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CMCL - AI, Accessibility, and the Future of Work: Insights from Disability Solutions
126 Plays17 days ago
Join us for a special year-end episode of "Changing Minds, Changing Lives" as host Julie Sowash sits down with Keith Meadows, Executive Director of Disability Solutions, for an honest and insightful conversation about the future of disability employment. Keith shares his journey from restaurant management to leading a national nonprofit, revealing how customer service skills and operational know-how translate into driving real change for job seekers with disabilities.
Discover how Disability Solutions has evolved from a scrappy consulting startup to a scalable, data-driven organization helping employers optimize their hiring processes and create truly inclusive workplaces. Keith and Julie discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the disability community in 2025, including the impact of AI on hiring, the importance of accessible remote work, and why companies committed to disability inclusion are gaining a competitive edge.
Whether you're an HR leader, a job seeker, or simply passionate about building a more equitable workforce, this episode offers practical takeaways, inspiring stories, and a look ahead to brighter skies in 2026. Tune in for actionable insights, candid reflections, and a celebration of the progress made—and the work still to come—in changing minds and changing lives.
Key Topics:
- Keith Meadows’ leadership journey and lessons from restaurant management
- Scaling Disability Solutions for greater impact and accessibility
- The evolving job market: AI, automation, and disability inclusion
- Practical strategies for employers to optimize disability hiring
- The importance of remote work and accessible workplaces
- Navigating economic uncertainty and planning for 2026
- Building trust and competitive advantage through authentic inclusion
Follow Disability Solutions on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube for more resources and updates.
Notes:
Keith Meadows is the Executive Director of Disability Solutions, where he leads efforts to help employers build inclusive workplaces and tap into the $13 trillion disability economy. With over a decade of experience in disability employment and a background in operations and customer service, Keith specializes in practical, data-driven strategies for accessible hiring and retention. He is a passionate advocate for disability rights and regularly shares insights on workplace inclusion, mentorship, and the business impact of accessibility.
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Transcript
Julie Steps Down as Executive Director
00:00:06
Speaker
Hi guys, welcome back to Changing Minds, Changing Lives. My name is Julie Sowash. I'm the CEO of Catch-22 Group and the Strategic Advisor for Disability Solutions. um We are wrapping up kind of the first year that I've stepped away from the Executive Director role.
00:00:26
Speaker
um The team has been so gracious to keep me on doing podcasts, doing some advising, and and still being able to interact and do the work that I love while I kind of start my own adventures.
Reflecting on a Year of Challenges and Growth
00:00:38
Speaker
um So it's been a really hard year for all of us. For me, it's been an incredible year. And so much of that is related to um our guests today in the conversation we're going to have today.
00:00:50
Speaker
so i'm I'm very excited about that. Before we get started, or before i bring my guests on, even though he can see me right here, um I do want to call out two things. i want to say a huge thanks to ter Turk Haines for the incredible conversation we had last month around SHRM blueprint, um the work.
00:01:13
Speaker
Robbie Price or Robbie Starbuck, excuse me, um and Van Jones interview. We've had such great feedback and we're learning more and more about some things that the SHRM organization is doing now in court. um I'm sure we're going to be talking about that in 2026 and hope to have Tara back to talk about that, but she really gave some incredible insight and has spurred so much conversation through our conversation. Um, so thanks Tara for that.
Launch of 'Disability T' Series
00:01:43
Speaker
And i also want to say that our director of marketing for disability solutions has started the disability T, uh, which I freaking love. Um, which it's a 15, 20 minute conversation overview that I think is coming out or is goal to come out every week. Um, the first one is out. It's getting amazing reception.
00:02:03
Speaker
I'm so proud of Ashley for getting her voice out there and really, kind of taking that step out. I know how hard that was for me, um even though I crave and love attention. um I know how hard it is to kind of put your voice out there and put your face out there. She's doing amazing work for not just disability solutions, but for the disability community.
