MANAGING A DIVERSE TEAM

 THOUGHTS ON DISABILITY INCLUSION?

Pic Credits: Harvard Business Review 

Disability inclusion is feasible, because it gives the right inclusion, open employment prospects and opportunities for the people who might due to their physical abilities or constraints cannot give as much as the other candidates but they have immense talents and constant ability to give 100% every time they are assigned. I believe businesses across the world should respect their talents and give them the opportunity by accomodating their core strengths. There are many great disabled people in the world who proved their excellence through getting equal and fair employment.

PROFILE OF THE INTERVIEWEE

                                                               Video Credits: Youtube.com

The interviewee is Catarina Rivera, a successful businesswoman who runs a charitable organization, DEI Consultant and Content Creator. She uses hearing aids to support her hearing and can only see through 5% of her remaining vision as she also goes through Usher syndrome. Through her famous TED Talk speech, she discloses what it takes for a disabled employee to perform their job responsibilities and walking through all the challanges to prove that even a disabled person can be innovative and as strong as the other employees. Her TED Talk is an inspiration to the millions who think disability is a finite and limited concept.

SUMMARY OF CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND BARRIERS

Pic credits: Andria Corso
"Disability Inclusion is not a charity or compliance, it is a competitive advantage"

Speaking of the challenges and barriers are her hearing and visible issues that she faced challenges with. Apart from her own struggles, she opens up to the challenges of various disable people that needs support and assistance in their career paths. According to the surveys, she speaks disabled people are twice more likely to be unemployed due to their physical and cognitive limitations. I like the fact how she explained that apart from ADHD, and various Physical and mental boundaries, Stress, chronic migraines and anxiety that everyone faces in their daily lives are also disabilities that even normal people encounter with. Apart from it, statiscally only 21% of the workers in USA in the year 2019 disclosed their disabilites to their HR and Leaders. This means that many more people in the workspaces are limited to various sort of disabilities.

STRATEGIES FOR WORKING WITH THE INTERVIEWEE

Pic credits: KQED.com

Several strategies that Catarina considers to make the workplace more accessible and inclusive for the disabled people are:

1) Including the captions for everything the organizations works for: This would help to reduce the strains for the people who have hearing loss, those encountering with ADHD, and new english language learners to absorb the information with more precision.

2) Sending out meeting agendas in advance: I believe this has been followed already by many organizations but still it is always advisable to follow this important strategy as people with deafness or hearing issues can follow the conversation very easily. Apart from it, it helps the introverted employees to have more time to make some notes and present their ideas by having more time to process the information.

3) Sending out meeting notes or summary after the end of the meeting: It helps the people with limited hearing to not miss any important actionable information or decisions and also for the people with reading and learning issues to get more time to grasp. Other than this, it saves a lot of time for the other people to get the written confirmations of what was discussed in the interview or business meetings.

These strategies are the best practices that should be implemented in the workplaces to give more inclusion and a supportive hand not only to the disabled people but to create a perfect workplace of the future.

STRATEGIES LIKELY IMPACT WITH THE INTERVIEWEE

Pic credits: Edi Toolkit.com

                                              
These are the strategies and responsibilties that I would personally like to include being the student of management and leadership, If I am appointed as a manager or leader at the workplace:

1) Focusing on the core strengths and skills of the individual : We human beings are not perfect everyone has strengths and weaknesses, so it is crucial to see the strengths in every person as it gives them the upliftment, motivation and endless enjoyment when everyone is given equal opportunity, and a  strong reason of acceptance. Moreover, I will never hesitate to ask of their passions and interests in which they want to pursue their career.

2) Treating every worker with endless respect, love, affection and care: A true leader is not known through hi/her speeches and words but through his/her actions, commandments and a selfless spirit to help and be present with their co-workers and sub-ordinates to make the workplace more accessible, productive, motivated and open for all the workers.

3) Offering disability-friendly interviewing: Offering disability-friendly interviewing process is must just as Catarina mentioned, because it helps to find inner strengths, power and reasoning abilities of the candidates. These disability-friendly strategies are a strong step to make the candidate feel welcomed and less stressed during their hiring process.

4) Strong Greeting: Strong greetings and warm welcoming plays a huge role in defining the working environment, rules and overall atmosphere of the organization. Just by giving a firm handshake boosts the self-confidence and self-esteem of the disable person. What else he/she will demand for!!

5) Adequate time to speak and receive the information: Being an interviewer, i will give enough time to the interviewee to speak and talk about the case and apart from it, adding a little humour and smile will give them enough room to become comfortable.

6) Strong follow-up: After the interview ends I will make sure I have followed all the steps carefully, I will follow up with them and ask for any further questions, doubts and feedback upon the process of hiring and will surely try to improve with the next candidates.

CONCLUSION

In Conclusion, I will say that every person deserves a chance and it is always the decision and faith of the second person that distances them from reaching their destination. So, I believe in the future more and more people will be happily employed and looked after and we all will work hard to successfully create a workplace that is more accessible, inclusive, sustainable and creative.