By Phil Turner

Where does your organisation sit in relation to disability and neurodiversity on the above Belonging Continuum?

At the Accessibility Tick and New Zealand Disability Employers’ Network we work with organisations on their disability and neurodiversity inclusion. But inclusion is not enough and is not the ultimate end game. It can’t be! Let me explain.

Let’s use a meeting analogy to explore what I mean…

Diversity

In a diverse meeting, we have a good range of people in the room, including disabled and neurodiverse people. We feel good about it, as it’s lovely to see such a range of people in the room.

But just because someone is in the room doesn’t mean that they are participating. The meeting has not been set up in a way that invites them to have a voice, nor does it make them feel a part of something.

If we are truthful, this is where we are at (or not even at) with most disability and neurodiversity employment in New Zealand. The disabled and neurodiverse people are in the room, if they are lucky, and we feel proud to have welcomed them.

Inclusion

That’s OK, let’s have an inclusive meeting. We can invite disabled and neurodiverse people to sit down at the table and include them in the discussion.

We’ll ask them questions and hear their perspective. We may even value their views, leading to better outcomes for all. We feel even better because we are inclusive, bringing disabled and neurodiverse voices to the conversation.

Have you noticed something? It is still about us. We are feeling good due to us being disability and neurodiversity inclusive.

Belonging

This is where the magic happens. Let’s ensure everyone belongs at the meeting.

To date, it has been all about us. We have felt good about bringing people into the room and then into the conversation. It shouldn’t be about them or us, as there is only us.

When disabled and neurodiverse people belong, they are our equals at the meeting table. They participate not because we invited them into the room and asked them to talk, but because they are a part of us and it would make no sense to have the meeting without them. They add their own unique value just like the rest of us.

Now we are really getting somewhere. Disabled and neurodiverse people are there because everyone knows they belong there as part of the whole, and everyone benefits.

Why should we care?

To be honest, I should just state here “It’s the right thing to do”, and be done with it. In New Zealand, one of our core values is fairness and equality. With everyone having the right to live a full and productive life in the way they choose. That should be enough.

But smart organisations are seeing that not only is it the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense. Organisations that get this right see the following benefits (and more):

• Increased talent pool – there is a large pool of talented yet unemployed disabled and neurodiverse people, many of which have never been give the opportunity to reach their full potential.
• Committed employees – on average, disabled people take less sick leave and stay longer in jobs. There are loads more stats I could share here, but that will have to be another article.
• Better understanding of their customers – having disabled and neurodiverse employees leads to better institutional knowledge about disability and neurodiversity. Did we mention 24% of New Zealanders have a disability, and the estimated prevalence of all neurodiversities is 15-20%?
• Stronger reputation – organisations that get this right improve their image amongst their staff, customers, and the community.
• Increased innovation – disabled and neurodiverse people have barriers put in front of them all the time, which can contribute to them becoming great innovators, a strength which they then bring to the workplace.

How do we improve?

Disability and neurodiversity belonging doesn’t just happen overnight because someone decided that the organisation would be that way. It takes careful execution of a well thought out plan, involving considerable cultural change. But there are two things you can do to kick things off.

• Normalise disability and neurodiversity in your conversations – the first step to cultural change is to bring disability and neurodiversity out of the shadows. Create an organisational understanding of why it should be disability and neurodiversity inclusive, and then talk about it. A lot.
• Hire disabled and neurodiverse people – bringing disabled and neurodiverse talent into your team, and supporting them to succeed, is the single most effective way of changing your culture. This may involve some accommodations on your behalf, but it also may not. Either way, in my experience, the benefits always outweigh the costs.

If you would like to talk more about disability and neurodiversity belonging within your organisation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us – info@accessibilitytick.nz.

A word on the language used in the article

The language we use is important. Throughout this article I have used the term “disabled and neurodiverse people”. As such, I have chosen to use the term disabled people instead of people with disabilities, inline with the social model of disability and the New Zealand Disability Strategy. If your preference is person first language (ie. people with disabilities) then please substitute that in while reading the article.

The Accessibility Tick is very pleased to announce that Sandra Budd has joined the Accessibility Tick team as a Relationship Manager.

Sandra brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge. Her previous roles include Chief Executive and senior executive in the Australasian public health, disability and not-for-profit sectors.

She has led national and multi-state initiatives modernising services within the NZ Blind Foundation, South Australian Children Youth and Women’s Health Service, NSW’s Greater Southern Area Health Service and Auckland Healthcare’s maternity and neonatal services.

Sandra has a strong background in organisation transformation and building social enterprises. She is also an experienced board director, sitting on existing Boards and and Advisory Groups.

She has had considerable experience in community engagement and relationship building. As a certified member of Australasian International Association for Public Participation she works with people to build compelling desired futures.

It is important to note that our programme and network wouldn’t exist without Sandra having supported us in her role as Chief Exectuive of the Blind Foundation. It was Sandra’s foresight and support that enabled us to get started, and become what we are today.

