesisers are text-to-speech systems, and are available in many forms, including as a portable device that can be attached to a computer or as software that uses a PC’s built-in sound card. While commonly associated with flat and robotic voices, advancing technology – including the ability to interpret phonemes and all grammatical rules – have enabled increasingly lifelike language reproduction.

Deaf and Hearing Impairment 

Conditions which impact hearing, including otosclerosis and tinnitus; ranging from inability to hear certain volumes, tones and frequencies to total deafness.

Alerting devices

These devices translate audio signals (such as alarms or notification sounds) into visual ones like flashing lights, tactile ones like vibrations, or a combination of both. 

Bluetooth hearing aids

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that can be installed in hearing aid and cochlear implants. This substantially improves audibility when directly connected to a computer or mobile device.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)

CART involves adding real-time captions to live events (i.e. that are not pre-scripted). While the setup is generally too costly at present for day-to-day proceedings, it’s a fantastic way to make video conferences or seminars more accessible, both for internal events and those available to the public.

Communication Impairments

Conditions that limit or prohibit speech, including stuttering, voice impairments, and articulation impairments.

Voice Amplifiers 

Voice amplifiers are used by individuals who are able to articulate, but not at an easily audible level. They amplify the volume of the user’s voice and can be used in-person or connected to a computer.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication aids (AAC)

There are a wide range of technologies which aid in communication, including Speech Generating Devices. A common and versatile option uses text-to-speech, where the user types messages, often accelerated by word prediction and abbreviation expansion, and the device converts the text to speech. This can be used for in-person or online meetings. 

While computer accessibility is currently a challenge for many disabled people, the latest assistive technologies have the power to invert the situation. Such technologies can augment existing capabilities and enable each individual to properly utilise their unique talents. In the past, many barriers to work for disabled people seemed insurmountable. Today, truly equal opportunity employment – including in leadership positions – is finally realisable. 

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