My Mental Health and Me: My Journey to Finding Words Again

by Blog Writers

Photo of Keah by Grayley’s Moon.

By Keah Brown

My journey as a writer began when I was eight years old. I sat on a twin-sized bed in my room curled up with a green college-ruled notebook whose cover read, “Keep Out! Property of Keah Brown.” The contents ranged from poetry to songs and short stories — poorly written, I must admit, but necessary for my growth nevertheless. Inside this notebook were hopes and dreams I remain eager to fulfil and see come to fruition. I let every emotion, feeling, and thought I had onto the page. The notebook was half diary, half creativity, and when inspiration struck, there it was under my white antique dresser, the best hiding spot I could think of, waiting for me. My love for the written word came early because my love for books and reading began early. In fact, one of my fondest memories of my childhood was reading the romance novels my aunt took out from the library when she was done reading them. I fell into the worlds of Sidney Sheldon, Nora Roberts, James Patterson, and Jude Deveraux long before I understood the entirety of what I was reading. In their worlds, the adventures were my respite, the chance to focus on the worries, realities, and experiences of others while pretending my own did not exist.  

I was an anxious child, in secret of course, always worrying about which person I loved, I would lose. I began spending my nights pleading with the universe to keep them safe, happy, and alive. On top of the worry surrounding losing my loved ones, I began to worry about what I believed was my inherent role as a burden to my family and friends because of my cerebral palsy. Disabled people are taught by society at large that our needs, however wide-ranging they might be, are enough to warrant a resentment that can lead to mistreatment and sometimes, in most horrific cases, death. So I did my best to make myself small. At night, I begged God to make me “normal” and, despite the unyielding love from my family and friends, I began to hate myself and resent that my prayers for normalcy were going unanswered. I was an anxious child who became an anxious adult who glommed onto the idea that my body made me unlovable — and ran with it. My first published pieces as a writer basked in my resentment and discomfort for my body, waxing poetic about how hard life was as a disabled person. I started therapy not long after (thank God) and realized what a disservice I had done to and for myself and the community.  

Alongside therapy and saying four things that I like about myself, I began to love myself and my life changed. I started believing more was possible for me and listening when my loved ones told me that I was not a burden, and anyone who treated me as such was not worth my time or energy.

After a viral hashtag and three books, I find myself unable to create. As a person who learned to traffic in hope and who has always had a special connection with the written word, the fact that I am unable to get past the ideas stage is more than disheartening. There is nothing like seeing the thing that you have created in stores and knowing it will find a home with readers who need it. I miss that.  

Photo of Keah by Greyley’s Moon.

The truth is, I don’t know who I am without writing and I don’t want to. When someone reaches a level of visibility that three published books provide, despite the fact that they aren’t award-winning, I think there is a consensus that life is great, and my issues are few and far between. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I am well aware that living through an ongoing pandemic, climate change, and a world on fire — personally and culturally — has something to do with it, but now, when I look at a blank document, my anxiety spikes instead of the usual rush of adrenaline.  

At the tail end of last year, after I was done promoting the publication of The Secret Summer Promise, my third book, I spent my days in bed crying and unable to get up. In the off chance that I did find my way back to my laptop, I spent it letting tears line my keyboard in place of words. I was withering away. The once vibrant, eager, boisterous version of me was now the depressed, exhausted, lonely reality of me. After years of pretending to be fine and trying to push through, I knew then, after months of trying to make a middle-grade novel work, that I needed more help than monthly therapy sessions could provide. With shaking hands and a tear-riddled voice, I went to my primary care physician and told her I needed to be put on depression and anxiety meds. They were not the easy fix I was hoping for. At almost eleven months into the year, I’ve adjusted the brand name and milligram of my med a few times. I just now feel like I can function and have started dipping my toes into writing poetry again. I don’t believe that everything is better now, but I trust myself enough to be honest about what I need so that I can show up long enough to attempt to create another long piece of work. Writing books has been my dream since I was eight years old. My name has been on a book spine three times, and my hope is to write one million more books across genre and about messy, complicated, but lovable characters who are just trying to figure themselves out and where they belong in the world. In order to do that, though, I have to take care of myself and my wellbeing so that I can show up for the stories I have always been so eager to tell.  

Keah Brown is a writer, journalist, and disability rights advocate known for her impactful work on the intersection of disability, race, and self-love. As the creator of the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute, Brown promotes body positivity and self-acceptance for disabled people. Her works include The Pretty One, The Secret Summer Promise, and Sam’s Super Seats.

Advice for Freelance Writers From an Award-Winning Disabled Games Journalist

by Blog Writers

By Grant Stoner

October marks National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a time to highlight the importance of equal opportunities within the workforce for disabled individuals. This year’s theme, “Access to Good Jobs for All,” reinforces the narrative that everybody is deserving of a well-paying job. And for disabled Americans still fighting for issues like marriage equality, financial security, and accessible spaces, it’s a step in the right direction for the government to acknowledge this aspect of the disabled experience.