We are certain that you will agree, Sandra is a positive addition to the Accessibility Tick and NZ Disability Employers’ Network whanau.

Sandra looks forward to meeting our members in the near future.

Congratulations to Powerco, who have recently achieved the Accessibility Tick reflecting their focus and commitment to disability inclusion.

Emma Bennett, Group HR Manager says it’s confirmation Powerco is on the right track. “We’re committed to offering an equitable and accessible workplace for our team. We are firm believers that accessibility needs shouldn’t be a barrier to participation in the paid workforce. It’s up to organisations like ours to educate ourselves and do better.”

“We’ll continue to challenge our thinking and explore new ways to make Powerco a great place to work, for everyone,” she adds.

There are many things that you can do to ensure your virtual meetings are usable by everyone, including those with accessibility needs. I thought that we would take the opportunity to share a few of them with you –

Assume there are people who are blind, deaf, neurodiverse, have a physical impairment, or any other number of accessibility needs joining your meeting

Unless you have information to the contrary, you should always assume that there are people who have accessibility needs attending your meeting and make the meeting as accessible as possible.

To obtain information to the contrary, you either need to –

• Have existing relationships with each of the attendees and know they don’t need adjustments, or
• Ask attendees to declare their accessibility needs ahead of the meeting.

When scheduling a meeting ask something like the following –

Our organisation is committed to ensuring our meetings are accessible for everyone. In order to be able to participate in this meeting successfully, do you have any adjustments/accommodations that you would like us to make? If so, what?

Understand the accessibility features of the tools that you are using

Most the mainstream tools for online meetings and webinars have information publicly available regarding their accessibility features. Take the time to understand what is possible with your tool.

• Zoom – Accessibility Features (opens in new tab)
• Microsoft Teams – Accessibility Support for Microsoft Teams (opens in new tab)
• Google G Suite – User guide to accessibility (opens in new tab)
• Workplace by Facebook – Accessibility (opens in new tab)

Where you are using additional features of tools (such as whiteboards, chat, polling, etc.) understand the impacts that they may have on participants.

Have fit for purpose equipment

Quality audio visual equipment

Where at all possible, don’t just use a laptop’s built in web camera and microphone. Ensure that you use a high-quality web camera and microphone to ensure that everyone can hear and see you clearly.

Good quality broadband

Also ensure that you are connected to a suitable broadband connection to minimise the chances of any buffering causing issues with meeting members comprehension.

Ensure your materials are accessible

When creating your material, ensure that you follow accessibility best practices. This will require you upskilling to understand how to ensure they are accessible. You can do this by –

• Following online resources such as –
  • WebAIM – PowerPoint Accessibility (opens in a new tab)
  • Microsoft – Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities (opens in a new tab)
• Attending training courses
  The Accessibility Tick Training and Partner Programme Catalogue has courses available to its members and the public on accessibility.
• Using in-built accessibility checkers such as that found in Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker (opens in new tab) or the Acrobat Pro DC Accessibility Checker (opens in a new tab).
  Note: These accessibility checkers will help you with your accessibility but should not be used without other base knowledge as they don’t identify all accessibility issues.

Share material out before or at the start of a meeting

Sending materials to the attendees before actually starting can allow them the opportunity to use them should they encounter accessibility barriers with the live meeting.

Provide Captions

The choice of which captioning technique you use will depend largely on the level of accuracy required, budget, needs of those in the meeting. Your options include:

• Professional caption service – engage with a professional captioning firm for the best outcomes. A couple of firms that provide this service are –
  • AI Media (opens in a new tab)
  • 3PlayMedia (opens in a new tab)
• PowerPoints in-built auto-captioning (opens in new tab) – please note that this will have a higher failure rate.
• Other out of the box Computer Aided Auto Captioners

Sign Language

If it is requested, you should engage a sign language interpreter. They will guide you through the process.

See the Sign Language Interpreters Association of New Zealand’s Interpreter Directory (opens in a new tab) for a list of interpreters.

Ensure everything on screen is audio described

If something is put up on the screen don’t assume that the audience has read it. Some people will be unable to interact with the visible content so ensure that you have verbalised it as well.

If you can’t verbalise it, then the content shared well in advance to allow those with accessibility needs to consume and subsequently comprehend it ahead of the meeting.

Say your name every time you speak

Ensure that the meeting has an understood convention that every time someone speaks they say their names. This will allow those using audio only links, who are blind or have low vision, or for everyone else where someone has just not labelled themselves correctly in the software, to understand who it is that is talking.

Have someone monitoring the chat

Ensure that you have someone monitoring the chat who can assist people with any accessibility challenges that they may raise.

Post URLs in presentation in the chat

When you share a link to something in the presentation, ensure that the link is also made available in the chat function.

Pause at key points and ask for feedback

People with various accessibility needs may not feel confident to interrupt you to ask a question. Ensure that you ask questions at set points and allow plenty of time for them to do so, including by chat if they prefer.

If one person is dominating the conversation, ensure to ask others for feedback as well.