00:02:24
Speaker
Super snackable, easy to take in, fun, easy conversations. Definitely check it out on our YouTube page. We'll put the um link in the show notes. You can subscribe there so you get those, but she's also putting them on LinkedIn. So if you don't subscribe, but please do subscribe, you can also catch them there if you're following Disability Solutions on LinkedIn.
Introduction of Keith Meadows
00:02:46
Speaker
So to the point, I have the pleasure today of bringing on my final guest on Changing Minds and Changing Lives in 2025, who I call my lifelong Zen master, um the the man who brings me calm, um even even when I'm not in the executive director role when I need it. um My right-hand man when I was at Disability Solutions and now the, for almost a year, um executive director of Disability Solutions, Keith Meadows.
00:03:22
Speaker
So Keith, welcome to Changing Minds, Changing Lives, your first, but maybe not your last time of visiting us here. Thank you. It's great to be here in the hot seat. Looking forward to discussion.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yes, yes. i I'm quite the hot seat interviewer. um i I hear that about myself all the time. um So a little bit about Keith. um So we have known each other.
00:03:50
Speaker
not we've known each other for a long time, but I would say we've we met probably almost 20 years ago. Is that a fair? Maybe 17 Maybe more. don't know.
00:04:01
Speaker
A long, long, long time ago, um which seems so a wild to me. um And we were out at a Colts game and just having a conversation, doing our, you know, kind of social things.
00:04:15
Speaker
And my sister-in-law, who is somewhat brilliant from time to time, said, you know who would be great on your team? Keith. And I was like, hmm. I know that, but I never thought about it in terms of like, he's got a gig, he's good, he's doing what he's doing.
00:04:33
Speaker
um And then that conversation quickly blossomed into, yeah, this guy has got to be a part of Disability Solutions. He is the yin to my yang in terms of I am really all over the place, kind of have a hard time focusing loud, emotional. This guy is the steady ship that is going to and is already carrying disability solutions into the future. um And I can say as I planned,
00:05:04
Speaker
For almost a full year before I left Disability Solutions, there was absolutely no other person that I would ever have put what really is been such a huge part of my life, my baby, kind of my whole identity, honestly, for a long time in Disability Solutions and what we built together there other than Keith. um So, I'm so excited.
00:05:30
Speaker
He is a little quiet, um but um I'm excited to have him on the show and let you guys kind of hear him talk and speak. He's doing but doing amazing things on LinkedIn.
00:05:43
Speaker
Definitely follow him there. That content is getting a lot of action, um but right now going to kind of hear his voice. So, Keith. tell us from your perspective, not the bad stuff about me, but all the other stuff, um your perspective and your kind of history um coming into disability solutions now into, well, into client leadership and now into the to the full-time role leading the team?
Keith's Career Journey and Disability Hiring
00:06:11
Speaker
Sure. So I've been with the company for about 10 years now um and really started off with ah working with our number one client at the time, Pepsi, our only client, and really centered on helping them hire people with disabilities. And that's kind of the the genesis of where Disability Solutions began.
00:06:31
Speaker
um And kind of, you know, took on additional duties, managed ah clients and kind of focused on optimization and like, how do we take, um you know, the client experience and make it as seamless and ah positive and results oriented as possible.
00:06:47
Speaker
And so we've been able to grow the number of employers that that we've have worked with. You know I came from a restaurant management background, so I was very familiar with kind of the customer ah service experience, right? You want to treat your customer like gold, make sure that they get what they want out of a relationship.
00:07:04
Speaker
And here, you know, we want to make sure that they have outcomes. They want to move ah the needle forward with disability hiring. They want to hire folks with disabilities. They want to get their leaders, hiring managers, recruiters, some excellent training to kind of cut through some of the fears and stigmas that are still out there about disability.
00:07:23
Speaker
And so that's really what, you know, I kind of cut my teeth on ah here. And so with this new role that I'm in here for the last year or so, it's it's really been a privilege to lead a team of motivated and like incredibly passionate people towards a really worthy and worthwhile goal.
