Episode #10: The Unseen Workforce: Navigating Disability in Diverse Ages
May 10, 2024Season 1Episode 10
Transforming Culture Consultants
When generational lines meet the barriers of disability, the workplace becomes a complex tapestry of needs and experiences. On today's Transformation Talks!, Cindy LaCom and Sharon Wilson unravel the intricate intersection of disabilities both visible and invisible in the workplace. With a narrative that's both intimate and enlightening, Cindy shares her journey through a world tailored for the able-bodied and how she, along with others across generations, are rewriting the script. From the silent battles of chronic illness faced by boomers to the mental health frontlines navigated by Gen Z, our conversation uncovers the often unseen challenges and the profound importance of embracing all types and variations of disabilities.
In this episode, we examine real-world scenarios where generational divides compound the hurdles for those with disabilities, such as the difficulty some may face in simply reading a presentation slide or understanding the complexities of social anxiety. This episode is a call to action, urging a cultural shift toward a workplace that not only recognizes but celebrates diversity in ability and age. Join us as we confront the unconscious biases that shape our world and discover how, together, we can foster a more inclusive, productive, and respectful workplace for all.
When generational lines meet the barriers of disability, the workplace becomes a complex tapestry of needs and experiences. On today's Transformation Talks!, Cindy LaCom and Sharon Wilson unravel the intricate intersection of disabilities both visible and invisible in the workplace. With a narrative that's both intimate and enlightening, Cindy shares her journey through a world tailored for the able-bodied and how she, along with others across generations, are rewriting the script. From the silent battles of chronic illness faced by boomers to the mental health frontlines navigated by Gen Z, our conversation uncovers the often unseen challenges and the profound importance of embracing all types and variations of disabilities.
In this episode, we examine real-world scenarios where generational divides compound the hurdles for those with disabilities, such as the difficulty some may face in simply reading a presentation slide or understanding the complexities of social anxiety. This episode is a call to action, urging a cultural shift toward a workplace that not only recognizes but celebrates diversity in ability and age. Join us as we confront the unconscious biases that shape our world and discover how, together, we can foster a more inclusive, productive, and respectful workplace for all.
Well, welcome everyone to Transformation Talks. The intention of our podcast is to provide tips, strategies and inspiration to transform workplaces, communities and lives. I'm Sharon Wilson and I'm the co-founder and chief mindset and growth officer at Transforming Culture Consultants, and I have with me today our other co-founder, cindy LeCobb, who is our chief impact and inclusion officer. In our last podcast, we talked about generational diversity and inclusion and the challenges and opportunities that different age cohorts provide. Cindy and I have continued our conversation about this topic and as part of that, we've been considering the ways age diversity ties into issues of disability, equity and accommodations. How do they connect? Well in many ways.
Speaker 1:
As we think about how to support an inclusive workplace culture, we need to think about how disability might vary across the generations. For instance, boomers might have to navigate more chronic health conditions, while Gen Zers might be dealing with mental health issues that require accommodation. We'll also touch on how disability bias may have some roots in generational stigma. Cindy, I know you've worked in the field of disability justice for a long time. Can you share a little bit about what this might look like? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:
This issue is actually very close to my heart. It's something I've thought about a lot throughout my life. I have scoliosis and I wore a back brace for five years as an adolescent, and so at a relatively young age I had to deal with people staring, asking invasive questions and often making assumptions about my capabilities that were misguided. And though some pitied me and pity itself is such a problematic emotion, you know, I ran crosscountry, I was a musician and I rode horses, albeit careful, I tried to play tennis and though the brace made serving difficult because I actually couldn't bend my back or my neck, I was still out on the court and I had a pretty good forehand.
Speaker 2:
But I also have the experience of living in an unstable body due to my Crohn's disease and through the arthritis that's accompanied it, unless I have to use a cane, which I've rarely had to, or I've had traumatic weight loss, which has happened more often. The symptoms of my disease are often non-apparent, they're invisible, and I've become increasingly aware of how an array of disabilities are erased by the supposedly universal symbol for disability, which is the wheelchair right. But the wheelchair as a symbol is anything but universal. In fact, I think it reinforces a cultural notion that disability is physical, that it's visible, when often in fact it is not. So think about mental health issues, which you actually just referenced, sharon, or traumatic brain injury or chronic health conditions that may not have physical elements. If disability is still stigmatized in our society and absolutely it is I'd like to suggest that visible and invisible disabilities are stigmatized quite differently.
