Creating and fostering a workplace culture to drive disability inclusion

Hello everyone. Welcome to our IDEA Social 
Innovation lab webinar series. Uh we have a really

exciting talk for today. Uh before that I'll 
just introduce. My name is Dan Samosh. I'm with

Employment Relation Studies at Queens University. 
I'm also a part of the IDEA team. Uh these are our

IDEA webinars, and for today and going forward we 
have captions available and we also have French

interpretation available too. So, if you have any 
questions uh or if this isn't working for you,

the captions or the interpretation, please let 
us know. Uh we have the Q&A function as well

as the chat function and we'll do our best 
to make everything work. Uh also be aware,

if you know maybe you know someone who wanted to 
be here but they couldn't be, we will record uh

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online on the IDEA website. So check out the

webinars there. There are already some online 
now too. And we also share the slides for the

webinars if those should be helpful for you. For 
today's webinar, our format is one hour in total,

uh with a talk at the beginning from our speakers 
and then lots of time at the end for questions

from you. So when you do have questions, 
that can happen during the talk or after,

please just use the Q&A function, uh and we will 
repeat the questions back to the speakers as we go

along. We also have feedback mechanisms too. So at 
the end of the webinar, um please you know respond

to our survey on how we've done, if you have any 
feedback on accessibility, content, or otherwise,

uh and that's all kind of the housekeeping 
stuff from me. From there I'll just welcome

Kim Jeffreys and Francis Fung who are going to be 
talking about uh creating and fostering workplace

culture uh around disability inclusion today which 
I'm really excited for, so yeah please go ahead.

Thank you for joining us. So, today we're going 
to talk about why ad hoc inclusion efforts and

policies alone are insufficient in transforming 
the workplace experience for people with

disabilities, and why it's essential to cultivate 
and nurture a culture of disability inclusion.

So we're, Francis and I, are going to 
highlight key concepts for workplaces

to consider in their disability inclusion 
journey, and we're also going to discuss

strategies and intentional efforts that can 
foster a disability inclusive workplace culture.

So, in terms of our agenda, Francis will share 
why workplace culture change is essential for

disability inclusion. Um and then I'm going to 
detail why the social model of disability is

at the center of disability inclusion, 
how accessibility, universal design,

and destigmatized accommodation can work in 
harmony to drive disability inclusion, and then

I'll share some best practice tools to advance 
workplace disability inclusion before turning

it back to Francis. And Francis will address 
sustainability and accountability, measuring,

monitoring, uh and evaluating change, and, as Dan, 
said we'll have some time at the end for questions

and answers. Uh so just before we begin, I 
would like to thank Dr Tompa, Dr Gerwurtz,

and Logan Wong for the research they provided, and 
also Alec Farquhar and Amy Swenson-Tiano uh for

their review and feedback on this presentation. 
Uh and with that I will turn it over to Francis.

Okay great. Thanks Kim. I hope you can hear me. 
Um so we're gonna start with just talking a little

bit about what disability inclusion is about, and 
I believe that um most of us are probably quite

familiar with the concept of disability inclusion, 
the term. Um but applying the principles of

disability inclusion in employment settings is 
a bit different. Um what I'd like to point out

is um some principles about disability inclusion. 
So if you look at the Canada Disability Inclusion

Action Plan um there are three uh guiding 
principles: "nothing without us," a human rights

based approach, and intersectionality. Regarding 
"nothing without us," in my experience employers,

do think about respect and treating people fairly, 
but they may not think as much about creating and

fostering a workplace that is welcoming and 
empowering so people would want to be involved

and contribute. Ideally, employers and leaders 
need to find ways to proactively involve people

with disabilities in developing/implementing 
policies, programs, and services, and this

would also help the workplace to be accessible 
so people with disabilities can participate.

We're going to hear from Kim a little bit more 
about accessibility later on. Um we also need

to keep in mind that some people may prefer to be 
uh actively participating, um while some may just

want to be kept informed and offer choices. 
In terms of human rights, in my experience

many employers think about this from more 
of a legal perspective. If the human rights

based approach is not well understood, it can 
become employers obligations versus employees

employment rights and the focus can shift away 
from inclusion. Sometimes legal compliance can

be seen as what is the least that I need to do 
to fulfill my legal obligations, and that can

really create some significant barriers to a 
truly inclusive workplace. In fact, there are

some really interesting research out there that 
looks at employment support systems in countries

that rely heavily on that legal obligation. Um in 
some places where the quota model is kind of the

center, um the states mandate companies that they 
need to hire a certain percentage of people with

disabilities when their total number of employees 
exceed a certain threshold for example. Um and in

those model there are fines for non-compliance and 
the fines are reinvested in social programs which

are good, and there are data being collected 
um so that people can understand a little bit

about where the struck was made to hire people 
with disabilities. But these research shows

that the model, it's a quota model, may lead to 
success in increasing entry to employment but

there's very little interest in what happens 
after. With respects to intersectionality,

well intersectionality and diversity are not the 
same thing. Intersectional- um intersectionality

describe how different elements of a person's 
identity can be discriminated against. Examples

of this in employment settings are not limited to 
just the lower rates of hiring, but also include

wage inequality, lack of professional development 
and career advancement opportunities, and in some

cases even harassment and abuse. Also, having a 
diverse workforce doesn't mean intersectionality

is well addressed. Diversity and inclusion are 
also not the same. There are businesses out there

that appreciate diversity and have benefited from 
foreign workers and the diverse talents that they

bring, but the employees don't feel included. 
In fact, researchers indicate that disability

inclusion can be absent in diversity plans. 
In the United States, only 40% of corporate

diversity plans include disability, and only 
42% of Fortune 100 companies include disability

in their diversity statement. Increasing numbers 
of people disabilities being hired is not enough

for disability inclusion. People needs to feel 
supported, uh included, and engaged at work.