00:07:42
Speaker
ah which is increasing disability employment, helping employers, ah you know, by changing minds and lives. And so changing their minds. And then we get to change the the lives of job seekers with disabilities when they get hired. So it's been a really, ah really interesting experience and really exciting.
00:07:59
Speaker
you know uh i would say valuable experience for me personally kind of seeing that in action and i'm excited where the future is going you know we've got some things to work through on the economic situation right now but um i do think that there are brighter skies uh in in 2026.
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, i think one, there are so many plugs that I could do just from the two minutes of talking that you just did. And i i think one, my favorite one, because I also, if you all don't know this, i also came from a restaurant background before i went into affirmative action marketing.
00:08:38
Speaker
government stuff. um And if I ever get a chance to hire someone who has a restaurant background, like it is almost a no brainer. And I feel like that group of individuals like never gets a fair shot when they start to move into the corporate professional world. you Did you find kind of the same experience um when you were doing hiring? Yeah.
00:09:04
Speaker
Yeah, I thought ah it, you know, restaurant experience for me was kind of like a free MBA ah because you know, I essentially was a general manager. I ran, you know, staffing. I ran P&L responsibility. you know, you you have your hand in every single cookie jar to kind of make the enterprise run.
00:09:21
Speaker
um And it's all coming at you at like 150 miles an hour. And so you have to very quickly learn to prioritize what is important, what is noise, and sift through that and kind of take action ah sometimes in the moment. And i think that lends really well to a lot of different industries, um you know especially ones that involve critical thinking and deciphering what important. what is most important to act on and what is not, but then also thinking like you can't just live in the moment and just be reactionary, right? So you have to, you know, structure your day, structure your weeks, your months, so that the big picture is my in mind. And then you're taking these micro steps and and going the direction that you need to. And I think, you know, the restaurant world did that for me. It was not an easy job, as you know, ah managing restaurants, you know, with, you you'd you'd have call-offs, you'd have, you know, various, you know,
00:10:12
Speaker
you know sporting events that happen and you'd be surprised right um yeah occasionally. so it wasn't It wasn't always like you know the the the sunshine and rainbows, right but what I did glean from it after my years of experience there is that it provided me with one of the best educations in business like um that I could possibly imagine. I've been able to kind of take that experience and apply that here and streamline operations, focus on efficiencies, make sure our customers are are well
Skills Gained from Restaurant Management
00:10:43
Speaker
taken care of and valued. And how do we take this business to the next level? How do we grow it? How do we get into areas of you know the disability ah world that we haven't been in before? And so those types of conversations are
00:10:56
Speaker
um very interesting to me and intriguing. And, you know, that ah my restaurant background really helped kind of propel me to that. And I think you you probably had a similar experience.
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah. and And I think, one, there was almost no sunshine and roses days in restaurant management. I just have to say, at least from my recollection. There were so um we some.
00:11:18
Speaker
But, you know, you even on top of that, took restaurants that were failing and turned them around. And so when you talk about, you know, it it literally My experience was an MBA. Yours was like an MBA plus. um you know You had to turn around a P&L that was failing. You had to make very hard staffing decisions that impacted the whole team. um So you were h r You were TA.
00:11:51
Speaker
You were um the CEO. You were the COO. You had to keep track of scheduling, inventory, everything else. um And i I remember... Like the first time I interviewed, and this was actually for the state of Indiana, and I'd come from my my current job as I finished university was a restaurant manager. And the the lady who became my boss, who's lovely, um her face, when I told her, you don't understand all of the hats that I wore, this is what I did. at first, her face was like, girl, no.
00:12:27
Speaker
you you didn't do anything. This is like a low level job that doesn't count. And I'm like, here are all the things that I did. And here's why all of those things mattered. And at the end of the day, um like you and your position now to except as executive director, the buck stopped with you.