For me, NDEAM allows me to reflect on my career as an accessibility reporter in the gaming industry. While I have yet to acquire a full-time job, my work as a freelancer has offered me numerous opportunities to earn money for things like savings, important life events, and even fun treats for friends and family. With my five years of experience, I wanted to share some tips for those interested in becoming a gaming journalist, more specifically, a disabled gaming journalist.

Grant and his girlfriend

Write, Write, and Write

This may seem obvious, but to be a journalist, you need to write. I’ve been professionally writing since 2019, publishing numerous reviews, developer interviews, community reports, and even opinion pieces on the state of accessibility in the gaming industry. But long before I had bylines at publications like IGN, WIRED, and Easterseals, I began learning how to convey my thoughts into cohesive sentences at my university’s school newspaper.

Since 2015, I’ve written with the goal of becoming a games journalist. While I initially had no intention of exploring accessibility and the disabled perspective with my stories, I always wanted to see my name on websites and within magazines that I grew up reading. And when I first started, I was admittedly terrible. My stories lacked emotion, instead, being nothing more than a checklist of a game’s features followed by a quick, ultimately meaningless sentence of whether I liked a title. I was never going to impress editors with my mediocrity. But with each review, each feature within the school newspaper, each draft returned by my editors, I became more confident in myself as a writer.

Despite graduating with a degree in Multiplatform Journalism, I will be the first to admit that I didn’t learn how to become a writer by attending college courses. Instead, my knowledge came directly from trial and error, as well as the guidance of my editors. And since higher education can be incredibly expensive and pose numerous barriers for disabled individuals, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to have a degree to begin freelancing. You just need to prove to editors that you know how to write.

The Art of the Pitch

Before any good article comes to life, they all start as an idea. When writing independently, you don’t need the approval of others to begin developing your work. However, when freelancing, each article needs to capture the attention of whatever publication is worthy of your story. For example, with this very piece, I needed to convey to my editor – Hi, Erin! – that Easterseals’ readers would be interested in a feature exploring tips and tricks on how to freelance.

You need to provide samples for editors of your work. Show them why you are the best person to write the specific piece. If I’m pitching a story that deals directly with accessible innovations at studios like PlayStation, I’m going to demonstrate my knowledge on the subject through previous stories. And if you lack an extensive portfolio, utilizing your lived experience, particularly as a disabled individual, is just as important as having written examples.

Marginalized stories are best told by marginalized people. While it is possible for publications to write about disability and accessibility without hiring a disabled freelancer, you can prove to editors that your voice can provide nuance that others may lack. Did a company release a new piece of hardware, and do you have a physical disability? You can use this information to prove to editors that your years of using accessible devices makes you the right person for the job. Portfolios are important, but so is intrinsically understanding how to be disabled in the gaming industry.

Rejection Happens

When writing about subjects like accessibility and the disabled perspective, many publications often struggle to see the newsworthiness of these topics. Despite approximately 25% of the population living with some form of a disability, the nature of stories told about us continues to be framed as inspirational or pitiful. We still struggle to be viewed as confident and independent individuals, often infantilized for the enjoyment of others. And these preconceived notions and stereotypes of disabled people continue to plague the appeal of stories that actively push back against these beliefs. Unfortunately, this consistent uphill battle means publications may deny pitches.

My first freelance piece was published on October 5, 2018. Since then, I’ve published dozens of stories across numerous publications. Yet, for every story accepted, dozens have been rejected. And each reason can vary. From a lack of budgets to timeliness, and even an inability for editors to understand the importance of why certain stories need to be told means that I’m very familiar with rejection. While it’s important to acknowledge that rejection stings, it’s equally important to remember that one “no” does not make you a bad writer. As cliché as it sounds, the best piece of advice I can give is to keep pitching. Sometimes stories aren’t meant to be published, and sometimes it’s possible to save an idea for later, but a rejection is not a reflection of you as a writer.

I’m incredibly proud of the work I’ve done since I entered the professional space in 2019. And for this NDEAM, I’m incredibly thankful that I can continue doing this job I so dearly love. Yet, it’s important to remind others that disabled individuals belong in each space, not just the gaming industry. As we continue to normalize our voices across publications, we deserve a place within the workforce. As accessibility continues to evolve, disabled people need to be front and center to discuss these innovations.

Grant Stoner is a disabled journalist covering accessibility and the disabled perspective in the gaming industry. When not writing, he is usually screaming about Pokémon or his cat, Goomba, on social media.

A Look into Disability in Media and the RENEGADES Film Series

by Blog Writers

By Day Al-Mohamed

Welcome to  National Disability Employment Awareness Month! So what is this “celebration” in October? In many ways, behind the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26th, October has grown to be the second largest disability-focused time period in the year (not including disability-specific days which may hold more significance for individual disabled communities). As per the US Department of Labor, NDEAM is the month where  “we celebrate the value and talent workers with disabilities add to America’s workplaces and economy. NDEAM’s purpose is to confirm our commitment to ensuring disabled workers have access to good jobs, every month of every year.” It is a time where companies and businesses are encouraged to support, improve, and celebrate disability in their workplace. Why do we have this? Because disability is still not adequately represented in the workforce. Only 37.5% of the disabled population is employed as compared to 75% of the non-disabled population. 