Job security and retention, as well as career 
development and promotion opportunities are

very crucial. There are lots of research out there 
that indicate that these factors lead to employee

engagement, and there are actually powerful 
indicators of how long someone can stay in a job,

regardless of job performance, which often is 
what employers and leaders are fixed stated on.

Okay. So, now we know about these principles but 
how do we get employees thinking about them and

then shift the workplace culture if needed. Well 
we need to talk about the benefits. Employers

are running businesses and they are naturally 
profit driven and we know that when working with

employers the charity model doesn't really work. 
Um can you still hear me? I think my headphone

just went off. Yes we do. Good yeah. Okay sorry, 
I just heard a beep. Um yeah so employer are

running businesses and they're naturally profit 
driven and we know that when're working with them

the charity model doesn't really work, because it 
compromises the rights of people with disabilities

and portrays people with disabilities as being 
reliant on others and not able to do things for

themselves. And this causes employers doubt in 
whether people with disabilities can do things

uh for themselves and can they, can they do the 
jobs in the competitive work settings. So we know

we have to build a business case, and obviously 
there's research that support this. We need to

demonstrate that there are benefits not only for 
hiring people with disabilities, but also benefits

for creating a disability-inclusive workplace 
where workers with or without disabilities can

strive and be successful. There are some company 
recognized benefits that are talked about quite

a bit. You know um access to a bigger pool of 
applicants, improved reputation, lower turnover,

and higher attendance, and there's an enhanced 
sense of corporate and social responsibility

as well. But to me, some of the lesser known 
benefits can really help change the conversation

and help maybe move the needle a bit. For example, 
disability inclusion has elements similar to those

of a healthy and safe workplace which is linked 
to higher employee engagement and productivity and

there's a lot of recent research on the topics 
of employee wellness and psychological safety.

Persons with disabilities have a positive effect 
on work, on co-workers as well and inclusion

contributes to loyalty because showing empathy 
and appreciation helps. And there's research

on loyalty being more challenging to find 
in the younger generations of workers now.

Okay, so we know about the benefits but we still 
need to be able to articulate to employers and

leaders what an organization culture is and how 
to facilitate change if need be. If you look

at the research, most scholars would agree that 
organizational culture is multi-dimensional and

multi-level construct. It's not just one 
thing that you can work on it is values,

beliefs, assumptions, and sometimes an informal 
system of control within an organization as well.

Paying attention to what the culture is like in an 
organization can help understand the behaviors of

the people within, and people who believe in what 
they do are generally more engaged. Unspoken norms

can become routine over time as well. One of the 
challenges about uh talking about work workplace

culture is that sometimes there's an expressed 
commitment to hire people with disability um

for an organization. It might even be a part 
of the mission statement and the philosophy

of that organization, but sometimes this goal 
is not consistent with the actual norms of the

organization where the physical environment for 
example remained intolerant and inaccessible um

to people with disabilities. So in other 
words, there can be really a disconnect

between what the culture of the organization 
is supposed to be and how it actually is.

So, so why now, why are we talking about 
culture change and and why is that shift so

important for disability inclusion? Well to 
me it's all because of the existing systems

and habits. We talked a little bit about 
human rights earlier and when human rights

are thought about in relation to disability 
people tend to think about non-discrimination,

entitlement, and duty to accommodate. These are 
all very important, but they're more about legal

compliance and disability inclusion goes beyond 
these. A system is designed in ways that people

with disabilities typically need to make a request 
for accommodation, and the process is burdensome.

It relies on the individual knowing what they 
want and then they have to prove why they need

it. Sometimes they have to go through quite 
a bit of paperwork um and approvals as well,

and that creates a big barrier because when it's 
too much work, employees with disabilities would

just choose to make do. And in some of the 
more serious cases, people with disability

are left to um to make a complaint on their own, 
and then they have to prove their rights have been

denied. In the recruitment context historically, 
it is about fitting people in. Employers generally

ask questions like "can this person with 
disability meet the job demands?", "can this

person keep up with the rest of the employees 
in a similar position?", and the focus is on

the person's inability, sometimes ability, to do 
something and often is in comparison to others.