00:12:43
Speaker
You're fully responsible for the business. And i think sometimes like ah as we transition into right where I'm thinking about is like all of the work that you've done with job seekers,
00:12:55
Speaker
A lot of times people with disabilities who are either you know entry level or they're moving into that kind of first professional role, maybe even just job seekers in general, have a hard time telling an employer,
00:13:10
Speaker
how the skills they have now or that they had in that role transition into the role that they're
Importance of Storytelling for Job Seekers
00:13:17
Speaker
hiring for. and you know, you've done so much job seeker prep. You've done so much work with job seekers themselves, like one-on-one training, interview skills, class-based stuff, so much that you've you've we've been able to move to our LMS now. um Kind of give me...
00:13:38
Speaker
your take on how we built that portion and some of the things that you've seen over the years from job seekers that would be ah good information for TA leaders or ah HR leaders to keep in mind as they're thinking about hiring um or even some things that job seekers should always do.
00:13:57
Speaker
Yeah, I would say one thing, you know, ah is with kind of a restaurant background, there are synergies between things that a person with a disability could potentially go through, right? Which is like immediate dismissal.
00:14:09
Speaker
ah So if people see a restaurant background, maybe it's just an immediate dismissal. know, we're not going to consider that person because of these types of jobs. And there's a variety of different you know ah positions and industries that would fit that bill. And you know for people with disabilities, that's that's kind of what we feel a lot of times on a daily basis if we're applying for jobs and you know we've got a visual disability and we're you know on a Zoom call and yeah we didn't get the job. right um And so there are tangible things.
00:14:38
Speaker
tangible connections there. But you know from a job seeker perspective, a lot of times it's just having the conversation of what is your previous history? What jobs did you do? There's a tendency by job seekers to just kind of you know boilerplate into one statement what they did for seven or eight years. And so what we really encourage is kind of think about all of the hats that you wore you know as you described like what were those specific hats jot them down jot some of those those duties so like know your own own story um better than anyone else because you're actually the one that needs to tell that story to the employer and if it contains you know if you did let's say it's customer service for 10 years and you know you just say that oh i did customer service uh for 10 years
00:15:23
Speaker
ah you need to add a little bit more flavor. ah What did you do within that timeframe? And I think that's where a lot of people, you know, oh, I just did this position or I just did that position. ah But you really need to, you know, if you're going for a role, understand what the role is, what they're looking for, and kind of match those key attributes from your prior work history that you've done, and then make sure that you're able to tell your own story. And I think that that's something that we've seen as ah constant struggle, you know, with our learning management system. our Our team does a lot of trainings for both job seekers, for both employers, hiring managers, recruiters.
00:16:01
Speaker
And, know, we would get constant requests for kind of live versions. And it got to the point where we couldn't do ah that that amount of live versions. So we began investigating, you know, how could we get this online and, you know potentially have this content available so that employers could access it whenever they wanted, kind of as part of a package or a tier. And that's why within our platform, yeah know, we've got 10 different trainings for employers. And so they, you know, cover mental health awareness, you know, dispelling fear and stigma about disability, which is essentially Disability 101, what to say, what not to say, those types of things.
00:16:37
Speaker
ah We also also have one for accommodations, you know creating a successful talent network if you want to engage with the disability community, how to do that, and what are some of the common mistakes and and learning objectives there. Also, ableism 101, that's a ah fresh topic here in recent years where we cover that. And kind of go through some tips and best practices really with all our trainings, what we try to do is take something that is either complex or mysterious and really distill it down to its essence and leave you with some tangible takeaways so that you can leave that session and you can go out and you can implement one, two or three specific things and make the world a better place.
00:17:17
Speaker
um And so our employers have really ah taken to that. And, you know it came out of that we couldn't do so many Zoom trainings ah live. ah So we ended up going with a learning management system. It's been incredibly powerful, allows our ah corporate ah partners to, you know, have their team members review that whenever they want, because not always is it convenient for everybody to show up at a you know webinar to kind of talk about disability at noon on a Friday. Right. ah But they can certainly, you know, take that on their own time. It's we try to make them fun, engaging, and there's little quizzes and things of that nature. So it's definitely enhanced our business. And it's also allowed us to um have a ah larger suite of courses. um And so we we've been um blessed to to stumble across that and and and get our trainings on that, too. So it's been great.