Despite Congress passing the ADA in 1990 and the rise of the disability rights movement, systemic discrimination is built into our processes and policies – in education, housing, healthcare, and most relevant for our conversation today, in employment. It is still legal to pay disabled employees  subminimum wages in ‘sheltered workshops’ — a relic of the 1930s allowed by the Department of Labor under the auspices of maintaining employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Perhaps even more devastating in the current era of discussions around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, disability is often forgotten.

The Centers for Disease Control state that 1 in 4 adults in America have a disability, yet nowhere is underrepresentation of the disability perspective more obvious today than in mass media. Film, television, and other media seem to have not embraced disability inclusion in a way that is meaningful. GLAAD’s 2020-2021 study analyzing the overall diversity of primetime scripted series on broadcast networks, “Where We Are On TV,” highlights the fact that only 3.5% of characters have a disability, many played by non-disabled actors, and that network television “severely underrepresents the U.S. population living with disabilities.” A recent USC Annenberg study of the 100 most popular movies of 2019 found that only 2.3% of all speaking characters were depicted with a disability, and nearly half of the films did not include a single character with a disability. While there are no analogous studies for behind-the-camera and those working on films, anecdotal evidence highlights similar disparities in representation.

Day on the job.

That is part of the reason that disability was front and center in both the content of our American Masters/PBS series RENEGADES and also in process. RENEGADES is a series of five 10-minute short films designed for an intergenerational digital audience that showcases the lives of little-known historical figures with disabilities, exploring not only their impact on and contributions to U.S. society, but also the concept of disability culture, which honors the uniqueness of disability. Hosted and narrated by the musician and disability rights activist, Lachi, and created and produced by a team composed of more than 90% D/deaf and disabled filmmakers, the series is designed to increase public knowledge of disability, and also use these historical individuals’ lives as keystones to reexamine universal concepts such as identity, community, and normalcy from a disability culture perspective.

Infused with the spirit of the disability movement’s mantra, “Nothing About Us Without Us,” RENEGADES places a focus on authentic storytelling, with a cast and crew that are majority disabled people; and a majority filmmakers of color. Filmmaking is a “team sport” and like disability itself, it isn’t about independence so much as interdependence. Filmmakers with disabilities belong in media as much as any other industry. We believe our film series is proof of that. 

In celebration of NDEAM, the RENEGADES short film series will be released on PBS’ website and YouTube channel starting October 1, with a new episode dropping every Tuesday. In addition, we are working with PBS Learning Media to develop curricula to bring a greater understanding of disability and history into classrooms across the country. The films are provided with ASL, Captions, and Audio Description, as well as an accessible transcript.

RENEGADES will feature the following groundbreaking individuals:

Judy-Lynn del Rey: Galaxy Gal – Premiered Tuesday, October 1 

Judy-Lynn del Rey (1943-1986) was a woman with dwarfism who revolutionized the world of science fiction by editing and publishing books from sci-fi luminaries such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and even George Lucas’ “Star Wars” in novel form. Through her story, RENEGADES shows how science fiction narratives, through their speculative and imaginative nature, offer a more inclusive and equitable lens through which to redefine disability.

Daniel Inouye: Life of Service – Premiered Tuesday, October 8

The first Japanese American to serve in the U.S. Congress, Daniel Inouye represented the State of Hawai’i for more than 50 years. As the first-born son of Japanese immigrants, Inouye’s early life was a balancing act of heritage and identity as an American. During his World War II service, he was injured in battle, resulting in the amputation of his right arm. Following the war and 22 months of rehabilitation, Inouye pivoted into law and public service, first winning territorial seats, then moving up to the U.S. House of Representatives, and then to the U.S. Senate. While also representing Hawaiian interests, his national policy work revolved around civil rights, civil liberties and support for policies that promoted equality for all peoples.

Celestine Tate Harrington: Building A Legacy – Premiered Tuesday, October 15 (Her birthday!) 

Born with a condition that left her limbs unusable, Celestine Tate Harrington was a street performer in downtown Philadelphia and on the Atlantic City boardwalk in the 1980s and 1990s who impressed audiences with her skill at playing the electric keyboard with her tongue. When the Philadelphia Department of Public Welfare attempted to take away her infant daughter, claiming that Harrington was physically incapable of caring for a child, she successfully defended her right to parent. In the courtroom, Tate Harrington demonstrated her skills – dressing and undressing her daughter, and changing her diaper, using only her lips, teeth, and tongue – and retained custody. She used the limited preconceived notions of others to prove that she was capable of raising a family and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Thomas Wiggins: Composing the Future – Premiered Tuesday, October 22

A composer and pianist known as the greatest musical prodigy of his time, Thomas Wiggins was blind from birth. Some contemporary sources have also noted behaviors that indicate he also had autism. Born into slavery, Wiggins was the first African American to perform at the White House and toured throughout the U.S., South America and Europe. The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect in 1863, but Wiggins was put under a conservatorship, and fought over in the courts as property – perpetual bondage until his death.

