How to Leverage Routine Company-Wide Activities to Foster Disability Inclusion

When promoting inclusion in the workplace, employers and managers should adopt a comprehensive and proactive approach. This means seizing every available opportunity to create an environment where all employees, including those with disabilities, feel recognized, accepted, and welcomed.  

Routine activities that bring employees and managers together for a common purpose offer ideal opportunities to demonstrate a commitment to inclusion. This is where a sense of camaraderie and a spirit of cooperation among employees with different life experiences can easily be fostered, as part of a gradual but profound transformation of your company’s culture. 

Disability Inclusion in Practice: From Small Steps to Giant Advancements

Some of the routine activities that could be expanded, altered or reimagined to meet disability inclusion goals include:

• Town halls
• Lunch-and-learns
• Publishing of company newsletters
• Code-of-conduct training sessions
• Volunteer or community service days
• Emergency preparedness drills
• Holiday parties

Let’s take a closer look at how this might work:

Town halls

These annual or quarterly company-wide gatherings, leaders can openly express their sincere interest in inclusion in all of its aspects, reporting on long-term company goals and discussing the progress that has been made so far. They can explain why the topic is so important, stressing how the success of the company depends on its ability to fully accommodate the needs of each hard-working and highly skilled team member.  

As the capstone of the presentation, employees with disabilities can be invited to speak or upload pre-recorded presentations, talking about their experiences and explaining the daily challenges they face in more detail. This will put the spotlight on the human aspect of the disability equation, creating empathy and understanding among the company workforce as a whole.

Lunch-and-learns

On a couple of occasions each year, you can dedicate one of these informal learning sessions to the topic of disability inclusion and accommodation. You can ask your employees with disabilities to speak about their experiences, or invite disability advocates to discuss inclusion-related topics and practices. While the topic is serious, the atmosphere will be quite casual, which is a good way to ensure widespread receptivity to the message.

During these enlightening meetings, questions from the audience should be encouraged. This will open a constructive dialogue between those who understand the hurdles disabled people can face, and those who are curious, compassionate and eager to learn more. 

Publishing of Company Newsletters

Internal newsletters provide a golden opportunity to introduce all of your employees to topics relevant to disability accommodation and inclusion. In special editions of your company’s newsletter, you could feature:

• Tips from experts on how to make workplace environments more accessible and inclusive, at both the micro and macro levels.
• Advice on how to communicate compassionately and respectfully with colleagues who have disabilities.
• Articles debunking various myths about disabled employees
• Results from surveys or Q&A sessions that probe the opinions of disabled individuals on work-related topics
• The latest research showing how much workers with disabilities contribute to the economy

Your newsletter could also include inspirational stories about employees with disabilities who overcame many obstacles to succeed in their professions. This will make them minor celebrities in the company, which will encourage colleagues to approach them offering support and admiration.

Code-of-conduct Training Sessions

Moving beyond the theoretical, code-of-conduct training sessions should introduce specific scenarios that involve interactions between employees with disabilities and their co-workers, managers and employers. Ideally, employees with disabilities will play some role in the design of these scenarios, to ensure authenticity and relevance.

The overall tone of these sessions should be positive and constructive. They should focus on sharing information that will be helpful for all, including those who have disabilities and those who don’t but who want to learn more. Respectful queries that invite a deeper exploration of the topic of disability inclusion should be welcomed, to ensure clarity and clear up any misunderstandings about what inclusion really means.

Volunteer or Community Service Days

Organizations that serve the needs of the disabled are eager for volunteers, and that can make them ideal partners for companies seeking to expand or diversify their volunteering programs. Your employees can forge mutually rewarding connections with disabled people outside the workplace, which can help raise their consciousness and make them more sensitive to the needs of their disabled colleagues inside the workplace.  

You can ask your disabled employees to help choose these partner organizations. They can also take a lead role in explaining the nature and purpose of the various volunteer assignments to their co-workers, adding a relevant personalized touch to this increasingly popular team-building activity. 

Emergency Preparedness Drills

Your planning for these drills should be developed with the needs of disabled employees in mind, to guarantee that they can be relocated to evacuation areas safely and efficiently. If they need special assistance, you can rotate different employees into buddy or companion roles each time you hold a drill, which can facilitate the development of supportive relationships that break down barriers.

After the drills have been completed, you can hold debriefing sessions. During these lively discussions, input from everyone will be encouraged, including feedback from employees with disabilities who can suggest adjustments to evacuation procedures if necessary. Non-disabled employees should be asked to offer their insights on this topic as well, to help cultivate broader interest in inclusion.

Holiday Parties

Festive occasions offer a unique opportunity for work colleagues from different backgrounds and with divergent life histories to get to know each other better. It is essential to make sure that employees with disabilities feel accepted and welcomed at these events, to make sure they deliver maximum benefits. 

Some of the best ways to make parties more inclusive include:

• Holding them in convenient and accessible locations
• Providing quiet areas where guests with disabilities can retreat if necessary
• Sponsoring a variety of inclusive games and contests
• Seating employees from different departments together, giving those with disabilities a chance to expand their circle of acquaintances

Events like holiday parties should be enjoyed equally by all, and they can be as long as everyone feels comfortable and at ease. Out of shared fun times strong and lasting bonds can emerge, which will help employees with disabilities integrate more fully into a company culture that truly appreciates their invaluable contributions.