But the questions that I would encourage to ask 
are: "what role can we assign this individual to

get the best out of them?" and "how can we support 
this individual to excel at work?" and "how can we

collaborate to meet our common goals?" And there 
shouldn't be any different between people with or

without disabilities. Aside from fitting people 
in, there's also emphasis on matching skill sets

to the job requirements and this is especially 
the case in a return to work context following

a personal injury or illness when there's concern 
about regarding um about residual earning capacity

and alternative suitable occupations. The reality 
is that injured workers are often stigmatized,

even if they have the transferable skills and 
have gone through retraining. So it is important

to recognize that uh matching individuals to 
workplace culture, including the potential source

of support and conflict, is just as important as 
matching talents to job demands. Another reason

why why we have to look at cultural shift is the 
fact that Canada is diverse, and our society um

our societal culture evolves as well. Immigrants 
and their children is projected to make up 50% of

the population by 2041, and the society's view 
regarding disabilities and identities can be

impacted by the language, religion, social class, 
and the tradition and custom of different people,

and all these would affect how we interact with 
each other. So, when creating and fostering a

workplace culture, we need to understand 
diversity and intersectionality, and it is

a journey. The bottom line is that changing 
policies and procedures alone in recruitment

practices won't really accomplish disability 
inclusion because disability inclusion needs to

consider dignity, autonomy, opportunities 
for full participation, and recognizing

disabilities as part of human diversity and 
humanity. It involves changing mindsets,

perspectives, attitudes, which is why disability 
inclusion need to start with a cultural shift.

Now I do realize that people are busy 
in businesses and there's not a lot of

time for people to sit around and talk about 
culture change. But the good news is not every

organization needs a culture overhaul. It's more 
about identifying the goals and working towards

them. And there's lots of research about this, and 
I'm not going to go over all of these in details

that you'll see um on this slide, but I do want 
to point out integration. Integration is important

because it's about celebrating differences and 
incorporating different perspectives into the work

task completion that may be required at work. It 
is more effective than a culture where individual

performance and entrepreneurships valued, 
which are quite typical in Western countries.

We certainly want to change that them versus 
us type of mentality, but we also need to be

very thoughtful about this. There's research that 
shows that organization that strive to unite um

their diverse members under a common identity of 
belonging, like a collectivist type of approach

that values togetherness, can actually reduce 
creativity and innovation. More importantly,

no people with disabilities are alike. There 
are cases where employers may be guilty

of generalizing disability, and expecting people 
with disabilities for uh for example maybe more

organized because they have so much that they 
need to navigate through uh with a disability

already. This may be true to some extent 
but the reality is that disability exists

across a very vast sp- uh spectrum of possible 
physical, sensory, and intellectual impairments,

and one person with disability just doesn't 
speak for all people with disabilities either.

Okay. Um um Kim is going to talk a little 
bit more about ableism and normalizing and

the de- uh destigmatization and as was tokenism 
later on as well. So I'm going to just jump to

preparedness. Um this is about the perception of 
feeling prepared. Um I've came across research

where um there was a study that was done on 
quite a number of HR and hiring professionals

um in 2021, and the research indicates 
that the perception of feeling prepared,

um it's more important than some of the 
other important factors such as actually

having disability policies and procedures and 
uh health and illness management programs.

And and the other things that is interesting 
from the study is that leaders may feel that

preparing people with disabilities and promoting 
disability inclusion is important, but they may

not actually value strongly about taking real 
actions um to hire people with disabilities.

Okay so I'm going to pass it on to Kim now to 
talk more about the strategies in creating and

fostering a disability inclusive workplace 
culture and share with you some insights.

So building on the disability inclusion insights 
shared by Francis, I'm going to talk a little

bit about how employers can effectively advance 
workplace disability inclusion by transforming its

benefits and goals into actionable and practical 
strategies. So this approach not only fosters an

inclusive culture, but also ensures that the 
workplace is accessible and supportive for all

employees. There are approximately six or seven 
theoretical models that offer frameworks for

understanding disability, so very quickly they 
have intuitive names for the models. There's the

Medical Model uh there's the- which focuses on 
impairment, the Human Rights model which focuses

on rights, uh the Economic Model focuses on costs 
and often frames disability as a financial burden,

uh Functional Solution Model focuses on 
um subject matter expert accommodations,

there's the Charity Model people with disabilities 
need our help, the Cultural Affiliation Model that

takes pride and identity, the Social Model that 
focuses on addressing barriers, and a model that

combines several approaches called Biopsychosocial 
Model. Each model has its strengths and weaknesses

and elements from various models are sometimes 
combined which are typically reflected in an

organization's accommodation approach. Adopting 
a specific model can directly influence how

disability inclusion is understood and advanced 
in the workplace. So at March of Dimes Canada,

we've embraced the Social Model of disability 
because it aligns with what we're hearing from

our communities, and we believe that it most 
effectively advances disability inclusion. The

model emphasizes the role of societal barriers, 
so physical, attitudinal, technological, systems,

communications, etc. in disabling people and I'm 
going to briefly share some of its main features.

So unlike the Medical Model which centers on 
diagnosing or treating an individual, the Social

Model affirms that people with disabilities 
are not inherently disadvantaged, but are

made so by society's failure to address diverse 
abilities and advocates for systemic change.