Brad Lomax: Creating Communities of Care – Premieres Tuesday, October 29

A civil rights and disability rights leader who had multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair, Brad Lomax was  a member of the Black Panther Party and founder of the East Oakland Center for Independent Living. He was a key protester during the historic 26-day sit-in of 1977 at the Federal Building in San Francisco, which demanded the federal government enforce regulations to prohibit discrimination of people with disabilities. 

You can read more about the series in the Press Announcement, or you can check it out in more detail at the PBS website.

Day Al-Mohamed is an author, filmmaker, and disability policy advisor. Day has written two novels, “Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn” and more recently, “The Labyrinth’s Archivist” as well as multiple short stories and articles. She is a regular host on Idobi Radio’s Geek Girl Riot with a weekly audience of 100k+ listeners and a Founding Member of FWD-Doc (Documentary Filmmakers with Disabilities).

Her documentary, THE INVALID CORPS, about disabled Civil War soldiers, was licensed to Alaska Airlines and had its broadcast premiere on public television in 2020. She is currently working on a docu-series, RENEGADES, of role-breaking disabled leaders in history for American Masters/PBS digital (October 2024) and is a proud producer of feature documentary UNSEEN (POV, 2024). Day was named a DOC NYC 2021 Documentary New Leader, was part of the NBC 2022 Original Voices Fellowship class, and awarded a Disability Futures Fellow grant in 2024.

Outside of her creative work, Day is a policy expert with over 15 years of experience. The former White House Director of Disability Policy, she is a proven leader in inclusion and accessibility, policy development, organizational transformation, and innovative program design. Day lives in Washington DC with her wife, N.R. Brown, daughter Octavia, and guide dog.

My Experiences Before and After Getting Hearing Aids

by Blog Writers

By Rikki Poynter

In August 2021 at 30 years old, I got my first pair of hearing aids after being diagnosed with hearing loss at 11. Why didn’t I get them when I was 11? I qualified for them, but they were too expensive. I don’t know the average cost of hearing aids back in 2002, but now in 2024, the average cost is $4,000 for a pair. With only one income in the household, a truck driver’s salary, there was no way we could afford them. And unfortunately, most insurance companies tend to not pay for them. 

(This is also partially due to the fact that when it came to my accessibility needs, they were ignored. My parents, even my deaf mother, did not put in the effort to learn what I needed and give me the tools to know what I needed as well.)

I grew up with zero additional accommodations for my deafness. In school, I had to go through class without ASL interpreters and notetakers. I had to watch films and documentaries in school with captions. I had to participate in reading aloud in English class without any way of knowing for sure where we were on the page. My grades suffered and I graduated from high school with a 2.6 GPA.

My social life took a hit. One-on-one socialization was okay, but being in a group setting was difficult. Being in two relationships with hearing men and going to family dinners where none of them signed (except for my first ex-boyfriend) meant experiencing Dinner Table Syndrome, where a deaf person is surrounded by hearing people who don’t know sign language and put little effort into equal communication which causes the deaf person to miss out on conversation.

As the years went by and my hearing loss became more progressive, it was becoming more difficult to do my work. I’ve been a content creator for over a decade and I speak in most of my videos. I edit my own videos, and for a few years, I had a company who would sponsor my captions. Unfortunately, that eventually ended, and I had to do the captions myself. Editing, and especially captioning, was becoming too difficult as no headphones were good enough for me to be able to understand myself. My speaking engagements on my own or at conferences were fine with the help of an ASL interpreter and captions, but once they were off the clock and it was time for the social events, I was left on my own. Attempting to lip read people while extremely loud music is playing on top of a few alcoholic drinks especially was practically impossible.

Then around April 2021, I learned about Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VR), an organization that aids disabled people in preparing for and finding a job. My friends have told me that they’ve received various things from them for their schooling and businesses like iPads, video phones, laptops, and, of course, hearing aids. So I sent in an email and crossed my fingers. 

After a few months of going over my business, finances, a new audiogram, and waiting to be approved, I was fitted for and then received my hearing aids the following August, all for free.

Getting them activated was definitely an experience. I went from barely being able to hear anything at all to suddenly being bombarded with loud voices in a matter of seconds. Hearing people are used to seeing edited videos of babies and adults smiling and crying upon hearing aid and cochlear implant activation. My experience, however, was pretty neutral. “Oh, wow. That’s loud.” I didn’t cry tears of joy like the people in the videos. 

(For the record, I’ve nothing against the people in the videos and their emotions are valid. I, as many others, question hearing people’s reaction to them when they’ve only seen one experience. An experience that is edited and doesn’t show the whole picture.)

My hearing aids are the Phonak Naida P50 with black hardware and pink earmolds. (I’m slightly kicking myself for not getting black earmolds now.) They have Bluetooth, something I absolutely needed for work. I could stream my entertainment and my work content directly into my ears and I understood so much more than when I was using headphones and AirPods. When I finally figured out that I could connect them to my iMac, it changed the editing game for me. And even better, I got to take extra joy in my third rewatch of One Tree Hill.