Speaker 1:
You're right and I realize that you know. When you and I first started talking about this topic, one point I said I've never actually worked with someone who was disabled. And you said something that just was so powerful and you said that you know of, wow, I really had to think about that and I have fallen victim to exactly the stereotype you just mentioned that a disability is visible.
Speaker 2:
Right, I remember that moment. That was a great conversation. But I think this happens a lot, and one major problem with it is that it inhibits thoughtful and inclusive accommodations that will make all employees feel respected and heard, accommodations that will make all employees feel respected and heard. And here's the thing. This is really interesting to me.
Speaker 2:
Even though almost 25% of the global population has a disability, disability stigma is often unconscious and implicit. For instance, if we were asked do you discriminate against disabled people? Almost certainly our immediate response would be, of course not. But discrimination is often unconscious, it's not explicit or overt. I'll use one example. It's something I ask in classrooms and workshops fairly often Can you imagine our country electing a deaf person or a wheelchair user to the office of the President of the United States or a wheelchair user to the office of the President of the United States?
Speaker 2:
Usually people say no, I can't imagine that. But then they hasten to add that they would vote for that person if they were qualified, but that they don't think that others would. But really, who are these other people? Often, I think, despite the fact that we want to deny it, they are us, Not because we're bad or unkind, but because we've internalized social stigma and biases that produce disabled people as less than this has its roots in history, in our cultural emphasis on productivity and, I think, in a youth-obsessed and fitness-focused society which too often equates wellness and health with being non-disabled. This is fascinating to me because I think at this point most of us are familiar with racism, homophobia or classism, and I think more of us have ableism on our radar now, thanks in large part to disability activism. But I just want to put us on the same page for a moment by reviewing a definition of ableism.
Speaker 2:
Remember that it's the structural discrimination against people with disabilities. This can be intentional or unintentional. That often rests on widely shared stereotypes that people with disabilities need to be fixed in one way or the other. It understands disability as a medical issue that can be cured. This is actually called a medical paradigm for understanding disability. We prefer a social understanding or a social context for understanding disability, which rather looks at accommodations rather than fixing a disability, and one example that might illustrate that is, if we think about this, every child in our country learned American Sign Language starting in kindergarten. Then being deaf would no longer be disabling. One other example is curb cuts. Certainly they help wheelchair users, but they also accommodate strollers, walkers and rolling briefcases and suitcases. In other words, they accommodate all sorts of people.
Speaker 1:
Those are really great points, cindy, and it's amazing. I was just thinking about that because you asked me that same question and I said, well, sure, I mean, if everyone learned sign language. So I realized that I felt the same way. I was thinking well, you know, I would vote for them, but I don't think other people would. So I fell right into that same category, right, and we think about the workplace.
Speaker 1:
We might think about the built environment and some of the barriers that people with different kinds of disabilities have to navigate. These might include, you know, absence of non-working elevators or fluorescent lights that abrogate vision issues or can trigger seizure disorders. But it might also include the design of offices, from desks that don't accommodate a scooter to doors that are too narrow for a wheelchair, or an absence of braille markings on rooms and hallways to help someone with a visual impairment get around. But building a more equitable workplace culture might also include using multiple communication styles to more effectively accommodate different learning styles, or allowing breaks during long meetings. This could help the person whose arthritis is aching, or the pregnant person who's uncomfortable, or the person with attention deficit disorder, or the person well, maybe with Crohn's disease Exactly, and I can relate to that.