Scaling Disability Solutions
00:18:09
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you make such a great point. When when we first started Disability Solutions, it was primarily a consulting company. And if you have never been in consulting, i highly do not recommend. And it takes a long time to sell.
00:18:26
Speaker
It takes a long time to implement. And you're very much dependent on the client. giving you what you need and being responsive. And there are just so many variables um in consulting that really what we had to do when we started thinking about what what does a solution set look like long term that, and you've said it, that employers are comfortable with, right? Where they can go in and they can ask whatever question they need to. They can get the information on demand. They can you know advertise their jobs. They can you know go to events. Those kind of things that TA and HR people are already comfortable with.
00:19:10
Speaker
How do we build something that resembles that, right? but actually helps people with disabilities get to work. um And I think that you were so critical um in helping us move our product set to a place that you call it optimize, I call it scale.
00:19:30
Speaker
um same Same thing, but I'm like, when I came into this to this industry and we started really talking, it was, you know, um you have to touch every job seeker. You have to know every single thing about every person. You have to do every training live. We have to deep dive every ATS. And and those are fun things. There are things I think a lot of times our team really enjoyed doing.
00:19:55
Speaker
But because we were scrappy and young um and we're a nonprofit, we really had to think, How do we scale and optimize?
00:20:05
Speaker
And take two things that are hard. One is hiring people for your business. And then two is doing it in a community that you're not a part of. And that a lot of times your employer has taught you to be fearful of, um or your life has taught you to be fearful of or to pity.
00:20:25
Speaker
And you know what you helped us do is take that product seriously. set, that potential product set and build it into something that can outlast both of us. And that I think is is so much the point um of what we built at Disability Solutions.
00:20:41
Speaker
And it was something that I'm going to use the word safe. I don't know if it's the word I love, but was safe for people who were interested in learning about the community and engaging in the community to engage with us.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that you know just from my experience with TA and like being a hiring manager and putting that hat on when we're kind of creating these, you know the the jobs they have are difficult, right? like They're juggling a lot of things.
00:21:14
Speaker
How do we make our product as easy as possible and operate in the background and operate at their convenience? And I think that's one of the the nice synergies is just kind of understanding ah your customer, realizing how busy they are, realizing this is important to them and they can't devote a great deal of their time to kind of managing it.
00:21:35
Speaker
but they can do things you know with the solutions that we have and kind of operate in the background and they can take a training um you on their own time. And so it just allows them flexibility to be able to dive deeper into the disability space, which a lot of people want to
Transforming to a Scalable Business
00:21:50
Speaker
get into. um But they also think that it's incredibly time intensive and it's going to you know they're going to need to devote a ah great deal of their day to kind of managing and going through. But in actuality with you know our career center option it kind of operates in the background for you we've got outreach going to community organizations to kind of advertise your job posts with our training you know your team can take that on their time it doesn't have to be a set time and place and so it just allows you to weave disability into your business um in a way that kind of meets you where you're at and so it's it's worked quite well and I think that that's ah it's just a really good approach for any business is understanding your customer and finding ways to to solve for their problems and and and help them get to where they need to be or where they want to be, especially in the disability space. And and that's what we love to do here.
00:22:39
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. um So let's kind of fast forward to today where we are. i really appreciate you indulging me and sort of all the historical chit chat. I feel like there are only a couple of us and at Disability Solutions or or that were a part Disability Solutions can understand the the way that we had to shift our mindset from fear and pity, even for communities that were a part of into like, we're building a business that needs to be sustainable, it needs to be scalable, and it needs to be have measurable impact. um and And really, if I think of where we are today,
00:23:24
Speaker
The thing that I'm proud of is that we have results that we know happened because we took put tracking in place, because we put training in place, because we we went and built a system that worked with the system that the employers already have.