It normalizes disability as part 
of human diversity, shifting how

disability is viewed in our culture. With its 
proactive approach to eliminating barriers,

it can reduce discrimination claims. And programs 
and services that are designed based on the social

model will prioritize accessibility which can 
lead to innovations that benefit everyone,

not just those with disabilities. And with respect 
to to employment practices, barrier elimination is

addressed through a range of policies, practices, 
and benefits such as flexible work, adap- adaptive

technologies, accessible workplaces- workspaces, 
uh benefits that address a range of abilities,

and a revolutionary accommodation process. 
So while the model's been vital in shifting

perspectives away from seeing disability as 
a personal or medical condition, um it should

be noted that it can downplay disabilities that 
fluctuate in severity uh or the physical realities

of living with conditions such as uh cerebral 
palsy, which can entail bodily limitations even

in fully accessible environments, um and the model 
doesn't eliminate individual accommodations. But

regardless of its limitations, it does offer 
a transformative framework that can empower

organizations to redefine their approach to 
disability inclusion. Next slide please Francis.

So, universal design, accessibility, and 
accommodation are embedded in Canadian

disability equity legislation, are practical 
manifestations of the Social Model of disability,

and they collectively operate to create 
environments that are inclusive and

supportive. Accessibility lays the groundwork by 
addressing barriers. Universal design enhances

this by embedding inclusive principles into the 
design process, and accommodation strives to

enable access tailored to individual needs 
where universal design or accessibility

measures fall short. So while accommodation 
complement accessibility and universal design,

it is associated with considerable stigma. Uh and 
Francis did touch upon this in his presentation.

The accommodation process typically places 
responsibility on the individual to ask for help,

uh which I believe is contrary to our culture 
of independence and self-reliance. Uh and when

aligned with the Human Rights uh or Medical 
Model of disability, it can require an onerous

process that can lack consistent understanding 
and expertise, and application to remedy and

bury. But considering that failure to accommodate 
is the most often cited ground, to the tune of

approximately 50%, uh in federal and provincial 
human rights claims, prioritizing accommodation

is essential for fostering disability 
inclusion. Without minimizing or dismissing

the legal obligations uh the stigma around 
accommodation, in my experience, is related to

how it's administered, especially as noted earlier 
when it's aligned to the Medical, Human Rights,

or Charity Models of disability. But what if uh 
our workplace cultures normalized accommodation,

embedding and offering it versus making employees 
ask for it, by committed knowledgeable leaders at

every stage of the employee life cycle as a 
standard practice rather than an exception.

Although far from ideal, the destigmatization of 
workplace mental health offers valuable insights

that can be directly applied to the broader effort 
of normalizing workplace disability accommodation.

Both mental health and disability inclusion 
share similar barriers such as stigma, lack

of awareness, and resistance to both requesting 
and providing support. Next slide please Francis.

It's worth reviewing efforts that have generally 
proven successful at destigmatizing mental health

at work, and consider their application to 
disability accommodation. So I'm going to go

over these nine components um and just compare the 
mental health and accommodation destigmatization.

So with respect to uh dialogue and normalizing 
the conversation, the growing awareness of mental

health challenges and the integration of mental 
health days, therapy benefits, and well-being

check-ins help to normalize mental health is 
everyday work life. Discussions are encouraged

to promote the idea that it's okay to seek 
help and support. So, similarly by normalizing

conversations around disability inclusion, 
organizations can shift the perspective from

viewing accommodations as special treatment to 
recognizing them as routine and an essential part

of making workplaces equitable. Robust dialogue 
about accessibility, universal design, and

proactive accommodations contribute to a culture 
where support is expected rather than exceptional.

In terms of training, um training leaders to 
recognize signs of me- mental illness and respond

empathetically helps create a supportive culture. 
Managers are taught how to confidently engage in

discussions and deescalate fear, and make mental 
health part of routine conversations. And I'm

not suggesting that lead leaders diagnose or treat 
but they can certainly be trained to offer support

and facilitate confidential referrals to subject 
matter experts. Uh leaders can also be trained to

recognize diverse needs related to disabilities, 
both visible and invisible, equipping them with

the tools to initiate proactive conversations 
about accommodations can reduce fears and

foster belonging. So just as trained managers now 
inquire about well-being, they can with training

confidently canvas accommodation needs. Related to 
training, mental health destigmatization efforts

focus on dismantling stereotypes such as the 
assumption that people with mental health

illnesses cannot be productive or successful. Now 
the emphasis on abilities and contributions rather

than limitations, so dismantling stereotypes about 
disabilities is critical. Often the assumption

is that employ employees with disabilities 
require costly or burdensome accommodations

or that they're less capable. So by reframing 
disability through the lens of skill, value,

and inclusion and alignment to the Social 
Model, workplaces can foster a culture that

focuses on capabilities rather than deficits. 
Uh with respect to confidentiality and trust,

employers are more- employees are are more 
likely to disclose mental health issues if

they have trust that their concerns will be 
handled confidentially and without judgment.

