Accessibility, Collaboration, and the Future of Work

How can we contribute to a more accessible future?

Time to read: 4 min

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What is Accessibility?

Accessibility is the practice of making information, systems, software, and environments available, meaningful, and usable for people with disabilities. Accessibility often ties closely with the idea of universal design, which relates to making things accessible to as many people as possible.

Accessibility and Work From Home

The abrupt transition to remote and hybrid work saw employees turn to their home instead of the traditional office. Extra hours of sleep replaced long commutes. Kids and pets became Zoom meeting staples. What many saw as a serendipitous opportunity for new ways of working, those in the disability community could not help but also feel frustration seeing something they have asked for ages before the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly brought about when others called for work to continue on.

What Remote Work Offers to People with Disabilities

For some of the 1 in 4 U.S. adults with a disability [1], remote work has made life easier. Working from home offers greater flexibility for people’s schedules and lifestyles, perhaps even leaving energy at the end of the day to enjoy life and loved ones more [2]. Companies employing remote work also started to offer additional support and resources for wellness and mental health support. Another unexpected benefit of remote work is that people have greater control over disclosing their disabilities to employers and colleagues, or not [2]. Expansions in caregiver benefits, such as the ability to take time off for an hour at a time, support those who take care of family and loved ones with disabilities [3].

But not everyone is able to bring their work home.

Before the pandemic, people with disabilities were more likely than those without disabilities to work from home; however, among those remaining employed, workers with disabilities were less likely than those without disabilities to be doing their work from home due to the pandemic, as seen in a Rutgers “Fact Sheet on Disability and Telework During the Pandemic“ [4]. The researchers note that this can also be attributed to the fact that people with disabilities are more likely to be in blue-collar or service jobs.

Accessibility and the Future of Work

Digital transformation (or the process of organizations integrating technology into nearly every facet of their businesses) has been and is here. The pandemic did not cause digital transformation but accelerated it. With emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual realities, we must take care to ensure that the tools designed to make our lives easier are accessible to all. When integrating technology into work–that is, from the job application process to daily collaborative communication tools–no one should be left behind by the use of these systems. Collaboration relies on communication and empathy. To work together to our common ends, we have to first understand that coming from unique situations we may each require different means in accomplishing our shared goal.

Why Accessibility Matters

Companies benefit from welcoming the disability community as employees and customers. Organizations that are inclusive and provide better accommodations often perform better as companies. With supply chain and employment strains, some retail and logistics companies have recently adopted disability inclusion programs as part of their labor strategy, seeing improvements in increased retention, workplace safety and other benefits [5]. Additionally, the remote work accommodations discussed earlier benefit not only those with disabilities but all employees where these are provided. Beyond roles as members in the workforce, the disability community is a favorable customer base to have, representing $8 trillion globally in disposable income [6].

Although companies can recognize the performance and economic benefits of making their organizations inclusive and accessible, providing accessibility is a rewarding end of its own. Our teams, systems, and businesses should be welcoming to all.

What Next?

We occupy a unique, potentially rewarding position regarding accessibility. In terms of embracing persons with disabilities to our workplaces, we see how by benefiting some ultimately many more end up benefiting–that is, colleagues, teams, customers who are better represented, organizations as a whole, etc. By making our environments, systems, and products better accessible, we open these to be used by so many more people who could not utilize them otherwise.

The mission of providing greater accessibility should not and cannot be paid away simply by expressing the aim to do so; rather, accessibility must be implemented and integrated throughout every aspect of our businesses and systems where people are involved. We as individuals making up businesses and organizations can do our part by reflecting on how we make our environments inclusive. How is the work we do touching people’s lives? How are we welcoming others? Upon reflection, we can then take steps towards positive action.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Laura Fathauer, Matthew Striet, and Patricia Lennon of Miami University’s AccessMU for sharing their thoughts on this topic with me, as well as their guidance in making our Reimagine Collaboration website more accessible. Thank you to Laura Fathauer for sharing resources that helped me when learning and writing on this topic.