00:23:45
Speaker
Now, today, right, I think if you've been on Changing Minds, Changing Lives this year, if you've join some of the the quarterly webinars that I do that we're going to continue into 2026. I think you can see for me that it's been a hard year.
00:24:03
Speaker
um And As we kind of wrap up the end of the year, and as I promised, promised, promises promised, Ashley, we would think about some positive things going into next year. um You know, what are some of the things that you feel like, positive or negative, doesn't matter for 2025, sorry, Ashley, most impactful have been most impactful I would say you could say to our business um or to the to the broader um disability job seeker community um that that really have been your focus.
Predictions for 2026 and AI Impact
00:24:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think twofold. So, you know, economically, I think businesses are in a situation where they're they're pausing decisions and everybody's in kind of the a wait and see if, you know we're having an economic like monsoon and tornado or if they're just kind of storm clouds.
00:25:02
Speaker
um And so I think that that's kind of what 2025 for the most part has been. um I do see, and from conversations with employers, I do see 2026 being a little bit more fruitful from businesses being actionable. ah Because you know if you have the money and you want to spend it, um but you're just kind of holding, there's only a certain amount of time that you're going to do that, right?
00:25:27
Speaker
And then you're going to so to to end up spending and and doing things. So I do think that 2026 brings... i' brighter clouds from a ah job seeker perspective.
00:25:38
Speaker
ah If you are a highly credentialed person, um I think that you've you've probably got a decent market. I think what we've run into is a lot of entry level roles um you know are starting to be taken by AI and competition for entry level roles are including you know ah recent college graduates. They're you know highly skilled people who have maybe five, 10 years of experience in the industry.
00:26:03
Speaker
So the the competition for entry-level roles is super intense at this moment. um But I think that it's um the job seeker market is liable to to turn just as quickly one way or another. We've seen it go both ways, right? It wasn't just a couple of years ago where job seekers kind of had the power, right? They could...
00:26:24
Speaker
They could choose their employer. And now we've swung the pendulum the other way ah where employers do have the power um at this moment in time. And I think that there is, you know, everything is kind of AI and it's the buzzword. And I do think it will radically change our world.
00:26:41
Speaker
um But I think they're from a caution standpoint, from an employer standpoint, you want to be make sure that if you're diving deep into AI, AI can be incredibly discriminatory and like you you're it intentionally kind of taking people out of the process and kind of letting the the machines do the work. Now, the machines may do the work well, they may not, but I think what a lot of companies are going to find is they'll jump too deep into the AI pool too quickly And then they're going to need to kind of backtrack and rework themselves to find some sort of happy medium. And I i do think AI is going to be woven into what everybody does. But I think there is a there is a fear or there's you know there's danger in kind of jumping on too deep into the pool um and you know then trying to rework your process. Because um you know for people with disabilities, we've you know been discriminated against for quite some time, right? and we all know that systems
00:27:40
Speaker
ah We have companies that want to hire people with disabilities and then, you know you know this as well as anyone, we find that the systems are preventing them from doing so. um And so if an ATS or if your your process itself is, you know, unintentionally kind of, you know ah knocking out a certain subset of the population, um what is ai going to do, right? you know How is that model trade? how do How do you know what's in it, right? um And so those are the the fears that you know you mentioned, brought up morning disability earlier, which is our micro podcast. ah We just had a great episode on that ah that our marketing director, Ashley, put together where she kind of covers that topic too. So I encourage you to check that one out. But
00:28:23
Speaker
um I do think 2026 brings a little bit more um sunshine than rain. ah But as always, you you don't really know. So the economic clouds may linger, ah but they've also lingered for quite some time. And and there are companies that are doing quite well ah that are just kind of holding the cards close to the vest.
00:28:43
Speaker
um And they'll only hold those cards for so long. So. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think we we had some, at least from a hiring perspective, some good news yesterday um that we we had a final end of the year interest rate cut um from the Fed. We're anticipating, what, I think two more in 2026. As of now, we're still a a fairly robust trend.