Speaker 2:
So I really like those points. Those are great, sharon, and if we continue to think about accommodations, we know that they can make our workplace environments more accessible in general terms for everyone. But too often I just don't think we think of accommodations in this way. Most of us have grown up in communities that foster ableism, and it's hard to diminish or reject cultural norms, and this is true even if we're disabled or we have family or friends who are disabled. Because norms are so often invisible, we stop seeing them because well, because they're normal. So one first important step in creating more equitable and inclusive workplaces has to mean becoming aware of ableist stigma and of our own implicit biases. Stigma and of our own implicit biases. Being flexible and open-minded and continuing to educate ourselves on accommodations for everyone in our workplaces is key. I want to take a minute here to tie this back to our last podcast on generational diversity Because, though ableist discrimination is unfortunately pervasive, I also think it might be sounded in part on generational biases. We're going to offer a couple of examples to illustrate. Say, I work in a business where presentations are common. I also have vision impairments. My Gen Z colleague regularly includes texts on their presentations which is too small for me to read, or perhaps they use a background color that makes seeing the text difficult. I could simply say and it's possible, I have said, hey, can you make the text a little bit larger? But if I'm that Gen Z-er who can read my own slides really easily, I may forget, or worse, I may think that my boomer or millennial co-worker is simply being difficult and bossy. And if I'm that boomer or that millennial, I may think that my boomer or millennial co-worker is simply being difficult and bossy. And if I'm that boomer or that millennial, I may not want to say, hey, I have a vision impairment and I'm asking you please to accommodate that. Why not? Because I've also internalized able attitudes that equate a need for accommodations with lack, and I want to tie this to a personal experience.
Speaker 2:
My mom has had a hearing impairment for her entire adult life and her hearing loss has increased over time. So this has made me very aware of how background noise can inhibit her participation in events, how music that's played for ambiance in restaurants usually means that she can't hear what's being said, and how lousy acoustics and event space mean that she's going to miss most of what's going on, and this is despite the fact that she uses state of the art hearing aids and she's actually learned to read lips as long as someone is looking at her and they're not talking too quickly. So once, a few years ago, I was working on an article on disability justice. I called her and I asked her if she identified as being disabled, and her response was an immediate no I don't. Two days later, though, she called me back and said you know, I've been thinking about what you asked me and actually I think I do have a disability. When I asked her why she didn't identify as disabled at first, she said I guess I see being disabled as well bad.
Speaker 2:
This was despite 50 years of her own hearing loss, having a much-loved family member who has paraplegia, having a daughter with Crohn's disease and a husband who has COPD that is limited, is in movement. It's also despite her working for 30 years as a really excellent and competent nurse. My mom is not a bad person. She's compassionate, she's thoughtful and she's not oblivious. She's just internalized able to spy at seeds, oblivious. She's just internalized ableist biases. So it's really complicated. But if we return to the example of the boomer who asked for larger font and better contrast in all of their team's presentations and then is dismissed. What we really have is a lost opportunity for respectful cross-generational communication, a lost opportunity to build and sustain a culture of accommodation, equity and inclusion and, just as importantly, opportunity for a workplace to challenge and reject ableist. Stigma has basically vanished.
Speaker 1:
Those are great examples, cindy, and I really appreciate your personal sharings as well. This actually makes me think of another example we've talked about. I'm in a workplace where group meetings and informal presentations occur regularly. Many of the employees are over the age of 45, and many have worked together for years and are very comfortable with one another. Now a new hire, a member of the Gen Z age cohort, is asked to participate in these meetings and to offer up their feedback. They haven't disclosed that they experience social anxiety and that being put on the spot can actually exacerbate that. Finally, during one meeting, after being asked directly for their input, they reply I may need to pause to do a deep breathing exercise midway to center myself, so just bear with me. A few of their more senior colleagues exchange looks and one rolls her eyes Seeing that the Gen Z employee shuts down entirely why?
Speaker 1:
In our last podcast, we talked about the major events that might shape the value of each cohort, and data suggests that boomers tend to take a skeptical approach toward mental health and mental health treatment. They may see it as indulgent or think that their younger colleagues are overdramatic or faking it. So instead of supporting their Gen Z coworker, they're impatient and dismissive. So, instead of supporting their Gen Z coworker, they're impatient and dismissive. And, cindy, as you said, another opportunity for cross-generational learning and thoughtful accommodation is just frittered away. Worse, another opportunity to create a workplace culture that accommodates a variety of disabilities has evaporated, and the outcomes likely means loss of productivity, teamwork, innovation and a sense of belonging by all. Maybe that person will even leave, and leave without informing the HR director of the reason why. There are real impacts both of our failure to accommodate disability but also, conversely, of making the thoughtful and intentional effort to provide accommodations to make our workplaces equitable and inclusive and there are more strategies to consider here, but we want to leave you with these and with the hope that it might invite you to think about your own workplace culture and the steps it is or isn't taking to nourish generational diversity. It's our intention to be a support and resource for you to help navigate these unprecedented challenges in our workplace cultures and create thriving cultures that have a ripple effect that impact us all in positive ways.
Speaker 1:
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