Mental health destigmatization emphasizes creating 
safe spaces for disclosure. The same approach can

be applied to disability accommodation, 
ensuring that accommodation requests are

treated with confidentiality and respect can 
make employees feel safe to disclose needs

without fear of negative consequences, and trust 
is a key factor as employees may need assurance

that when asking for accommod- that asking for 
accommodation won't impact their job security or

career growth. Uh destigmatizing mental health has 
led to more flexible policies, and flexibility is

equally critical for disability accommodations. 
Uh promoting personalized solutions signals that

accommodation are not one size fits all, which can 
help normalize their integration into workplace

practices. Um the stigmatizing- destigmatization 
campaigns provide information on mental health,

reducing myth- myths, and offering resources um 
promoting messages such as accommodations are a

fundamental right that supports everyone's success 
in the workplace can be applied to disability

accommodation campaigns and regular campaigns that 
explain what accommodations are, why they matter,

and how employees can address them help demystify 
the process. Including success stories of

employees who have benefited from accommodations 
can reduce stigma and empower employees to request

the support they need without feeling embarrassed. 
Uh disability focused- can serve as advocates

for disability inclusion. So employees who are 
part of these groups can share their experiences

with accommodation, increasing understanding, 
and these groups can also lead awareness

campaigns. Uh in terms of preventive approaches, 
organizations can take a proactive approach with

adjustable workstations, accessible technology 
platforms, and flexible work options being

standard rather than reactive accommodations. 
And finally mental health accommodations such

as flexible hours or wellness days have 
become a routine part of workplace culture,

no longer viewed as exceptional. So by promoting, 
integrating, and canvasing accommodation related

to every direct and indirect workplace activity, 
uh disability accommodations can also become

routine. So I just want to wrap up by noting that 
organizations can borrow from ongoing strategies

used to destigmatize workplace mental health, to 
normalize disability accommodation. Both efforts

require a cultural shift towards inclusivity 
and the recognition that all employees de-

deserve support, respect, and equitable access to 
opportunities. Okay, next slide please Francis.

So um given given the expertise in this group, 
I'm not going to detail all of the usual best

practices, um but I do want to focus on uh a 
couple. So in terms of um disability inclusive

purpose, vision, and mission, research has 
shown that organizations uh with a purpose,

vision, and mission that includes disability 
inclusion tend to be more successful in

implementing inclusive practices. Um and then 
the other piece I would like to focus on is

uh disability awareness training. So uh while 
education alone cannot drive systemic change,

education provides a foundation for understanding 
the complexities of disabilities, ableism, bias,

stereotypes, the model of disability, and best 
practices for inclusion. And in addition to

equipping employees and leaders with the tools 
and knowledge to create accessible environments,

it can support expectations to advance a culture 
where disability inclusion is seen as everyone's

responsibility, not just managements and not just 
uh human resources' responsibility. Um I think

education is essential uh to ensure that everyone 
understands and consistently apply disability

inclusion principles without stigma or judgment. 
Um and I've spoken ad nauseam about the ability to

prevent, recognize, and eliminate barriers, uh and 
in my experience barrier recognition is a skill

that requires ongoing learning and dialogue 
as barriers can be nuanced, are continuously

evolving, and can surface where they are least 
expected. For- in for instance, accommodations

typically focus on work tasks but the workplace 
is so much broader than the duties. Um you know

we need to start thinking about um building in 
accessibility into staff events and trainings and

conferences. So Francis I think I'm interested 
time, I'm going to move to the final slide.

Um so we talked about the you know the very common 
best practices, and March of Dimes Canada has a

number of complimentary initiatives to advance 
disability inclusion. Uh we have uh mental health

program, champions, destigmatization efforts, um 
a variety of complimentary inclusion policies,

resources, and trainings. Uh we have 
a central accommodation fund to reduce

barriers on individual departments. Uh we have 
an accessibility-driven approach to recruitment,

onboarding, performance management, events. Um 
we have numerous disability awareness campaigns

and a disability people accessibility working 
group to ensure that we can embed disability

inclusion across all disciplines, uh to name 
a few. But I do want to share um details with

you about a tool that we're currently piloting 
um that can be applied to every employment or

service activity to advance disability inclusion. 
Uh and it's called the Accessibility Lens Tool.

So it's the tool is borrowed, uh for anyone who's 
familiar with um something called an Equity Lens

which is which has a broader application, but the 
Accessibility Lens is a simple tool aligned to the

Social Model of disability and universal design 
to help identify and address barriers experienced

by people with a disability. So the purpose of 
the tool is to intentionally focus attention on

accessibility barriers and impacts on people 
with disabilities when undertaking employment

related decision-making activities. It can also 
be applied to services. So the tool introduces um

a set of approximately five to seven questions 
to help decision makers focus on accessibility

in both their process and outcomes, drawing 
attention to how their decisions can positively

or negatively impact people with disabilities. 
The tool won't tell you what action to take,

rather it helps decision makers reflect on 
accessibility in the early or design phase of a

process well before executing programs or services 
or benefits. Uh the tool asks the decision maker

to consider a range of accessibility dimensions 
related to stakeholder involvement process,

values, assumptions, and outcomes from a 
perspective that highlights how processes

hold potential to enhance inclusion. Um so our 
tool currently has approximately six questions

and we are piloting it across departments with 
some large and small projects and I just want to

