Starting October 1st, National Disability Employment Awareness Month kicked off in full swing. NDEAM is an annual event that aims to educate people about disability employment barriers. It also celebrates workers with disabilities. The theme for NDEAM 2021 is titled America’s Recovery: Powered by Inclusion.
While NDEAM started with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), organizations across the nation have taken it in full stride. Every year, activists across the country come together to celebrate, advocate, and fight for the rights of working people with disabilities.
The Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE) encourages everyone to get involved. Here are all the ways you can advocate for workers living with disabilities.
How Can I Get Involved?
There are many ways people can get involved with NDEAM. As an annual celebration, local and national organizations host events across the nation. There are also small things you can do from the comfort of your own home.
The purpose of NDEAM is to educate employers and community members about accessibility obstacles within the workplace. To help spread awareness, here are some things you can do.
- Get involved on social media by using the hashtag #NDEAM
- Attend community events hosted by local advocacy groups and organizations
- Write a blog post or newsletter about NDEAM
- Participate in a legal, peaceful demonstration
- Attend informational events about disabilities, inclusion, and equity.
- Talk to your family about the importance of equity and inclusion
- Attend or host a panel of workers with disabilities.
- Advocate for accessibility in buildings, workplaces, and websites.
- Have professional discussions about inclusion at your workplace
- Advocate for people with disabilities all year long
Employers
As an employer, it’s essential to prioritize inclusion and equity. Hire people with disabilities and offer accommodations in case of medical emergencies. Make sure that your place of work is accessible.
This means having proper physical access to a building. This can also mean being flexible to remote work. To acknowledge NDEAM, take these steps to improve your workplace’s accessibility services.
Establish a Resource Group
If you haven’t established an Employee Resource Group (ERG), NDEAM is the perfect time to launch one. Otherwise known as Affinity Groups or Employee Networks, ERGs are a safe space to receive support from others with similar backgrounds.
This can help employees support their co-workers, encouraging inclusivity in the workplace. If your workplace already has an ERG, remind your employees about it. Communicate its services through displays, emails, or newsletters.
Update Your Bulletin Board
Have your bulletin boards been updated? If not, NDEAM may be the perfect opportunity to re-educate your employees about inclusivity in the workplace. It can include information about accessibility services, equity, and feedback.
You may want to consider having posters provided by NDEAM. This can consist of the “What Can YOU Do” posters or a display based on this year’s theme. At the same time, try to make it personal to your company. Make it a priority to keep your company a safe and inclusive place for everyone.
Write Something on Your Blog
If your workplace has a blog or newsletter, take it as an opportunity to talk about NDEAM. Take it a step further by writing an article a week. These can range in topics from inclusivity in the workplace to information about accommodations.
Furthermore, you can help your employees feel safe when they bring up workplace issues. If there are accessibility obstacles keeping employees from performing well, be open to feedback. This will make your employees feel secure, welcomed, and valued at your company.
Educate Team Members
It’s also essential to work as a team in your workplace. However, to prevent discrimination, educate your employees about equity and inclusion. Have discussions on why it’s vital to provide accessibility to everyone.
This can be especially helpful during NDEAM, as they provide resources that educate others on its purpose. This can include training programs, presentation materials, and discussion guides.
Improve Training Methods
As important as it is to educate all your employees, leadership starts at the top. Re-evaluate your training methods and see if there’s outdated material. Get rid of practices that don’t follow inclusive protocol and educate yourself on new training techniques.
Hold yourself accountable to see where you can improve yourself. Once you’ve created an improved training strategy, address your team’s supervisors. Ask them to follow inclusive workplace practices and implement them into your work environment.
Schools
If you’re a principal, teacher, or youth development professional, you’ll meet children with disabilities. You’ll also know other educators with disabilities. To improve accommodations, it’s essential to re-evaluate your school’s accessibility resources. Ensure that the school building is accessible to everyone.
Make sure that children with disabilities receive the support they need. Parents can get involved by advocating during board meetings. Educate your children on equity to encourage kindness and inclusion. Here are some things educators can do to teach children about NDEAM.
Have a Class Discussion
One of the best ways to introduce students to NDEAM is within the classroom. Get teachers involved by educating students about what the month is for. Be open to deep and thought-provoking questions.
Be patient, especially since some children may not fully understand its purpose. Take it as an opportunity to teach classes about equity and inclusion as a whole. This can be done with children’s books, presentations, or informational videos.
Host an Assembly
Consider running an assembly about inclusivity, equity, and workers with disabilities. Take this as an opportunity to host a panel of faculty members with and without disabilities. Set an example for students by giving them an idea of what equity looks like in their own classrooms.
This assembly could also include guest speakers or representatives from local organizations. Allow your students to have time for questions that pertain to the subject. This can also be a great way to reach out to children with disabilities. As young people choose their career path, they may be encouraged to see improvements in the workplace.
