Transcript
Speaker: Hi, and welcome to Disability at Work, the podcast where we explore disability inclusion and the systems shaping the future of work. I'm your host, Ashley Sims.
Speaker: October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, or UNDEAM. For more than 80 years, this observance has helped bring attention to the contributions of people with disabilities.
Speaker: It has also encouraged employers to expand employment opportunities and create more inclusive workplaces. The U.S. Department of Labor selected Celebrating Value and Talent as this year's theme, carrying forward the same message from last year.
Speaker: The theme recognizes the skills and contributions people with disabilities bring to workplaces, communities, and the economy. People with disabilities bring value and talent to every industry and every level of work.
Speaker: This year, however, i'd like to see Ndeem go one step further and encourage more action. It needs to be about finding and fixing the systems that continue to exclude people with disabilities from employment, advancement, economic security, and full participation in their communities.
Speaker: Employers are navigating a complicated talent environment right now. AI is changing how people search for jobs, how employers screen applicants, and how hiring decisions are made.
Speaker: Application volume is increasing. Talent acquisition teams are being asked to move faster and do more with fewer resources. These changes can create new barriers for people with disabilities.
Speaker: An automated hiring tool may screen someone out because of how they communicate, move, process information, or complete an assessment. An inaccessible career site may prevent a candidate who uses a screen reader from applying.
Speaker: a long or confusing application process may cause a qualified candidate to leave before an interview even takes place. Accessibility belongs in every conversation about the future of recruiting.
Speaker: Employers need to understand who can access their opportunities, who advances through the hiring process, and where qualified candidates are falling through the cracks. Federal disability employment policy also changed this year. Section 503 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It prohibits covered federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against qualified people with disabilities.
Speaker: It also requires certain contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance people with disabilities. In August of this year, U.S. Department of Labor finalized changes to the rules that support Section 503, removing several measurement requirements, including the 7% disability utilization goal, the required disability self-identification process, and related workforce data requirements.
Speaker: The 7% goal gave contractors a benchmark for reviewing disability representation within their workforce, its removal creates a major accountability question.
Speaker: How will employers know whether their disability employment efforts are working? Employers can and should continue setting goals, collecting appropriate information, evaluating outcomes, and measuring progress.
Speaker: And they should review outreach applications, hiring, accommodations, retention, advancement, and employee experience regularly. A federal benchmark should never be the only reason to measure progress.
Speaker: Employers need useful information to understand whether their talent systems are reaching and supporting people with disabilities. Changes are also happening within federal civil rights enforcement.
Speaker: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, enforces federal laws against workplace discrimination. Under its 2026 plan, the agency is putting more focus on cases involving clear, intentional discrimination and practices that may affect many workers rather than just the individuals directly involved. they are also pulling back from investigating some types of discrimination involving disparate impact.
Speaker: That's when a workplace policy seems fair on the surface, but ends up creating barriers for certain groups of people. This concept matters for disability employment because exclusion frequently occurs through processes and systems.
Speaker: A rigid attendance policy can affect employees with chronic health conditions. A timed assessment can disadvantage a person who needs an accommodation. an inaccessible digital platform can block a blind candidate from completing an application. return-to-office policy may affect employees whose disabilities make commuting or working in a specific environment difficult.
Speaker: Employers can review these systems before a complaint is filed or a talented employee leaves. And HR and talent acquisition leaders are in a strong position to identify those barriers and make accessibility part of everyday workforce decisions.
Speaker: The climate surrounding disability also extends beyond employment. Disability advocates have raised concerns about how the current administration speaks about autism and frames the lives of autistic people.
Speaker: They have also expressed concern about changes involving special education, civil rights oversight, and the right of disabled people to live in their communities. The words leaders use about disability shape public attitudes.
Speaker: They can influence whether disabled people are seen as capable workers, valued customers, community members, and decision makers. Home and community-based services are another important part of this conversation.
Speaker: These Medicaid-funded services help many disabled people live in their homes and communities. They can include personal assistance and other forms of daily support.
Speaker: Federal Medicaid reductions have placed pressure on these programs. Many home and community-based services are considered optional under federal Medicaid rules, which makes them vulnerable when states face difficult budget decisions.