share with you some of the- like a sample of some 
of the questions. Um so we so there's questions

and then there's several um bullets to sort of 
trigger um engagement, so some of the questions

include: What particip- participatory structures 
will be engaged to hear from diverse voices and

perspectives representing all abilities (so, 
not just your DEI subject matter expert)? Um

what barriers may limit or exclude people with 
a disability from participating engaging once

the decision is implemented? And it asks folks to 
think about values, biases, assumptions, consider

and identify a range of barrier forms including 
physical, attitudinal, cultural, systemic,

technological, communication, geographical, and 
economic barriers. Um what assistive devices

including service animal or support person 
may be necessary to address a broad range of

disabilities? What is the impact of the decision 
upon people with a disability? Does the decision,

policy, program, etc. improve, worsen, or make 
no change to people with disability? What actions

or revisions will be undertaken to mitigate 
negative impacts and/or enhance accessibility?

So the- that's a sample of the questions, and 
ideally you would apply this tool to all all

activities requiring both leadership awareness 
and endorsement. Um and when taking your program

project to leadership you would include uh 
what I've termed an accessibility impact

statement based on the tool questions, noting 
activities undertaken in response to this tool

to address barriers. So that is a tool we're 
piloting. Uh once it's endorsed I'm sure it

will be available to this group, and with that 
I'm going to hand it back over to Francis.

Great thanks uh Kim. So we've talked a little bit 
about the importance of creating and fostering

the disability inclusive culture and some of 
the strategies to intentionally work towards

disability inclusion within an organization, some 
specific tools, consideration, some different

process in terms of asking questions and making 
sure that um thinking about accessibility from all

stages of uh creating a process or implementing a 
program. Disability inclusion won't be sustained

if employers or leaders don't um ensure 
accountability though. And I'm not talking

about the commitment from one or two leaders 
within within an organization I want to talk

about um a more systematic and strategic way of 
measuring culture change and monitoring and then

evaluating as well. So, Kim have spoken uh about 
you know several ways of um helping influence

the cultural change to a more dis- disability 
in- inclusive one. Um she's mentioned about

education and training, and we need to understand 
that education and training generally aim for

correcting misinformation, right, and it deals 
with inaccurate stereotypes and myths and things

like that. So when you try to measure change, you 
need to have indicators that are specifically that

deals with those things. And other interventions 
that could be in place within an organization

could be like, for example, bringing people with 
this lived disabilities um experience to interact

with the rest of the organization or with the 
public, describing the challenges and stories of

success. Um and and that could help overcome some 
interpersonal divide, um you know, help reduce

that public stigma on a person-to-person uh basis 
as well. And of course, you you you need to have

complaint mechanism as well because that help 
mitigate power disadvantages um of people with

disabilities and and other um marginalized group. 
So, when you think about these efforts that are

are being uh put in uh within organization um my 
suggestion is to also develop some indicators that

are specific to them so that you can really 
systematically evaluate how um the culture

is changing, evolving, and and how successful 
you may be as an organization. So, I'm going to

borrow some uh wisdom from a report that I read 
um that was uh done by The Institute of Work and

Health um for the ESDC, and they suggested two 
types of indicators: uh the process indicators

and the results indicators. And the process 
indicators help you kind of monitor the number

and the types of activities that are being carried 
out, and that could be very useful for actually

analyzing cost and time that you invested in a 
particular initiative. Um and compared to other

programs and campaigns that may have already been 
taken place or is happening simultaneously. The

results indicators are more about the uh intended 
objectives and whether you're able to achieve it

through a particular initiative or or intervention 
or activity, and and that could be at different

levels, you can look at the outputs. So for 
example, counting how how many people completed

the training, and that could be useful to compare 
to perhaps maybe the employees demographics um and

participation in other initiatives. And then you 
can also have outcome indicators, which would be

more focusing on sort of the longer term effect. 
So how much knowledge and attitude and perception

have changed um within organization, and may you 
may need to do some survey or some focus group you

know to look at those things. And then you need 
to have bigger impact indicators as well. So,

it's the prevalence of discrimination towards 
people with disabilities that actually been

reduced. So that may be something that you would 
look at if there's complaints, um is there any uh

challenges in return to work directly related to 
disabilities. So the monitoring and the evaluation

is quite crucial um for an organization to make 
sure things are happening. Um monitoring to me is

more like internal, ongoing during the initiative, 
and that helps um supports accountability,

and it also gives you opportunity to tweak things, 
right? So, if you a leading initiative for um

disability inclusion and there's not enough 
participation then you might need to change

in terms of your communication strategies and 
so forth. Evaluation is kind of um taking place

periodically or at the end of an initiative, and 
that could be done internal or external depending

on kind of uh how objectives or uh that you wanted 
to do this. And this focuses more on the final,

like that um uh overall goal you know, and and 
that provides accountability. And important

things I want to point out here though is when 
you're track when you're tracking, monitoring

things and you evaluating things it is important 
to not just focus on showcasing the achievement,

but also focus on the um the the changes in any 
magnitudes, whether it's positive or uh negative.

