Imagine securing your ideal job and sitting across from your new manager or supervisor during your onboarding session. Now, picture this person asking you: “What resources or tools do you need to thrive in this role? What do you need to succeed?”.
This phrase embodies the essence of integrating workplace accommodations through a lens of universal design. That is, all employees should be asked what enables them to succeed. For some, their response may be, “An accommodation”.
However, for candidates who have a disability, such a straightforward dialogue may never happen in the employment process. This perpetuates myths about workplace accommodations. Misconceptions about talent who have a disability result in missed opportunities for:
- Employers to access valuable talent
- Candidates who have a disability to enter the workforce
In recent years, accessibility and inclusion have been widely discussed and explored in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofit organizations continually improve the accessibility and inclusion of their services for clients and service users. But it’s also important for nonprofits to consider accessibility and inclusion for their employees.
Understanding these is vital:
- Why accommodations are not only necessary but important in any workplace setting
- Some best practices around workplace accommodations
- How applying universal design principles to accommodations can help any organization create an accessible and disability–inclusive workplace
Reviewing the definition of “accommodation”
It’s simple. An accommodation is an adjustment made to an individual’s work duties and/or work environment at any stage of the employment cycle. It removes existing barriers, enabling a person who has a disability to fully and effectively do their job.
Accommodations ensure people who have a disability have equal and equitable opportunities, access and benefits in the workplace.
So why is the conversation about workplace accommodations such a difficult one?
The answer is often influenced by myths about them.
Dispelling myths
Two of the biggest misconceptions surrounding disability are around:
- The number of people who identify as having a disability
- The most prevalent forms of disability
The 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) found 27% of Canadians aged 15 years and older (or eight million people), “had one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities”.
Eight million people is not a small number when you consider that that’s close to the combined populations of Alberta (4.8 million), Saskatchewan (1.2 million) and Manitoba (1.4 million). That’s a lot of people!
When people think about disability, they commonly equate it with a person who uses a wheelchair or a person who has Down syndrome.
In reality, most disabilities are invisible. The newest Statistics Canada data released in 2023 shows these are the top five disabilities:
#1 – Pain (16.7%)
#2 – Flexibility (10.9%)
#3 – Mobility (10.6%)
#4 – Mental health (10.4%)
#5 – Seeing (7.4%)
These are all invisible disabilities — you may or may not be able to see them. And not everyone who experiences pain or a mobility disability will need to use a wheelchair or assistive equipment.
The point is, workplace accommodations will be quite different from person to person, but they are important to ensure everyone succeeds.
Hard data dispels common myths
The common myth is that accommodations are costly and don’t increase productivity. The data tells a different story.
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) has been surveying employers on the cost vs. benefit of providing accommodations since 2019. JAN’s 2024 Low Cost, High Impact report summarized data from 4,447 employers in the U.S. Most reported “the benefits from making workplace accommodation far outweigh their associated costs”.
According to the report findings, the benefits include:
- Employee retention
- Better employee productivity and morale
- Lower costs for workers’ compensation, and for employee training
- Better diversity in the company
Contrary to belief, accommodations are often inexpensive.
The latest JAN report also noted, 56% of employers said providing accommodations required no cost whatsoever.
As well, 67% said providing accommodations effectively supported employees who have a disability in doing their jobs.
You may mistakenly believe that if you hire people who have a disability, they’ll all need accommodations, all the time. That’s not the case.
Disability is personal and complex. Some people may need accommodations only at certain times. For example, employees who experience episodic disabilities.
At ODEN we’ve coined the phrase “Ask The Person” as the golden rule for an organization or business to follow in the workplace disability-inclusion journey.
Supporting inclusive conversations
Conversations about accommodations can feel intrusive, from both the employer’s and employee’s perspectives. But when you foster a culture of inclusion, employees who have a disability will feel empowered to participate in inclusive and supportive conversations about what they need to succeed. They could be more inclined to ask for an accommodation.
Here are a few ways to promote a culture of disability inclusion:
- Managers and supervisors — have an open-door policy for conversations around workplace supports. It’s an intentional opportunity for anyone to speak to leadership about what they need to succeed.
- Create employee resource groups (ERG). These are groups of employees who join based on shared characteristics or life experiences. Be sure to encourage an ERG for people who have a disability, and those who are impacted by disability (families). ERGs can help your organization identify ways to make your workplace more accessible.
- Make accessibility a budget line in all your funding proposals so you have funds available when an employee requests an accommodation.
- Provide disability awareness and confidence training access for all employees. There are many providers of this, including ODEN.
Applying universal design principles
The Principles of Universal Design can be used as a guide for the design of physical environments, processes, policies, technologies and tools to facilitate the integration of ALL employees within the workplace. The Universal Design Network of Canada is a great resource for in-depth knowledge about how to incorporate universal design in all aspects of your organization.
ODEN has collaborated with the Real Xchange Knowledge Transfer and Translation (KTT) Network to create a learning module on how to implement workplace accommodations in the not-for-profit sector with a lens of Universal Design. If you are not a member of the Real Xchange KTT Network, consider subscribing to access that learning.
A universally designed workplace could minimize the need for individualized accommodations, while also providing a more productive environment for all employees. Everyone should have equitable access to meaningful employment — and accommodations are just one way to achieve it.
Ingrid Muschta is the Director of Special Projects & Innovation for the Ontario Disability Employment Network.
