Creating Inclusive Workplaces for All | Catarina Rivera | TEDxRolandPark
Nawal Sharabati, a disabled Latina woman, argues that employers should focus on building universally accessible and inclusive workplace cultures rather than pressuring disabled employees to disclose their disabilities. She supports this by citing that over half of the workforce is disabled, and suggests implementing simple practices like closed captions and pre-meeting agendas benefits everyone. The ultimate takeaway is that disability inclusion is a competitive advantage, not charity, and it must be built-in from the start.
## Speakers & Context
- Nawal Sharabati — speaker; holds two graduate degrees (education and public health); founded an active food justice nonprofit in New York City in 2016; international traveler and public speaker; identifies as a proud, disabled Latina woman.
- Context: Sharing personal experience of a job interview in midtown New York City seven years prior to the talk.
## Theses & Positions
- For disclosing a disability in an interview, it is not always the best policy because employers may assume limitations without understanding lived experience.
- The critical question for leaders is not *"What can we do to get more disabled employees to disclose?"* but *"How might we create a workplace culture that is accessible and inclusive for everyone?"*
- Disability inclusion is not charity or compliance; it is a competitive advantage.
- By making accessibility built-in from the beginning, workplaces benefit everyone, reducing the need for disabled employees to overwork to adapt.
- Disability is a natural, normal, and common part of human diversity.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Usher syndrome:** Condition causing blindness, leaving the speaker with about 5% of vision remaining and the need for a white cane.
- **ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act):** Law passed in 1990 that provides protection from workplace discrimination due to disability.
- **Disability Inclusion:** The practice of designing workplaces and systems to be fully accessible and accommodating for all employees, benefiting the entire workforce.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Simulating an Interview:** Used a physical narrative detailing the process of navigating an unfamiliar building (scanning for elevators, slow walking, touching chair seats) to illustrate sensory challenges when lacking peripheral vision.
- **Employment Recommendation:** Interviewed disability employment lawyers who advised that disabled people should not disclose disabilities until after they are hired, if at all possible.
- **Proactive Accessibility:** Implementing universal design principles (e.g., captions, agendas) means the workplace design itself accommodates diverse needs before the employee needs to disclose.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **2016:** Started a food justice nonprofit in New York City.
- **1990:** Passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
- **2018:** CDC data indicating one in four adults in the United States is disabled.
- **2019:** Harvard Business Review article citing a study finding that only 21% of disabled employees disclosed to HR.
- **2021:** U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing disabled people were about two times more likely to be unemployed than non-disabled people.
## Named Entities
- **New York City** — location where the speaker started her nonprofit and experienced the interview.
- **Harvard Business Review** — publication cited regarding employee disclosure rates.
- **CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)** — source cited for the 2018 disability statistics.
- **U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics** — source cited regarding unemployment rates in 2021.
## Numbers & Data
- **5%** — remaining usable vision due to Usher syndrome.
- **1990** — year the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed.
- **21%** — percentage of disabled employees who disclosed to HR, according to a 2019 HBR study.
- **One in four** — fraction of adults in the United States who are disabled (2018 CDC data).
- **Two times** — multiplier indicating how much more likely disabled people were to be unemployed than non-disabled people (2021 BLS data).
## Examples & Cases
- **Interview Navigation Simulation:** The process of finding an office building, scanning for elevators, entering a lobby, walking slowly due to lack of peripheral vision, and confirming the chair seat by hand.
- **Successful Practices (Inclusive):**
- Closed captions (benefits hard of hearing, those with ADHD, auditory processing disorders, English language learners, tired/distracted people).
- Sending out meeting agendas in advance (helps deaf/hard of hearing follow conversation, aids introverted employees, gives time to process information).
- Sending out meeting notes/summary after a meeting (helps those with memory issues/learning disabilities, helps busy people).
- **Disabilities listed as examples:** ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, chronic illness, cerebral palsy, maffuucci syndrome, depression, anxiety, diabetes, chronic migraines.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- Common suggestion: Disabled people should always disclose their disability in the interview process.
- Problem with this advice: Discrimination is so common that many disabled people cannot afford to wait and need immediate income.
- The concept of "honesty is the best policy" fails when a disability itself is the reason for being rejected.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Employers and leaders must accept that disabled employees are already part of the workforce and that their work is valuable.
- The primary focus should be on creating an accessible and inclusive culture from the start, rather than pressuring disclosure.
- Make accessibility a foundational element of the organization's design, as this benefits everyone.
## Implications & Consequences
- If employers fail to create inclusive environments, disabled employees are forced into "survival mode," constantly overworking rather than thriving.
- By prioritizing inclusion, companies harness the problem-solving nature of disabled employees, viewing it as a net gain, not a cost.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"I have about 5% of my vision remaining due to Usher syndrome. I see the world through a little box like this."*
- *"We don’t want to bump into anybody by accident, because we don’t have peripheral vision and can’t see to the sides."*
- *"I bet you’ve heard that honesty is the best policy, but is it really the best policy when it comes to disclosing a disability when that could be the reason you don’t get hired?"*
- *"I need to work, I need a job to pay for my expenses, I can’t afford to lose these opportunities."*
- *"Instead of asking our disabled employees to disclose, how might we create a workplace culture that is accessible and inclusive for everyone?"*
- *"Disability inclusion - it’s not charity or compliance; it is a competitive advantage."*
- *"Knowing why someone needs a certain kind of support is not as important as actually providing that support."*
- *"We’re right next to you. We’re in front of you. We’re on stage giving TEDx talks."*