Speaker: Disability advocates warn that reduced community support could increase the risk of people entering nursing facilities or other institutional settings. This is a workforce issue.
Speaker: Reliable support can determine whether someone can get ready for work, travel to a job, maintain a schedule, or continue building a career. It can also determine whether a family caregiver can remain employed.
Speaker: Independent living and employment are closely connected. Policies affecting health care, caregiving, transportation, education, housing, and community access all influence who can participate in the workforce.
Speaker: So what can employers do? Employers have the power to create meaningful progress within their own organizations. Start with the candidate experience. Test your career site and application process with people who use screen readers and other assistive technology.
Speaker: Review whether candidates can easily request an accommodation. Examine any AI or automated tools used in sourcing, screening, interviewing, or hiring.
Speaker: Then look at the employee experience. Make accommodations easy to request and timely to receive. Train managers to respond with consistency and respect.
Speaker: Review whether employees with disabilities have equal access to training, leadership opportunities, flexible work, technology, and advancement. Measure what happens throughout the employment journey.
Speaker: Who applies? Who gets interviewed? Who is hired? Who stays? Who advances? Where do candidates and employees encounter barriers? Community-based organizations can support this work by connecting employers with disability talent, sharing community perspectives, and helping companies build relationships that continue throughout the year.
Speaker: Accessibility should also extend to customers. Accessible websites, communication, products, services, and physical spaces can help organizations reach more people and provide a better experience.
Speaker: Disability inclusion is a workforce strategy, a customer strategy, and a business growth strategy. And Deem brings valuable attention to disability employment every October.
Speaker: But employers can carry that attention into the other 11 months of the year. A social media post can raise awareness, but an accessible application can expand opportunity.
Speaker: A responsive accommodation process can help someone stay employed. A relationship with a community organization can create a lasting talent pipeline. A review of hiring technology can uncover barriers before they become part of thousands of employment decisions.
Speaker: Celebrating value and talent is meaningful, but creating access allows that value and talent to be seen, hired, supported, and advanced. This in DEEM, take a closer look at the systems inside of your organization.
Speaker: Identify where candidates and employees with disabilities face barriers. Listen to their experiences and build stronger community partnerships. And keep measuring your progress.
Speaker: Use October as a catalyst for the work that will continue throughout the year. People with disabilities deserve access to meaningful career advancement opportunities, independence, and economic opportunity.
Speaker: Employers deserve access to the full talent market. And DEEM gives us visibility, but our actions determine the impact. Learn more about turning Indeem into year-round impact at your organization at disabilitytalent.org. And this November, get out and vote.
Speaker: The decisions we make at the ballot box help shape our workplaces, our communities, and the future of disability inclusion. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next time.
Speaker: Hi, my name is Aaron Linson and welcome to your Accessibility Minute. It's October, which means it's National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
Speaker: So let's talk about something that every disabled job seeker knows, even if they've never heard the name of it before, the disability tax.
Speaker: The disability tax is extra time and energy people with disabilities spend just to do what everybody else does. And for a lot of us, it starts with the job application process. Here's a quick example.
Speaker: I'm blind and i use a screen reader. On a well-built form, I press the tab key and hear my screen reader say first name.
Speaker: I type it and move on, pressing the Tab key and here, Last Name, and on and on it goes. Great experience. Easy. On a lot of applications and, frankly, many forms, the label isn't connected to the field in the code.
Speaker: And there's many other problems. So I just hear edit. What exactly am I actually editing? or ah I don't know. So now I have to stop, hunt for the label, if there is one, and come back.
Speaker: for every single field. Your job and application or your form might have 20 or 30 fields. It takes a lot of time and lot of energy. And depending on the person, they might just give up and move on.
Speaker: Or they might be blocked in some way and not able to proceed. The good news, this is fixable and often fast to do. So here are three things you can do this month.
Speaker: Number one, have us test your job application using assistive technology. Number two, make your accommodation process easy to find right on your careers page.
Speaker: And number three, answer those accommodation requests quickly. Want to know if people with disabilities can actually apply for your job?
Speaker: Reach out to Disability Solutions. We'll review your job application process with a screen reader, give you grade, and hand you a list quick fixes.
Speaker: For more, read the full post at www.disabilitytalent.org slash blog. Thanks for listening and see you next month for November's Accessibility Minute.
