What is Disability Awareness Training?

June 5, 2024 The CultureAlly Team

💡DID YOU KNOW that more than 1 in 7 people in the world live with some form of disability - that’s over one billion people!

Organizations have embraced changes, such as skills-based hiring and more inclusive recruitment strategies. However, there’s still more to be done.

It's clear that disability in the workplace remains a growing and challenging topic for employers to navigate - thus, the importance of disability awareness training.

Disability awareness training equips employers to create a more inclusive workplace environment, particularly for employees with disabilities. This training guides employees and leaders in creating the best standards for hiring and accommodating people with disabilities without bias.

In this article, we explore:

What is Disability Awareness?

Disability awareness is about gaining an understanding of the experiences and challenges of people with disabilities. It also refers to having the knowledge and awareness of conscious and unconscious biases, stereotypes, and stigma experienced by people with disabilities.

Disability awareness enables people to address and counter systemic and personal hurdles experienced by people with disabilities and congruently acknowledge their unique expertise and life experiences.

Employers with that invest in disability awareness are able to:

Increase employment opportunities for people living with disabilities
Promote and create equal, diverse, and inclusive workplace environments
Champion for acceptance and respect for all
Recognize and celebrate the differences in all employees
Give a voice to and advocate for people with disabilities

The Diversity of Disabilities

Disability comes in varying spectrums, from visible to non-visible ones.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), any person that is limited by a major life activity is someone that is living with a disability. In addition, every individual experiences their disability uniquely (even those with the same condition). While people with disabilities are sometimes classified as one big group, they are in fact a diverse set of individuals.

Apart from noting their differences in experiencing the same conditions, it is easy to underscore the diversity in their backgrounds, whether socioeconomic, gender, or racial, among others. Adding on this layer of perspective is the foundation of intersectionality.

✒️Different types of disabilities, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):

Mobility
Vision
Hearing
Communicating
Cognitive (remembering, learning, and understanding)
Thinking
Developmental (such as Autism, ADHD, or CNS-injury related)
Mental health
Social relationships

✒️Different dimensions of disabilities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO):

Impairment through physical or mental functioning - i.e. vision, limb or memory loss
Activity limitation -i.e. Difficulty in solving problems, seeing, or walking
Participation restrictions - i.e. participating in recreational or social activities

The U.N. Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD), an international human rights treaty protects the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. This treaty serves to protect, promote, and ensure human rights and equity under the law for people with disabilities.

According to the UN, the convention catalyzes the global rights movement for people with disabilities. These include viewing persons with disabilities as mere objects of charity, social protection, and medical treatment but rather, as full and equal members of society, with full human rights.

The UN Convention on The Rights Of Persons with Disabilities treaty better sums up and explores the need for disability awareness training at the workplace. Without delving too deep into the benefits of disability awareness, this training alone helps eliminate ignorance associated with disabilities.

For instance, managers going into an interview or recruiting for a job can easily make poor decisions due to unconscious bias. Without the right training, it is easy to view people with disabilities through this lens first before the skills or contributions they bring to the company.

Statistics on the Importance of Disability Awareness

People with disabilities tend to seek more reliable and stable employment, thus, employers with a more diverse workforce enjoy higher retention rates and lower turnover rates, which boost productivity, efficiency, and return and value on training investment.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 90% increase in retention and a 72% increase in employment for businesses with a diverse workforce that includes persons with disabilities.
Hiring persons with disabilities expands the consumer market - with representation in the workforce, you can tap into the large consumer market segment - made up of people with disabilities.
Victims of disability discrimination received over $110 million in monetary compensation - the highest among all discrimination claims filed (compared to gender, race, etc) that year.
People living with disabilities and between the working ages of 18 and 64 years are 50% more likely to be unemployed.
The CDC reports that 1 in 4 adults in the US have some form of disability.
According to a SHRM report, only 21% of persons with disabilities in the US were employed in 2022.
Organizations that hire people with disabilities do their part in supporting the United Nations SDG 10 goals to reduce inequalities. These include ensuring the promotion of universal social, economic, and political inclusion despite one’s identity (target 10.2), equal opportunities and ending discrimination (target 10.3), and adopting fiscal and social policies that promote equality (target 10.4).

Learning Outcomes for Disability Awareness Training

Disability awareness training is training designed to enhance disability awareness among leaders, managers, and co-workers alike. While the training allows managers and leaders to better support employees with disabilities, co-workers benefit by learning to respect and understand their peers.

Here are some of the learning outcomes gained in Disability Awareness Training:

✅Explore Hiring and Workplace Biases

Disability awareness training offers a better understanding of hiring and workplace biases. For managers, learning to identify the differences in every individual makes the process of inclusivity much easier. A candidate should be disqualified from potential hiring simply because they think or process information differently, even with the right qualifications.

An employee who discloses that they have ADHD can benefit from adjustments that augment their work delivery rather than creating a difficult work environment for them. Similarly, an employee on the autism spectrum brings just as much value and innovation when supported with the right working tools.

Unfortunately, biases don't just happen during the hiring stage. Employees with disabilities can easily be passed over for a promotion or rewarding project due to their disability. While affecting the employee’s morale and prospects, biased decision-making is also bad for business. These subjective decisions - with no concrete or reasonable backing - can cost the company productivity, profits, and overall success. For instance, a 2021 Wisconsin jury found Walmart liable to pay over $125 million to an employee with Down’s syndrome. The lawsuit found that Walmart failed to provide a reasonable work environment for the employee and later fired them for their disability. Unbeknown to many employees, doing the opposite does good for the employee and business as a whole.

