July is Disability Pride Month. While it’s a time for celebration, for many employers and businesses, this observance is still relatively unknown. Why? Because as a society, we still have a long way to go. The pervasive perception is still too often that disability means “less than,” rather than seeing the immense value disabled individuals bring to the table.
This year’s official theme is “The World Works Better With Us.” When I first heard this theme, it resonated with me deeply. It moves the conversation away from pity or mere compliance, and instead focuses on the fact that when disabled people are included, accommodated, and valued, everyone benefits.
The Hidden Expertise of Lived Experience
Having lived with severe hearing loss since infancy, and profound hearing loss for the last eight years, I know firsthand what it means to navigate a world not built for me. I am proud of my identity as a deaf person. But I am less happy with the slow pace of change in attitudes and behaviors.
Too often, professionals and employers make assumptions. I will never forget a specialist doctor who disregarded my concerns after a sudden, significant drop in my hearing, arrogantly telling me I’d “manage with a little change.” That lost opportunity for prompt treatment was due to a lack of understanding and respect.
But navigating these barriers doesn’t make disabled people weaker. It makes us resourceful.
Living with a disability builds immense resilience, sharp problem-solving skills, creativity, and determination. We have to approach challenges in different ways every single day. These are precisely the skills that modern businesses desperately need, yet bias in recruitment keeps so many talented individuals locked out.
How the World Functions Better When We are Included
Throughout my career, my perspective as a deaf person has allowed me to see and fix gaps that others completely miss:
- In care settings: Because I know what it feels like to have people make incorrect assumptions about you, I was able to help care staff see the person behind the illness or frailty. By tapping into residents’ hidden talents, we introduced lectures, shared skills led by residents etc. Staff learned and collaborated on shared skills and interests.
- In hospitality: In restaurants and hotels, I can quickly pinpoint small, cost-effective changes that improve communication and accessibility not just for the deaf and hard of hearing, but for other customers too. I bring in local disabled friends and colleagues.
- In communication: Having deaf employees teaches a business the vital importance of having multiple ways to communicate, which ultimately leads to better, clearer service for your entire customer base.
Communities and workplaces thrive when you play to people’s strengths rather than focusing on their perceived negatives.
Actionable Tips for Employers This Month
If you want to ensure your workplace “works better,” here is where you can start:
- Stop making assumptions: It is one of the biggest barriers preventing people from reaching their full potential.
- Make it safe to have conversations: In staff meetings and supervisions, create a safe space where people can share what would help them. You will find many of the accessibility suggestions they come up with will actually help your entire team.
- Change your recruitment process: Involve disabled people in the process, and actively look for the unique problem solving skills they bring.
- Use disabled people as speakers and trainers: We are the experts in our own lives and accessibility.
Let’s Work Better, Together
Change can be hard, but it starts with kindness, awareness, and an effort to include.
If you want to move beyond basic compliance and find out how your business can become more inclusive, get in touch with me at Living 4 Moments. Through tailored training, coaching, consultancy, and talks, we can help your organisation thrive. We cover a range of vital topics including:
- Deaf Awareness
- Inclusion Audits and coaching
- Understanding Dementia and the law (in partnership with Rucklidge Law)
- Communication workshops
- Lipreading and Hearing Management, which is suitable for employees, who are experiencing a change of hearing. Employers show your support by booking sessions employees can join.
Let’s build a world that works better for everyone. And if you are still not convinced- the economy would grow when working with disabled people.
A lack of access for customers currently results in an annual loss in the UK of £274 billion, while the exclusion of employees accounts for an additional loss of £80 billion. Research indicates that embracing diversity helps mitigate groupthink, thereby nurturing innovation and driving gains in both productivity and profitability.
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