My social life became easier, especially having moved to Omaha last year. The downside is that it does feel like I have to hold the burden of making communication easier for the person I’m talking to rather than the other person trying to make it an equal effort, which is how it was before getting the hearing aids.

Editing and captioning my work is so much easier. It’s not perfect and I still struggle to understand myself sometimes especially if I’m not talking directly to the camera, but it is a drastic improvement compared to five years ago. I can get around better at networking during events. It’s still difficult to understand everything if I’m at a panel or workshop, so I still request ASL interpreters for that. 

While there has been a drastic change for the better, that doesn’t mean they’re perfect. I still can’t make regular phone calls. I still have to use an IP relay (think TTY, the typing telephone, but online). I still have to use captions while watching online content. I still need captions when going to the movie theater and watching TV. 

Getting over my nerves and taking a chance with VR is by far one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. I know my life wouldn’t be the way it is now had I not gotten them, which is an unfortunate thing to say, but it’s true. 

But what I want people reading this to know is that hearing aids and cochlear implants are a big personal decision. Some of us want them, some of us don’t. Some of us qualify for them, some of us don’t. Sometimes they work for us, and sometimes they don’t work at all. Everyone is different and just because my experience has been a good one, doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for the next deaf person one comes across.

Rikki Poynter is a disabled (deaf, chronic pain and fatigue) accessibility consultant, writer, public speaker, and content creator. Originally a beauty vlogger on YouTube, she moved onto talking about her journey growing up as a mainstreamed deaf person trying to find her deaf identity and community all while trying to navigate an inaccessible world. Since 2013, she has talked about making the Internet accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people with captions, transcripts, and more. Her work has gotten the attention of many news outlets and she has worked with Apple, FireFox, Samsung, Google, and more.

Workforces Beyond Compliance: Building a Truly Accessible Workplace for All

by Blog Writers

By Andrea Jennings

National Disability Employment Awareness Month, known as NDEAM, is honored and observed annually each October. This year, in 2024, the NDEAM Theme is “Access to Good Jobs for All.”  Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, Taryn Williams, announces this year’s official theme in this video. When I read the title of this theme, what resonates with me is that society is finally moving past disabled individuals just “securing” a job. This empowering theme indicates that we seek viable, sustainable employment beyond compliance and merely compliant-based accessibility. This theme pushes for accessible jobs and careers at the forefront that have liveable wages and are psychologically and culturally safe environments for all. 

Often, when attempting disability inclusion, many companies focus only on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and meeting specific diversity quotas. However, by solely doing it this way, disability inclusion is not being set up for success. While these efforts are essential, they often stop short of fostering authentic accessibility and inclusivity. Compliance alone, though crucial, can become more of a box-ticking exercise and performative if anything else. If companies limit their focus to meeting legal requirements and quotas, they miss out on creating a genuinely accessible workplace that benefits and empowers all employees, including those with disabilities. So, it is not the accessibility and equity programs at fault; it is how they are being implemented and, more importantly, why they are being implemented in the first place.

“Creating and developing programs that reflect multicultural communities is the way of the future. Disabled individuals and other underrecognized groups are overlooked and underserved and could benefit from universally designed infrastructures. Many are opinion leaders in their communities and can contribute to the workplace in many ways, given an equitable opportunity.” -Andrea Jennings

Compliance is the starting point. I can tell when a company is serious about wanting to drive real accessibility culture change in their organization because of their discovery questions when I first meet with them about securing my services to help them. One of the giveaways is that they genuinely want to learn themselves. They have done some basic research, just as one would if they were taking an out-of-country excursion. They wanted to know about a new culture carefully and enthusiastically because they did not want to offend that culture. The company’s representative usually wants to involve me in deeper layers of their company culture past a lunch webinar, and they want to truly learn how to integrate accessibility throughout their companies. They also have a budget because they value my expertise, lived experience, and Disability culture. Organizations seeking authentic change seek out disabled individuals like myself or work with larger companies like Easterseals, who work with authentic disabled individuals who understand that accessibility is not a one-and-done lab “program” or a one-person department, they know that it is an ongoing lifestyle and a community. Organizations that view accessibility as the bare minimum do little to address the attitudinal and systemic barriers that disabled employees face daily. Disability inclusion must go beyond quotas and metrics to focus on meaningful inclusion—ensuring that people with disabilities are not just present in the workforce but are also genuinely valued as contributors.

Breaking Down Attitudinal Barriers

One of the most significant challenges to workplace inclusivity is the persistence of attitudinal barriers. The JAN Accommodation Toolkit is an excellent resource for employers to learn to go above and beyond compliance. Many employers and coworkers make assumptions about the abilities of people with disabilities, often underestimating their potential. These biases are harmful to accessibility by creating an environment where disabled employees are viewed through a lens of pity or infantilization rather than as respected professionals with valuable skills.

For companies to progress, they need to foster an environment of open dialogue and respect. The key is to shift the paradigm from focusing on an individual’s disability to understanding and eliminating the barriers that prevent their full participation. For me, it was never my disability that prevented my inclusion. It was the barriers.