With the right disability awareness training, businesses get more from cognitive diversity (by hiring neurodiverse staff) as they bring in an untapped area of innovation and new insights. Additionally, disability awareness training addressed these biases, teaching employers to question unreasonable ideas and always examine facts.

✅Benefits of Hiring Employees with Disabilities

Disability awareness training can be eye-opening for employers in appreciating how diversifying their workforce does good for the business. First, accommodating employees with disabilities isn't as costly, requiring no monetary investment to as little as $500 per person.

Disability awareness training can equip managers on the best practices and standards for welcoming and including employees with disabilities. Further, while employers make these small adjustments for a more inclusive workplace, they enjoy better returns.

Employers enjoy more value creation, profitability, higher revenue, more net income, and better economic profit margins than their counterparts.

✅Harness a Culture of Positivity, Loyalty and Oneness

Disability awareness training cultivates overall employment satisfaction, positivity, and loyalty. This is because leaders are better equipped to promote a comfortable and inclusive workplace for their teams. In fact, disability awareness training must be supported from the top with executive backing to be truly effective.

Employees may get mixed signals without the company and leadership’s commitment to disability awareness and inclusivity. This Glassdoor survey shows that three key factors determine employees’ job satisfaction: organizational culture and values, senior leadership quality, and external career growth opportunities.

Organizations that support the inclusivity of diverse employers, including persons with disabilities, enjoy more employee job satisfaction than those that don't. Further, consistent training in disability awareness signals the company’s commitment to further advancing its culture of diversity and inclusivity.

✅Increase Creativity, Innovation and Profitability

Leaders equipped with disability awareness better support and understand their employees. As a result, a more conducive and supportive work environment affords employees psychological safety and unleashes their full potential. Psychologically safe employees exhibit better innovation, productivity, and are more confident in sharing unique ideas.

✅Provide Better Service to Customers

Disability awareness training isn't just about catering to your in-house team. Companies with a diverse customer base benefit from this training by having a better understanding of their customers and their needs.

For instance, product design companies can curate more disability-friendly products as they reflect through this training. Similarly, marketing and customer relationship teams learn to engage customers with disabilities better.

If this is a market segment your business hasn’t tapped, the training can help open you up to the new opportunity. As you embrace and include customers with disabilities, you also enjoy a positive brand that attracts more diverse customers and talent.

✅Build More Diversity Strategies

Essential training, like disability awareness, can help companies conduct better diversity audits. It helps leaders identify their baseline and which areas need more work. Leaders and managers can also devise more effective DEI recruitment strategies to boost the company’s diverse and inclusive environment.

Examples of Disability Awareness Initiatives in the Workplace

While there’s still more to be done, many companies have embraced disability awareness in the workplace. Several companies have taken the lead in incorporating innovative disability awareness initiatives that support their employees and customers.

T-Mobile’s Partnership with NWBA

T-Mobile takes its initiative to a large scale through its partnership with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). Through this partnership, T-Mobile serves as an official sponsor for the association’s youth events.

During these events T-Mobile staff also speak with children - at a local and national level - on what it means to work at T-Mobile, creating awareness about potential future opportunities for the youth.

Delta’s ABD & ABLE

Delta’s commitment to inclusivity has earned its third consecutive “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” Award by the Diversity Equality Index. Delta’s Advisory Board on Disability (ABD) consists of 13 influencers and decision-makers from various groups in the disability community who also are Delta's frequent flyers. Being part of the disability community and frequent Delta users, the board members are better positioned to champion and advocate for changes and accommodations to better the experiences of stakeholders with disabilities.

Additionally, Delta’s in-house business resource group, ABLE, hosts events and meetings all year round that aim to promote inclusion. Employees participate and network in these events and discuss issues associated with accessibility, barrier elimination, leadership, and education.

Microsoft’s Inclusive Hiring for People with Disabilities

Microsoft runs a special and successful hiring program specific to people on the autism spectrum. The program aims to attract a wider talent pool while further building inclusion in supporting individuals with autism.

Hiring people on the autism spectrum also allows the tech company to explore more unique and inclusive ways in which the company builds and services its products.

Accenture's Disability Inclusion and Beyond

Accenture has received various accolades and awards for its commitment and advocacy for disability inclusion. Accenture avails the necessary and latest tools, training, and technology for its employees to ensure a barrier-free workplace environment.

Beyond its walls, Accenture also actively participates in research and helps other companies build inclusive workplace culture.

Compare Disability Awareness Training Methods and Costs

Disability Awareness Workshop

Overview: Traditional in-person workplace session

Group Size: Limited capacity, best for small groups

Duration: Half or full day workshops

Cost: Approximately $10,000 to $20,000

Disability Awareness Online Training

Overview: Live facilitator delivers content in interactive virtual session with group

Group Size: Unlimited participants, good for sharing recording for future learning

Duration: 1 hour live session

Cost: $2,500 for 1 hour live online training

Disability Awareness e-Learning Module

Overview: Module based self-paced learning course

Group Size: Individual education that can be scaled as organization requires

Duration: 30 minutes - 1hour module

Cost: From $1 / user per month

CultureAlly