Giving Thought to Inclusion of People with Disabilities In Your Career Goals

Listen - Giving Thought to Inclusion

6:38

How Much thought Have You Given to Consideration of Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities In Your Career Goals? 

When considering your career, education, small business or nonprofit startup, how much thought have you given to including persons with disabilities? 

At a recent job fair sponsored by the University of Southern California (USC), one of the most prominent universities in Los Angeles, we were able to work a booth sponsored by Fox Family Foundation to promote the Innovating Inclusion program. My strategy that day was to take the opportunity to ask students, job seekers and staff, how much consideration they give to persons with disabilities when considering their career choices, educational development, presentations, nonprofit programming, or small business startups? 

Unsurprisingly, all the people I spoke with had not given any consideration to persons with disabilities either in their educational development or career choices. 

When asking about educational development, many attendees stated that they were majoring in Computer Science or attaining a Masters in Business Administration, yet none of them had given any thought to developing software, systems, or websites accessible to persons with disabilities, believing that their computer programming would somehow automatically create totally accessible content for all.  Though the university offers a few courses on Accessibility and Adaptive Technologies, none of the students had given any consideration to enrolling in these courses because the Computer Science department had failed to adequately promote them. When I explained to the students that while many graduates have a Masters degrees in Computer Science, very few possess credentials in Accessibility or Adaptive Technologies. I highlighted that the starting salaries for those with expertise in Accessibility and Adaptive Technologies are notably higher due to the greater demand for such specialists. Businesses and schools are increasingly focused on ADA compliance to avoid legal issues, which makes these credentials even more valuable. This information immediately piqued their interest.  

I aimed to resonate with the students on a personal level by reminding them that as their parents and relatives age, they will inevitably face challenges related to disability, whether they want to or not. I asked them to consider how they will design software and platforms that are accessible to their aging family members when that time comes. My hope was to plant a seed of reflection that might influence their educational and career choices. 

When I asked those with MBAs or majoring in Business how they ensure their presentations are inclusive for a wide range of disabilities, most responded with a blank stare, like deer caught in headlights on a dark road. 

I started by asking what methods they would use to reach a broader audience, including individuals with disabilities. I explained that by incorporating various presentation modalities, they have the potential to make their content accessible to a wide range of disabilities, enabling greater participation from those who are disabled. These presentation modalities being to: 

1. Ensure that all presentations include closed captioning of all spoken content. Whenever possible include a sign language interpretation. 

2. Include an Audio Descriptive component to describe all graphics in the presentation. Also make sure that any text in the presentation is spoken for all those with low vision, blindness, seniors with macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or any other vision maladies. This component will help slow readers, people with learning disabilities and those with comorbidities. 

3.  Graphics and pictures can be used to describe actions or convey actions for those with autism and other intellectual disorders. 

These same techniques can be implemented for many fields of study and disciplines. It is incumbent for those with disabilities to demonstrate to those in any field of study or discipline how they can adapt many of the products they will someday produce, no matter how insignificant into something that is accessible and inclusive for many. 

USC has 24 schools with a combined student enrollment of over 48,000 combined students in their undergraduate and graduate programs. Embarking on a program to require all discipline studies to re-envision their schools to teach or begin to learn how to make all teaching programs accessible to persons with disabilities is not only prudent but necessary, because of our aging population. According to LA Almanac, there are more than 998,000 persons with disabilities in the County of Los Angeles, with 453,000 of those being working age adults, according to RespectAbility. The US Census reports that 1 out of every 5 people you come across daily are disabled. These statistics alone should be enough to spur a dramatic shift in how we view and interact with those who are disabled and modify our studies, workplace environment and daily activities to incorporate those with disabilities, yet schools and universities have been so slow to recognize this fact and make adjustments to their teaching programs. Can you imagine a world where all disciplines take disabilities into consideration, either in their practice of education or with an outward facing goal of making their career work places completely inclusive.  

The goal of Innovating Inclusion is to promote acceptance, interaction and normalization of persons with disabilities, so that the world can finally begin to accept those with disabilities as an integral part of the fabric of our society.