Okay, so in the interest of time I'm summarize 
um what we talked about today. Uh we went

through a lot of ideas, um but essentially 
all organizations need to uh create and and

foster a disability inclusive culture. The culture 
change needs to start sooner, rather than later,

because disability inclusion is a journey. 
Organizations need to understand the Social

Model of disability that Kim has mentioned, 
and the principles of disability inclusion

such as "nothing without us." There needs to be 
intentional effort to normalize and destigmatize

disability, embrace diversity, recognize 
differences, and accommodate needs. Needs go

beyond legal compliance and pursue accessibility 
excellence. Organization needs to be accountable,

establish indicators in order to monitor 
progress and evaluate outputs and outcomes

specific to disability inclusivity. 
Leadership needs to be authentic and

needs to avoid window dressing. Disability 
inclusion is more than just hiring more

people disabilities, it's about participation, 
opportunities, dignity, and autonomy as well.

With that, I'm going to show you a page 
of references, um happy to share that with

anyone who wants to look at that a little bit 
more in detail. Um and of course we want to

invite you to stay in touch with us, and there's 
different ways to do that. Um of course joining

the IDEA distribution list um and you can also 
join um March of Dimes- sorry March of Dimes

Disability Advocacy Network. And uh we 
have our emails um here, as well. Sorry,

just going back and forth, that you can, I 
don't know why it's doing, that um that you

can email us as well. Okay um, I'm going to 
turn it back to Dan for questions and answer.

Yeah thank you so much Kim and Francis, and 
that is an extremely cute dog for anyone,

uh just in case the slide right now has a very 
adorable dog on it, uh for our Q&A slide. Um

so yeah now we are in the Q&A portion. Just in 
case, if you do have a question please use the

Q&A function in Zoom, uh that's where I'll take 
your questions and then share them with Kim and

Francis. I just want to note too the talk 
today um it's a really meaningful one and

a very important one. I really appreciate how you 
started with these conceptual ideas, principles,

and moved into actions. Uh on the previous slide, 
there is information on emails and this sort of

thing. In case you don't get that information 
please email us at IDEA and we'll make sure you

can get in touch with Kim and Francis if you'd 
like, uh if you're interested in things like

the Accessibility Lens Tool and otherwise. So, 
our first question for you is: do you have any

stories of cultural change? Um you know like 
cultural change is a very a big thing, do you

have any kind of um examples of you know perhaps 
a manager or an organization that was perhaps

not as inclusive or not as aware and shifted 
towards the direction that you're discussing?

I don't know if Kim wants to grab this, 
but I I'll try to take a stab that is um,

I don't have any specific um story as that comes 
to mind. Um but um what I would say is that um the

the the conversation about culture change, it's 
not um rare um when when we are um working with

employers or working with um other organizations 
that may be work in um in in this space. Um the

what I find that is uh sometimes challenging is 
that people knows that the culture needs to shift,

but being able to intentionally and systematically 
work on things to drive that change is where is um

sometimes it's a little bit more troublesome. 
So, you know, people would tend to focus on a

particular uh resource that they can share 
with the employees, and um you know uh uh,

maybe a particular um disability awareness 
campaign that they do as a one off, and maybe

they'll do it periodically when they feel that, 
you know, folks are a little bit stale about

those things. Um but but what I found in some 
of the conversations that we have um about the

culture is that there hasn't been a consistent, 
intentional ways of doing that, um even though

there's that real recognition that yeah something 
needs to shift here and and there's sometimes

there's a bit of a blame on the leadership um and 
the employers of of not fostering that culture but

but the culture isn't just something that the 
leader um is responsible for right it's it's

the entire organization as well. If you if you're 
going around and you're not um you know talking

about uh disability in the right ways yourself, 
um it it rubs on other people as well. It's not

just what leadership and employers you 
know the top, that tells you what to do.

I can, I can add to that. I did work with 
an organization um several years ago who uh

spearheaded a cultural change through their 
commitment to mental health. Uh they had a

really progressive mental health approach, 
um and I would say that they they led their

culture change through that approach, and so 
I actually borrowed um some of the components

from their program when I was thinking about 
advancing disability inclusion. So, it wasn't,

I mean, uh disability inclusion was advanced 
through that commitment to mental health,

but the it was led through 
the lens of mental health.

Thank you, and so our next question 
is about intersectionality. Um the

the question asker uh mentions that, you know, 
disability is often viewed as this monolith,

um but that there can be multiple uh experiences 
of disadvantage and mistreatment. So the idea

that you know someone with a disability 
may not be believed when they are trying

to access uh supports. But we can also have uh 
disadvantages like anti-black racism and the

impacts of colonialism for Indigenous folks. Uh so 
to understand, you know, do you have any feedback

on incorporating uh intersectional perspectives 
into this kind of work around culture.

Yeah, I can I can jump in and then Francis maybe 
you can add. Um I think the simple response,

although it's not a simple activity is to 
always approach this work with an intersectional

lens um because we don't know what folks 
bring to the workplace. Um so if you go back

to applying the mental health lens right, and 
building trust and normalizing conversations,

um you can you can learn about folks and you 
can learn about their individual needs, right,

through those conversations and trust. 
Um but I I really think it's crucial

that you come to this work um recognizing 
that intersectionality disadvantages um folks

disproportionately. So is there anything 
you want to add Francis, about that?

