Creating and Fostering a Workplace Culture To Drive Disability Inclusion

Webinar

    Description

    Despite anti-discrimination legislations and disability awareness campaigns, people with disabilities continue to report system barriers and stigma in their pursuit for meaningful employment. There is a growing attention to organizational culture and its impact on employment for persons with disabilities as the attention on inclusion and human rights mounts. Research has shown that ad hoc inclusion efforts and policies are less effective in changing the experience of people with disabilities in the workplace without creating and fostering a disability inclusion culture, one that understands the business case of hiring people with disabilities, the social responsibilities, as well as the importance of having a healthy and safe work environment.  Workplace parties must transform theories, principles, and good intentions to measurable strategies and best practices to drive culture change.  This webinar will discuss frameworks and concepts such as accessibility excellence and accountability beyond legal compliance. 

    Transcript
    Creating-and-Fostering-a-Workplace-Culture-To-Drive-Disability-Inclusion-transcript.txt
    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

    this webinar and future webinars and post them 
    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.