As part of our advocacy, #OneAccessibility, we will share information about differently able and profile one location with accessible trails. Look out every week for this enlightening post.
An important thing to take into account when it comes to accessibility in the workplace is that accessibility goes beyond the physical space, and investing in the education and training of employees is important.
Besides making sure that each place is physically accessible for everyone with things such as wheelchair ramps, braille signage, and accessible restrooms, canteen or parking, social inclusivity and digital accessibility are also important. Especially in our current times, they can be considered even more important depending on the job.
Nowadays, because of the current situation, lots of people that used to work on-site, are working from home. Surprisingly for some, many people with disabilities have been working remotely for a long time as it can be considered good accommodation, and with remote jobs increasing, there are more opportunities for them.
With so many more people working from home, digital accessibility in the workplace is as relevant as ever.
Here are some things you should look out for when it comes to accessibility in work-from-home environments:
- Basic digital accessibility: The device given to the employees should offer accessibility features. This could be an enlarged keyboard, screen enlargement, and voice recognition.
- Accessibility on communications: People use chat, collaboration and videoconferencing apps every day. Check if the app you are using supports accessibility features, like screen readers and closed captioning / live captions. Don’t just trust the app’s website, try to search for what people that use the accessibility features say about it - sometimes they aren’t functional.
If the device or apps don’t offer certain accessibility features, there are external Desktop apps and websites that provide these features so, transcripts could be created where and when they are needed, for example. Many of these external tools offer enterprise versions.
- Company rules: The way people do things can be changed to make a more accessible environment. A rule could be that all images sent or added in the company’s documents should have Alternative Text, so they can be read with screen readers. Presentation slides could be sent before presentations too, so people have time to read it and understand it (which could help if they have vision impairments, for example)
- Different ways to communicate: Some neurodiverse people have trouble with having many meetings each day, or prefer to receive or give information in a written way.
You will usually find the web accessibility icon in applications with accessibility features, more likely close to where this features can be configured. This can help you know if websites are accessible, especially to screen readers.
These are just a few things I was able to find reading experiences by people with disabilities, I’m sure there are more things to be aware of as everyone has different needs. I learned all this from articles written by people with disabilities, most of them written in the last year and/or for GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day) which was not long ago.
I think it’s always better to ask how we can make the other person more comfortable. And when making these places more accessible, start with changing the most needed things, even if they are small, they make a difference.
If you aren’t in a position to choose what kind of apps your team uses and such, it would be good to talk to people who could make a difference about it. The company is the one who has to ensure people with disabilities have accessible accommodations and are comfortable, and usually the employees who take care of that in the Human Resources area. You can contact them with your worries about the accessibility of your workplace and be as specific as you’d like: Perhaps you could ask them to have more activities to raise awareness about accessibility and inclusivity, or let them know about changes that could be done to make processes or places more accessible.
Some companies have a Diversity and Inclusion board or community, which is a great place to share accessibility info and talk about related improvements in your work. If it doesn’t exist, you could let people in Human Resources know that you are interested in having one.
Inclusivity truly matters in the workplace, in at-home on in-person situations. Employees should be educated so misconceptions about people with disabilities can be fought. Many companies do this in form of meetings or webinars with organizations that help employ people with disabilities.
Here in Argentina, we have many organizations that help people with disabilities be included in society and they usually include employment. We have many laws here that aim to make sure companies employ people with disabilities, including social programs that train and help people get jobs, a quota law that says that at least 4% of the governments employees are people with disabilities, and more laws that also put quotas in companies of different sectors and give benefits to the companies who have hired them. You can read all about it on the governments website about employment of PwDs clicking here.
All this means that here in Argentina it is fortunately very common to see job offerings aimed people with disabilities from various companies and sectors!
The topics talked about in this post, digital accessibility and social inclusion, are both very important but, of course, adding accessibility information on Maps is important too! If you have ever gone to your office, and you remember its accessibility features, make sure to update the Accessibility info of it on Maps. (it might seem weird not to have visited your office, but it’s not as common now!)
And also, I want to emphasize that accessibility affects everyone’s lives for the better. I personally find many accessibility features very useful. Even if I don’t have an auditory disability, I love closed captions, and I think everyone has found useful a wheelchair ramp more than once.
Here are some questions I would love to know the answers of:
- Are you working remotely at the moment? If you are, were changes done in the way you do things to make them accessible?
- Do you know more ways to improve accessibility in the workplace - digitally or physically? Please share them with us!
- Does your company employ people with disabilities regularly? If they do, how does your company make sure they are included?
- Have you already edited the accessibility information of your workplace on Maps?
If you have a question, suggestion, or contribution, feel free to comment below. You can read last week’s roundup article here and check the list of our other articles under "Accessibility Uncovered".
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