Yeah, what I would just quickly add is that um uh 
intersectionality and disability inclusion are not

two different things to be addressed separately, 
you know they always have to be together I think.

Um and when I think about it from a workplace 
culture perspective, um what it boils down

to me is that you need to understand the people, 
you know, and and you need to be prepared that

you are welcoming for all walks of lives right. 
And and it's not just like intersectionality um

talks about the different um inter- intersections 
between identity. Um and identity is not the same

for uh even within one person with disability 
and another person with the same disability,

the the way that they identify themselves could 
be quite different as well. So really need to

look at the the person um um um individually 
and and not um separate things out. Um the

other thing that I would also mention, um is that 
is that normalization, you know. The um I have

to be careful because disability uh people with 
disability sometimes they they employ concealment

strategies, and and and when it comes to this um 
intersectionality in relation to you know gender

identity and and and sexual orientation, things 
like that, um those kind of concealment strategies

will also um happen. So so for me it's more about 
normalizing the conversation, um and uh yeah.

Thank you, and I think we probably have time 
for about one, maybe two more questions. So,

sorry to anyone who asked a question that we 
won't get to. If we don't get to your question,

please send us an email or send our speakers 
an email. We want to make sure, you know,

this is one hour but the conversation 
needs to go much more than an hour for

sure. Um our next question is when you're 
making the case for cultural change,

uh what is your experience been with the 
business case? Uh in relation especially

to engaging with employers and the kind of 
financial elements that are often focused on.

Sure. Um I can start with that. Um so uh yes, 
the business case important. The financial

aspect of things depends on the interest of 
the employer, um I think. Um in in our world,

because March of Dimes is primarily a charitable 
um nonprofit organization providing services,

um we have funding that from government and other 
sources and so forth. So sometimes the focus is

more about um the placement of the person with 
disability and providing that supports to um

um help that employers uh on board of that 
individual. Um so so, the the business case

is most of the time is built around helping that 
uh employers with with the recruitment effort,

so that they don't have to do their own um, 
you know, uh candidate screening for example,

and and give them some confidence on on that they 
were going to get the right candidate that can do

the job, help them ensure that they can onboard 
them and train them properly, because some of

them are a little bit hesitant about hiring people 
disability just because they're not familiar with

what their needs may be. So so the business case 
from my experience uh with this kind of context,

so generally build around what we can help the 
employers to kind of save time, um and um and

and making sure that they have a person that 
they they they can um work with for much longer

term and that does happen in in situations where 
employers um had experience with with people um

with high turn turnover. Um so the the the more 
high level of financial aspect on things, how

disability um how hiring people with disabilities 
can kind of change your your organization's um uh

financial resources, and and uh help improves 
your productivity and and your your your GDP

and those kind of things is a bit high level. We 
would um talk about that um when we are orienting

employers to the concept of disability inclusion, 
uh but more so focus on that recruitment um needs.

Yeah, there's I also think there's a reputational 
element to it too. Um there's quite an appetite,

I think, among many employers to want to 
hire people with disabilities. I mean at

the federal level, there's um you know there's 
obligations to do so. Um I've only worked for

employers that are not federally regulated 
and yet every single one of them has had

an equity policy that includes people with 
disabilities. So, I think it also comes back

to education um and and who the you know who- 
who the employer wants to identify as. So I

agree with Francis in terms of the financial 
component to the business case, but I also

think it it is reputation and it is culture. 
So those things play into the business case.

Thank you both so much. And so we're just about at 
our time so I'll wrap up now. Uh but I just really

want to show appreciation for you sharing both 
in your your expertise on this subject matter.

Uh we do this month have two webinars, rather 
than just the usual one. Uh so I want to flag

that the next one is October 25th from noon to 
1. Uh it's a really really exciting webinar we're

gonna have Dr _______ uh from Bangalore speak 
with us. Um we're really lucky to be having her

join us. Um it's a big time difference, 
but she'll still join us from noon to 1,

so appreciative of that. Uh and she is 
one of the foremost researchers on, kind

of applied disability inclusion and management 
and organizational issues in the world, uh and

when I started working in this space some time 
ago, she was almost one of the only or perhaps

the only one in an academic space talking about 
career success, talking about career advancement,

uh rather than this former focus on entry-level 
jobs and this sort of thing. So someone who

has a wealth of knowledge, and also a wealth of 
knowledge from a different context than uh who

we often hear from. So, I hope you can make it 
and learn from Dr _______. Uh you'll get a note

on that if you are on our mailing list and again, 
as always, email us. Um so thank you everyone for

being a part of this, uh participants, attendees, 
and our speakers, and also just a big thank you to

our team: _______, Therese Salenieks, Sabrina 
Chaudhry, Emile Tompa, and Rebecca Gewurtz,

and a special thank you to our French 
language interpreter Michelle ______. Uh

we hope to see you at the next webinar, and 
yeah have a nice Friday afternoon. Goodbye.