Make a Class Project
Introduce a class project to your students. Spend time making creative presentations for the month. This could mean a collaborative bulletin board, poster, or individual projects. For example, you could assign one part of disability history to each person.
This could lead up to the present, where you talk about how it fits into today’s workplace. Have these been displayed all over the classroom or in the hallway? Along with your classroom’s projects, update your own bulletin board. Include NDEAM posters in English and Spanish.
Educate
Despite the number of people with disabilities across the country, many people are left uneducated about advocacy movements. This is because it doesn’t happen in many schools. The disability movement has a vast and rich history surrounding its achievements.
To celebrate them, educate children about its history in classrooms. Some states require a disability history curriculum. Provide an overview of disability history and give faculty resources needed for NDEAM.
Update Training
Faculty, teachers, and youth development professionals will be working one-on-one with children. Some children may live with disabilities. These can range in support needs, requiring exceptional education professionals or faculty support.
Staff members may also live with disabilities. Everyone needs accessibility services and support from the school community. To help everyone, improve your training methods.
Get rid of outdated inclusion practices and implement updated child development strategies. To celebrate NDEAM, make sure everyone has the tools to support people with disabilities.
Organizations
Local organizations have a fantastic opportunity to educate their community about NDEAM. Your impact can improve the lives of workers with disabilities and encourage others to get involved. Give local employers information about your organization.
Advocate for people with disabilities by increasing employment opportunities and providing educational materials. Here are some ways local organizations can celebrate NDEAM.
Make a Proclamation
Consider soliciting an official proclamation to your local government. This can get the attention of other community members and spread the word about the event. There are many templates for local organizations to use when drafting a proclamation.
Submit this to your mayor, governor, or other local officials. Have discussions with other influential leaders in your community. Encourage them to bring up NDEAM before and during October.
Talk About NDEAM in Your Newsletter
If your organization has a newsletter, make sure to bring up NDEAM. Consider changing the topic every week, focusing on a particular achievement or movement. NDEAM also features information that can be included in newsletters.
Make sure they’re relevant to your organization and support the disability community. You can take this as an opportunity to announce upcoming events. Get people involved with the celebration and continue advocating for inclusion in the workplace.
Host an Event
One of the best ways to get involved with your community is to host an event. Host a panel discussion featuring people with disabilities. This can also include representatives from other local organizations.
This could even look like a legally organized demonstration. Fundraising events and informational seminars educate community members about inclusion in the workplace. This can also be a great way to spread the word about NDEAM.
Get Involved With Social and Local Media
Keep in touch with local and regional communities. Post about NDEAM on social media, educating people about its purpose and how your organization plans to celebrate. Use the hashtag #NDEAM whenever you post about events or information.
Reach out to your local news, print, or radio to let others know when events occur. Continue spreading the word about NDEAM and encourage everyone to.
Famous US Advocates for the Workplace
People are fighting alongside workers with disabilities all over the world. In the U.S., advocates continue standing up for workers. These leaders are paving the way for increased inclusion.
By raising awareness, calling for action, and fighting for change, they continue to help others living with disabilities. Here are a few fantastic disability rights activists you can support during and after NDEAM.
Alice Wong
The creator of the Disability Visibility Project, Alice Wong’s goal is for people with disabilities to share their stories. She’s partnered with the oral history organization StoryCorps to help people share their narratives on social media. She’s also a published writer and was an appointment for Barack Obama’s National Council on Disability from 2013-2015.
Anita Cameron
Anita Cameron has made it her goal to improve transit accessibility for people with disabilities, particularly in Chicago. She also encourages people with disabilities to vote.
She’s also an organizer for ADAPT, a nonprofit organization that hosts peaceful advocacy movements. She’s also on government advisory boards and grassroots organizations.
David M. Perry
As a journalist, David M. Perry has spoken about many social justice movements on TV. He’s a medieval historian who has a child with Down Syndrome.
After noticing flaws in the education system, he wanted to help his son receive the proper support. Since then, he has been a prominent advocate for children with disabilities and inclusive education reform.
Dominick Evans
Dominick Evans is a filmmaker who used his skills to fight for improved inclusivity on his college campus. As the director of his university’s accessibility services, he helped make bathrooms more inclusive for people with disabilities and transgender students. Along with being an advocate for people with disabilities, he also fights for LGTBQIA+ rights.
Annie Segarra
Annie Segarra is a content creator living with Ehler-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). A former actress used her previous activism experience with the LGTBQIA+ community to spread awareness about her chronic illness. She has branched her own clothing design with the slogan “The Future is Accessible.”
Finally, having disability insurance will provide a much-needed safety net in the event of an unforeseen accident. Here are five ways disability insurance helps your family.
Thank you so much for sharing these insights on such an important topic! After going to school with people who are deaf and hard of hearing, it opened my eyes to how inaccessible our society is to people with disabilities. It’s important that companies are doing everything in their power to make the workplace more inclusive for all of their employees.