Tokenism: A Barrier to Authentic Inclusion

Tokenism is the practice of recruiting individuals with disabilities without even considering that there are qualified disabled candidates just to meet a quota. Tokenism limits opportunities for growth, real collaboration, and contribution. It is counterproductive to reduce employees to mere statistics. I am not a statistic but a human with lived experience. Tokenism not only hurts the experiences of disabled workers but also undermines the overall inclusivity of the organization.

Genuine inclusion requires integrating qualified people with disabilities into all aspects of the workplace, from leadership roles to daily operations. It also recognizes that because of systemic ableism, there are opportunities and experiences that disabled individuals have not been invited to experience. Organizations must invest in bridging that gap by offering development programs for disabled employees who want that support and providing them with the tools, mentorship, and opportunities they should have always had to set them up for success.

Recognizing the Value of Disabled Employees

Recognition and ensuring people feel seen and heard figuratively speaking is powerful. The benefits of going beyond tokenism are immense. Employees with disabilities are opinion leaders who bring many unique perspectives and skills to the table, which can enhance overall team performance. Studies have shown that diverse teams, including those with disabled members, are more innovative and adaptable.

By recognizing employees with disabilities as valuable contributors, companies can build a stronger, more dynamic workforce.

Authentic Inclusion: A Path to Innovation and Psychological Safety

Genuine accessibility and inclusion environments benefit all employees and lead to a more innovative and productive workplace. Companies that foster authentic inclusion create psychologically safe environments where all employees feel empowered to voice their ideas and concerns. How many times have you worked better because you felt comfortable? I am sure it has affected you in some way. Think about this: Are you talking to your employees about this subject to increase collaboration, innovation, and a better work environment that values diversity as an asset? Or are you talking about accessibility as an obligation? If it is the latter, it is time for a change. Please consider utilizing some of these ideas from the 31 Days of NDEAM published by the Department of Labor.

Accessible and inclusive workspaces are the future! They are places of growth, creativity, and psychological safety where everyone can be successful. These spaces level the playing field for success. Companies that embrace this mindset are aligned for better company morale and better positioned for long-term success.

Andrea Jennings, M.Mus., Series TV host and a producer for Access for All: Integrating Accessibility, is a disability & accessibility in media Strategist, director, and lead actress in an award-winning film. Passionate about music, law, and entertainment. Her journey led to creating Shifting Creative Paradigms – Leveling The Playing Field®, a multi-media social enterprise production co. that advocates for social justice through Disability culture, film, music, and art. She is a chair emeritus and current commissioner for an Accessibility and Disability Commission. Andrea’s scholarly contributions include co-authoring the pivotal health equity report, The Atlantic | OPRG’s report on “The Intersection of Health Equity in Communities & Business Strategy,” which addresses systemic challenges in health equity. Her work has graced prestigious platforms like Park Avenue Armory, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Rutgers University. Her work has also been recognized in Forbes, Billboard Magazine, The Atlantic Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and The New York Times.

The Realities of Employment Discrimination for Disabled People

by Blog Writers

By Leah Smith

In 1988, October was established by Congress as Disability Employment Awareness Month. The goal of this designated month is to “raise awareness about disability employment issues and to celebrate the contributions of workers with disabilities.” Inarguably, one of the biggest employment issues facing the disability community today is employment discrimination.  

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “employment discrimination is to treat someone differently, or less favorably, for some reason.” This unfair treatment can be because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, disability, age (age 40 or older), or genetic information. 

Of course, there are hundreds of different types of disabilities and ways in which they might impact employment opportunities. Disabilities can be cognitive, physical, and/or emotional, and often limit one or more major life activities.

It is also important to note the definition of ‘major life activities.’ A major life activity is something you do every day, including your body’s own internal processes. Some examples include:  

• Actions like eating, sleeping, speaking, and breathing 
• Movements like walking, standing, lifting, and bending 
• Cognitive functions like thinking and concentrating 
• Sensory functions like seeing and hearing 
• Tasks like working, reading, learning, and communicating 
• The operation of major bodily functions like circulation, reproduction, and individual organs 

As of July 2024, the employment rate for people with disabilities was 37%, compared to 75% among their nondisabled counterparts. After looking at cases of disability employment discrimination, we can see that it usually falls within one of the 6 following categories:  

• Hiring Discrimination: When qualified applicants are not hired based on their disability, rather than their skills or qualifications. 
• Wage Discrimination: When employees are paid less than their colleagues for performing the same job because of their disability. 
• Promotion Discrimination: When an employee is overlooked for promotions or advancements due to their disability. 
• Harassment: A work environment where an employee is subjected to unwanted comments, jokes, or behaviors based on their disability creating a hostile or intimidating work atmosphere. 
• Failure to Accommodate: When an employer fails to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities.  
• Termination or Demotion: When employees are unfairly fired, demoted, or forced to quit due to their disability. 

