NDEAM - Celebrating the Able, Not Just the Label
Written by Ned Zimmerman-Bence, Co-Founder of GogyUpAs we noted last week October is a crowded month for celebration and awareness. In fact, it's impossible to highlight all the causes and celebrations that mesh with our mission each week - there just aren't enough weeks in October! But of the many important causes that seek increased public awareness this month, three stand out for us because they intersect at the heart of GogyUp's mission and highlight the role technology can have in improving life and society:
These three have clear connections to each other but they also have a strong connection to another October celebration: National Manufacturing Day and Manufacturing Month in several states: IL, CA, MN, and elsewhere.
But before we ramble on, we should be clear that our understanding of any cause continues to develop. Just like any group of inquisitive learners, we never stop learning. Please help us expand our knowledge by sending comments, suggestions and corrections to us: comment@gogyup.com
Last week we dove into how dyslexia and health literacy intersect. This week we zoom out from one disability, dyslexia, to consider all disabilities and flip to employment to consider how individuals with disabilities are the triple threat: tenacious, innovative, and dedicated people who make the world better for everyone - as problem solvers and as employees.
Why a Month to Celebrate Disabilities in Employment
The UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines those for whom it advocates as “people who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”
NDEAM is just one month that celebrates what goes on all the time - but at far too little a scale, and at grave peril for far too many employers. NDEAM is therefore an opportunity to amplify the everyday and highlight what employers and business are missing when they don't consider disabilities in hiring practices. In fact, in their 2020 report on the Global Economics of Disability, the Return on Disability (ROD) Group found that only 4% of surveyed companies considered disability awareness in their hiring practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Really? Only 4% of companies consider disabilities in their hiring and DEI? That provides a huge advantage to that select few sensible enough to include 18% of the U.S. working-age population in their pool of prospective talent, especially in a period of chronic and prolonged labor shortage.
What else are companies missing when they exclude disability from DEI and hiring?
Thirteen to some may be an unlucky number. However, a meta-analysis of 39 studies conducted between 1997 and 2017 revealed 13 consistent benefits from hiring people with disabilities (PWD), including:
improved profits
increased cost-effectiveness
greater employee retention
greater employee reliability and punctuality
greater employee loyalty
burnished employee company image
increased number of diverse customers
greater customer loyalty
higher customer satisfaction
increased innovation
improved productivity
stronger employee work ethic
heightened safety awareness
Such a list of benefits shouldn't be surprising. To have a disability is to constantly problem solve and win. As Richard Pimentel, the celebrated disability rights activist, often states: "adversity is a teacher and with every adversity there's opportunity." It just takes a little time in an immersive experience that mimics the loss or decrease of hearing, sight, movement, speech, cognition, etc., to make apparent the grit employees with disabilities bring to work each day.
The Curb Cut Effect - Not Just For Wheelchairs Anymore
Perhaps the greatest competitive advantage for companies who actively include disabilities in their workplace is the ability to have a future.
U.S. demographics point to a growing population with physical and cognitive disabilities as Baby Boomers continue to age. But it’s not just Baby Boomers who are adding to the population of PWD: millions of vets and COVID-19 long haulers will require new products, services, and accommodations to bring their full talents to work.
Disability awareness drives innovation that benefits everyone. Because the PWD population will comprise a greater share of all markets, it is also critical for company survival. Highly capable, tenacious workers will take their talents elsewhere and a company who remains ignorant of this population will be at risk of declining market success.
Universal design and the curb cut provide excellent guides for the future. Originally implemented to assist the mobility impaired, the curb cut has been a huge help to any parent pushing a stroller, road warriors pulling a week’s worth of clothes, or children learning to ride their bikes.
OMG PLS make no XXX - disabilities are the engine for innovation. Tapping out messages to anyone you know just doesn’t seem revolutionary. But who invented text transmission over phone lines when the auditory phone was the default means of communication? Robert Weitbrecht and Dr. James C. Marsters: two scientists who had the grit to achieve advanced degrees and honors despite discrimination against their deafness (Dr. Marsters was admitted to the New York University School of Dentistry on the condition that he receive no accommodation).
What innovations could employees with disabilities spark at their workplaces today? Especially with the population's shift to a more sizable older demographic with declining physical and cognitive abilities?
ADA, ADAAA, AT, and the USDA
As employers hire more and more employees with disabilities, universal access to information is critical to take full advantage of all employees' talents. It is also the law. Congress updated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 with the 2008 ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) that shifted the focus from an individual proving that one had a disability to whether or not that individual was discriminated against. The ADAAA also broadened the definition of a disability to ensure neurological impairments were included - including dyslexia. The ADA and ADAAA require employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled persons, including employees whose ability to learn, read, and process information is impaired. This requirement may become particularly tricky for employers as over 38,000,000 working-age adults lack functional literacy and nearly 20% of the population as a whole are estimated to have some form of dyslexia.
Fortunately, organizations such as the Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE), the Adult Skills Network, National Skills Coalition, and others are engaging with employers and adult education programs to provide skills training to employees and also expand the resources available to employers to make training and other important information accessible.
Assistive technology (AT), especially assistive-reading technology, developed for the workplace can have an impactful role as well. For example, the GogyUp Reader's assistive-reading technologies acts as that curb cut for information - making any document universally accessible - whether the employee is a fluent reader, has dyslexia, or is new to workplace English.
As a wonderful coincidence, GogyUp is implementing a USDA - NIFA SBIR Ph I study with our partners at Michigan State University. We are partnering with employers in rural areas who would like to trial GogyUp with their employees - at no cost.
This one pager explains GogyUp's technology and study.
Interested employers can sign up for more information here: https://bit.ly/usda-trial