00:29:12
Speaker
um economy at this point, right? There are kind of some things that are, I would say, are a a bit of the trifecta that that we're still pushing against.
00:29:23
Speaker
um But Overall, we have a relatively healthy economy. um And to your point, ja ah companies have been holding spend.
00:29:38
Speaker
They've been holding money on hiring. um you know We're seeing AI and workforce automation um disrupting some of the holiday hiring, that kind of thing.
00:29:50
Speaker
But you know ah really, at the end of the day, if I'm thinking about... you know, where am I in, in 2026? What are the things that I think to your point that we can pull on? Um, you, you and I are both lovers of, of the stock market too. And I, I relate the job market very much or the housing market back over to, um how we look at the market, the market, the job market, whatever it is, is cyclical.
00:30:19
Speaker
There are going to be times where it's employer leaning, employer advantageous. There are going to be times like just after the pandemic, when every company was flush with cash and needed workers that it was advantageous to job seekers. We, you and i have been through this as kind of adult workers at least twice.
00:30:45
Speaker
um So I think that's the thing I kind of always lean on is like, we're going to go through ups and downs. This is part of the cycle um and just understand that that cycle is going to be constantly cycling. It's not going to stay one way forever. um And in the long run, there's good and and bad to that, but not losing Our focus in the immediate um and planning long term, I think, is is critical.
00:31:12
Speaker
um You know, I think also one thing I'm seeing in in terms of trends that's great for our community is that the the remote work job listings have kind of stabilized um those positions. Like they were falling kind of dramatically as companies pulled people back to the office. um But if working remote is ah is a critical um need for for your quality of life, for your accommodation, um we're seeing those positions stabilize over the last six months and we don't anticipate a big downturn.
00:31:48
Speaker
So those positions are are not gonna disappear. um They're competitive, absolutely, but there is opportunity. um I also think that you know we know who you are now. right so After the murder of George Floyd and we had so much focus on DEI and now the pendulum has swung the other way, which again is how we tend to do in America. We go far left, we go far right, we meet somewhere happy in the middle and we've made progress. um
00:32:20
Speaker
I think clearly as a community, we know who you are company-wise, right? If you started taking your videos down, if you cut your programs, if you did all of these things because you were reacting to an administration or you realized, oh, I don't have to spend this money anymore, then we see you, right? and And there's no, in my opinion, it's going to take a long time for the companies that that were working PR only or compliance only focused to earn the trust back of outside of women, the largest demographic community in this country and probably the largest demographic community outside of of women in the world. um So the companies that are sticking with it.
00:33:08
Speaker
The companies that even maybe they're not screaming it from the rooftops, but are still advertising that are still working to make their applicant tracking system and their hiring process accessible. Like we know who you are.
00:33:21
Speaker
and we know who you aren't. And that's huge. I think that we need as a community that moment of clarity um and of reality.
00:33:32
Speaker
So i think that that while it hurts is positive um and we'll be continuing to watch those companies in 2026 and who, even if they're doing it quietly, is still doing the work.
Cyclical Nature of Job Market
00:33:43
Speaker
um And I think really, you know, i would love to talk about AI all day, but we're we're at like the 35 minute mark and I promised you 20 minutes um now. um but I think the last thing is, you know, it's somewhat easy to feel like with the changes around affirmative action and 503, that kind of all is lost.
00:34:05
Speaker
um But it's it's not. We've taken a step back, yes. But we have accomplished so much in the last decade that people and in charge, people in hiring rooms, they they understand our value in a way that's completely different than before Section 503 changed, before it became cool and hip to hire people who are different than white people.
00:34:35
Speaker
um white men. And so I think that we have to kind of look at like, these things still exist. These people are still out there doing the work. ah We're going to go through cycles and accepting that economically is critical. um And you know, the the rules around accommodations, the rules around the ADA are still the law of the land and that's not going away. So if you need an accommodation, if you need protection under the ADA, right, that's not going to change. And companies are still required to do that. So is it perfect? No. But are there things that I can think of that are...