Of course, any one of these forms of discrimination can also happen at the intersection of other marginalized identities, only further impacting the individual and the organization. Being the recipient of employment discrimination can have long-term emotional, financial, and psychological impacts on someone’s life; however, it can also cause reduced productivity, cause higher turnover rates, have legal and financial repercussions, and cause a lack of diversity and inclusion within an organization. The term ‘intersectionality’ was coined by professor Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics “intersect” and overlap with one another. As this term has evolved, she has further explained, “Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times, that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.” 

Employment discrimination, particularly when viewed through an intersectional lens, underscores the severity of this issue. 

For example, we see a 20% wage gap between median annual earnings among nondisabled and disabled women in the United States.1 This breaks down to be about a $10,000 wage gap between nondisabled and disabled women ($40,400 compared to $50,000). (US Census Bureau, 2020)

This also means that, overall, disabled women are only paid .50 for every dollar a nondisabled man makes. (US Census Bureau, 2020) 

Further, the wage gap between white disabled women and black disabled women highlights the intersection of race, gender, and disability in the labor market. On average, there is a 10-25% wage gap between black women with disabilities and white women with disabilities. Factors such as education, location, and type of disability can impact this figure.  

According to another study, disabled transgender individuals are 5 times more likely than nondisabled cisgender individuals to report being unemployed and looking for work for more than a month. These data only further highlight Crenshaw’s point about how intersectionality shows ‘where power comes and collides.’ 

As a disabled woman, I find the above statistics to be sobering. But I couldn’t help but want real stories of real people I knew. So, like any good millennial, I took it to social media. As a disabled woman, employee, and mom, I asked over 1,400 friends, “what has employment discrimination looked like for you?” I received over 77 responses like:  

• “Being told that they should have hired a nondisabled person instead.” 

• “Prior to the pandemic, jumping through a ton of hoops and needing to disclose private medical information to have partial work-from-home status, but it took a pandemic that killed millions for work-at-home to be approved/acceptable.”  

• “Given a hard ‘no’ because they were afraid I would get hurt due to heavy lifting and/or moving products around. Then given a teddy bear to make up for it.”  

• “Told I was really lucky to have a job, as any other place would fire me for all of the accommodations I needed.”  

• “After I finished undergrad, the job search process was hell! I would go in for interviews and would get stares. I would be qualified for positions and literally get ghosted from employers.” 

• “I asked for an office chair that fits my body, and the response was ‘maybe you can just do something about your desk or how you’re sitting instead?’”  

• “Being given the nickname ‘Eeyore’ by a boss because of my mental health disabilities.”  

• “Was fired outright when they found out my label/disability.” 

• “Supervisor telling HR I was refusing to do my job because I couldn’t do it without the reasonable accommodation they were denying.”  

• “Being told that spending money to train me was a waste of resources, I’d never be management material. Then when I was a manager, moving my office to the former storage room because ‘watching you type is painful.’ I’ve been told that people like me don’t need to work because we can just live off federal disability, so I shouldn’t take a job away from someone with a family.”

• “Attending interviews where members of the interviewing panel asked how I dress myself and about my spouse.” 

While many of us are aware that laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act are key pieces of legislation that provide some legal protections against disability discrimination, I would argue that, clearly, we haven’t done enough yet. Organizations like The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality and American Progress, among many others, are advocating for key legislation that would end subminimum wage, get rid of asset limits for public assistance programs, increase funding for home and community based services, and  pass the Equality Act as methods of helping to solve this problem. As Michelle Obama recently said, we just need to ‘Do Something!’  

Leah Smith is the Associate Director of The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality and Co-Facilitator for Her Power!, a national event aimed at teen girls with disabilities. She wears many hats, but being a mom to her two kids is, by far, the most important. 

How Transportation Employees Can Offer Services to Users with Disabilities in Safe, Respectful Ways to Create More Accessible Communities

by Blog Writers

By Andrea Jennings

Transportation is more than just a means of getting around; it’s a gateway to how we all access our community and society. When transportation services are inaccessible, disabled individuals are excluded from many aspects of life, including employment opportunities and social events.

Employees at all levels, from frontline staff and C-Suite top executives to mid-managers and senior managers, play a vital role in ensuring accessible transportation. Thoroughly vetting third-party contractors that work directly with disabled individuals to make sure that they understand how to interact with disabled individuals is something government agencies and organizations should prioritize. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) will ultimately set the groundwork, using human-centered practices beyond legal compliance can yield more sustainable results than if implemented in a performative way. It’s about creating an experience that allows everyone equitable access with dignity and without attitudinal barriers. Let’s dive into some best practices of how transportation employees can offer services to users with disabilities in safe, respectful ways to create more accessible communities.

In practice, this may look like asking questions, taking the time to understand accessibility policies thoroughly, providing individualized support, and ensuring all equipment is functioning properly. Communication is always integral to accessibility: having signage and literature in accessible formats can make a significant difference. Additionally, being attentive to feedback and engaging in regular training is crucial for continually improving the travel experience for passengers with disabilities. Since 1/4 of Americans have a disability, it might also be helpful for employees to read books to understand the disability culture firsthand from people with lived experiences. Books like Disability Visibility by Alice Wong and The Anti-Abelist Manifesto by Tiffany Yu are good books to start with.

