I feel one aspect of people with disabilities that is going under appreciated is accessibility. We have laws requiring accessibility to be a part of our daily lives yet there are still places and people that do not understand what that looks like. The incredibly hard part is it is going to look different to each disability, and that is why we have the Americans with Disabilities Act to set the standard. We often think of accessibility only exists "in real life" however online it is a factor too.
The new laws regarding online accessibility are here. If you do not have an accessible entrance to physical locations you are already turning away money, thoughts, people, etc. The same goes for a website. Now lets look at what accessibility means online, is your website accessible? I will use mine as an example but "AccessiBe" & "Trinity Audio" are both integrated so that visitors to my website can adjust the settings to match their needs, or listen to blogs, I will admit I need to figure out how to make my store fully accessible, I want to make sure people who have vision impairments can at least listen to the description of products.
Have you ever looked around where you work and think about how accessible it is? With election season upon us, how accessible are your polling stations? Making something accessible means you are including people, and from a business standpoint it is more opportunities for revenue. How educated are you in how to communicate with someone with a mental illness? I will give you a pro-tip, patience and de-escalation.
I spoke to the Mayor where I live and he told me the entire city council went and tried to navigate the sidewalks downtown in wheelchairs so they could understand some of the obstacles in our community. That is leadership right there.
Thank you,
Mikey