00:35:13
Speaker
The silver lining? um Yes. and And I think the reality is, is we just have to buckle down and continue to do the work. And that's always been our mantra at Disability Solutions. We don't have to be the coolest kids on the block. We don't have to be the most, you know, marketing savvy, amazing kind of content creators. We're getting there. um But we did the work and the work that we've done for the last, you know, 15 years together is what's actually going to continue to carry the story because we focused on on things that weren't just pretty. They were actually getting people to work at scale.
00:35:52
Speaker
Yeah, and it's not all doom and gloom. I do i do foresee that, you know, um just like our previous discussion, it's a pendulum that swings one way, it swings another.
Strategic Advantage of Hiring People with Disabilities
00:36:02
Speaker
Where it ends up, you know, is is somewhere in between the two points, right? yeah ah But I do think it's it's important to highlight that um This could be a really big point of competitive advantage for companies. um you know If we kind of take out the laws themselves, like um you know people with disabilities tend to stay on the job longer. You spend less money recruiting with turnover and everything else.
00:36:25
Speaker
Why is that? You might ask. you know We face discrimination in a lot of different aspects. And so if someone gives us a chance, we are likely to stay with the person that gave us a chance, right? And so being able to kind of build um you know a ah business model that incorporates people with disabilities into your business is is smart. And we've got the numbers to kind of back that up. And there are companies currently doing that. So in my opinion, 2026, 2027 becomes a who's doing it and who's not. And the who's doing it will reap the benefits from getting great employees who stick around for long periods of time.
00:37:01
Speaker
um And those who aren't are going to find themselves at a disadvantage. And you know if your direct competitor is very, very close to you as far as gross sales and like market share, this could be something that dramatically swings the the odds to your favor. you know One in four people here in the US have some type of disability. Not only are they potential employees, but like we buy your products. And so you can kind of see from some of the big companies in the news um how that has worked favorably and unfavorably ah if we choose to kind of withhold dollars. And so those are things to seriously consider regardless of kind of.
00:37:43
Speaker
everything legislatively that's going through. ah Not only you could have great employees who stay on the job longer, save yourself money that way, you could get the disability community buying your products and supporting you.
00:37:54
Speaker
as ah As a business background person, that that speaks to me and I think that it's going to speak to a lot of employers too. Yeah, I think that's such a great point. And it it always makes me laugh because we've been saying this anecdotally for at least myself going on 20 years.
00:38:14
Speaker
um What's different now about everything you just said is that it was 100% true then. It's 100% true now. But we've had this decade of actually proving right?
00:38:27
Speaker
Right. We, disability solutions, have hard numbers. um Organizations that track consumer spending have hard numbers. Like it's not something that we just throw out there because somebody said it to us a long time ago. It is actually a reality and all of the progress that we as a community have made, um you know, since 503 changed and since, you know, diversity became such a a popular focus in our country.
00:38:56
Speaker
tells the story in a way that is much more legitimized um and and data tracked than what it was when we started in this world.
Optimism for the Future and Mission Continuation
00:39:08
Speaker
um and And I think that's the thing to hold on to and is a good way.
00:39:14
Speaker
to call it a day. um So are there any final thoughts that you want to leave us with for 2025, wrapping up your first year as executive director? um Anything like that?
00:39:29
Speaker
Happy New Year, everybody. Always the man who's quiet. Thank you so much. This has been so fun. um i love talking to you and I know we do it all the time, but I was very nervous about doing it on camera because I have no idea why. It's always easy. You're the Zen master. So um if you aren't following Disability Solutions, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, anywhere else?
00:39:54
Speaker
Everywhere. All right, changingminds, changinglives.com, disabilitytalent.org. Reach out to Keith. He is the man. Our team is incredible. I'm so blessed to continue to have this person and all of the team in my life um and to be able to not give up when it gets hard, but to continue this fight into 2026 with you all. um So until next year, um have a great one and keep changing minds and changing lives.
00:40:27
Speaker
Bye.