Talent With a Disability In Your Organisation

During the expert session, Lesa Bradshaw engages the audience through methods like a Q&A session, live demonstrations using personal experiences, and interactive exercises with the Mentimeter app. Lesa discusses the importance of disability inclusion, the impact of disabling barriers, and the benefits for businesses to embrace this concept. She encourages attendees to learn about accessibility and become allies for inclusion by implementing inclusive practices at work and in their communities.

• Recognizing Disability Inclusion as a Business Opportunity: Tapping into the vast consumer market of over 1.85 billion people with disabilities by making products, services, and workplaces accessible is essential for social justice and business competitiveness.
• Eliminating Barriers to Inclusion: Understanding that what disables a person goes beyond their impairment, and addressing attitudinal and environmental barriers through policies, procedures, communication tools, and accessibility audits can lead to a more inclusive and productive workforce.
• Becoming an Ally for Disability Confidence: Learning about disability inclusion in various aspects of work and daily life, such as procurement, finance, marketing, and personal experiences, allows individuals to become advocates and create a culture that normalizes and accommodates people with disabilities.

In this expert session, Lesa Bradshaw discusses the importance of disability inclusion and the role it plays in society and businesses. Lesa emphasizes that what disables a person is not just their impairment but also influenced by various factors such as upbringing, community, personality, and access to resources.

 

Lesa highlights the American Disabilities Act as an example of legislative rights that prevent discrimination against people with disabilities and promote disability inclusion in workplaces and society as a whole. She emphasizes the significant consumer market represented by over 1.85 billion people with disabilities, making it essential for businesses to recognize their needs and make their products and services accessible.

 

The speaker shares her personal experiences and statistics that illustrate the potential loss of earnings for businesses that ignore this population's needs. She encourages working with people with disabilities to gain unique perspectives and insights into their requirements.

 

Lesa emphasizes the importance of addressing both environmental and attitudinal barriers to disability inclusion. Environmental barriers can be addressed through accessibility audits, removing physical obstacles, and creating a culture that normalizes and accommodates people with disabilities in the workplace. Attitudinal barriers include low expectations and unconscious biases that limit opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

To create a more inclusive work environment, Lesa suggests policies and procedures should reflect an equalizing need rather than special treatment. Communication tools such as sign language interpreters and closed captioning can enable participation for people with disabilities.

 

The speaker argues that businesses often overlook the talent pool of individuals with disabilities, and investing in disability inclusion can lead to significant benefits. She encourages individuals to become allies for inclusion by learning about accessibility and inclusion in various aspects of work.

 

Lesa shares her belief that small actions can have a significant impact on creating a more inclusive world. She encourages participants to engage with their employers, join employee resource groups, or speak up in their organizations to learn more about disability inclusion and becoming an ally.

 

The session emphasizes the importance of proper terminology, manners, and open communication when discussing disability. Lesa suggests experiencing the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities through exercises like being blind for a few hours to better understand their day-to-day experiences.

 

In conclusion, Lesa Bradshaw's expert session emphasizes the importance of creating a culture that normalizes and accommodates people with disabilities in the workplace and society as a whole. She encourages individuals and businesses to recognize the potential benefits of disability inclusion and become allies for change.

The Competitive Advantage of Disability Confident Leadership

What ‘disables’ you? An odd question on the face of it, but a pertinent one when we consider that we bring with us to business a diverse range of abilities, potentials and lived experiences which, context depending, may be fully unleashed, or restricted. The role of leadership is to create a culture, environment and context which enables everyone to unleash their talents. This, in a nutshell, describes a disability confident organization.

In this session, Lesa Bradshaw draws from her lived experience as a business leader with a disability to deliver an impactful ‘re-think’ of the value that the diversity of disability brings to our economy.