As Keith Jones, President of SoulTouchin’ Experiences, emphasizes, “The two key practices that can be adopted are already predicated in legislation. Also having continuous training on best practices, serving individuals with disabilities as well as consistently adhering to Department of Transportation guidelines and the ADA.”

Practical Measures to Enhance Accessibility in Ground Transportation

Practical steps are essential for transportation employees to improve accessibility. Training transportation employees and operators on how to operate accessible equipment successfully are also important, as well as emergency preparedness. Some of these tools set the employee and the passenger up for success. For example, employees can ensure that transportation schedules and wayfinding tools are within the customer’s reach and are in accessible formats, providing clear directions on the fastest and safest routes. Here are some additional practical tips from people with lived experience or who work in fields that support and advocate for accessibility beyond mere compliance:

Mark Waterson, CEO of Convalescent Aid Society, a non-profit organization providing free loan of medical equipment to community members, highlights a crucial aspect: “One of the keys to making transportation as accessible as possible is to make sure that seats and areas designated for disabled individuals remain open and available for those who actually need these accommodations.”

Zebreda Dunham, who runs the YouTube Channel “Zebreda Makes it Work,” notes, “When I go to the train stations, the elevators occasionally don’t work, and regardless if they work or not, the buttons are hard to reach. I often have trouble getting through the turnstiles because of people who are non-paying customers. It would be nice if an employee were there to keep the flow smooth and make sure that the disabled community can operate the systems smoothly.”

Clear Path of Travel – Rideshare, Taxis, Shuttles, and Event Parking

As an accessibility in entertainment and media strategist, I naturally attend many events and concerts. As a mobility aid user, a critical part of my accessible experience is the flow of accessible arrival and departure. Employees can ensure a clear path of travel by checking to see that paths from parking areas to shuttle pick-up and drop-off points are clear and accessible. There should be adequate signage, and drivers should be instructed to pull into these areas at the designated spots.

Enhancing Comfort and Safety

Comfort and safety should be at the forefront of every transportation employee’s mind. To prevent serious accidents, grab handles should be within easy reach, seats should be at appropriate heights, and equipment should be regularly maintained. However, aside from accessible equipment, employees can also enhance travelers’ experiences.

Treasure Sheppard, a Strategic Initiatives Project Manager at HACLA, highlights, “I find it refreshing when staff take the time to pause and be patient while assisting individuals with disabilities. This leads to better safety measures and customer experiences.”

Air and Sea Travel Accessibility

Air and sea travel can be a daunting experience for people with disabilities, but it doesn’t have to be. Employees, from check-in staff to flight attendants, play an essential part in the experience and safety of disabled travelers. Handling mobility aids with care and ensuring accessible boarding and seating arrangements are vital. In 2021, a friend to many and the late public figure and advocate Engracia Figueroa’s wheelchair was damaged when she returned from advocating in D.C. This wheelchair was custom built for her individual needs and ultimately was, as she put it, “an extension of herself.” If the employees had handled her wheelchair with care, her wheelchair would not have received the damage in the first place. Again, protocols alone are not enough; employees implementing the protocols, having more human-centered training, and hiring disabled consultants can make a world of difference and also save lives.

Training, Awareness, and Feedback

Proper training is crucial for all transportation employees to assist disabled passengers effectively. Effective training involves not only understanding how to use accessibility equipment but also how to interact respectfully and supportively with people who have disabilities. Sara Goldman, MPH, MSBS, ADAC, an Accessibility Coordinator, emphasizes, “There are many existing practices and policies that have been implemented to make bus, rail, and air transportation more accessible to people with disabilities. A key practice to adopt would be consistent and regular training to ensure that all employees are aware of policies and able to implement those practices for anyone who may wish to utilize them!”

Public awareness campaigns can also make a big difference by educating other passengers about accessibility protocols. For example, a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) highlights how practical training and public awareness can reduce complaints and improve overall satisfaction for disabled passengers. Finally, it is essential to involve people from diverse disabled communities in the planning and feedback processes, as we are not a monolith. This can ensure that the transportation system is responsive, accessible, and inclusive, addressing the needs of all passengers.

Dana “MzDanaK” Jones, a community member and rising author of an autobiography called N the BLINK of an Eye, adds, “In my experience, they can help more when they obviously see that they might be needed and always be ready to accommodate with patience.”

Conclusion

Accessibility beyond compliance requires a strong commitment from all employees, from executives to frontline workers, to understand and address the diverse access requirements of all passengers. By focusing on human-centered improvements, maintaining safety and comfort, and fostering a culture of respect, transportation employees can offer services that allow everyone to travel with dignity and ease. In this way, we create more accessible communities.

Andrea Jennings, M.Mus., Series TV host as well as a producer for Access for All: Integrating Accessibility, is a disability & accessibility in media Strategist, director, and lead actress in an award-winning film. Passionate about music, law, and entertainment. Her journey led to creating Shifting Creative Paradigms – Leveling The Playing Field®  a multi-media social enterprise production co., that advocates for social justice through Disability culture, film, music, and art. She is a chair emeritus and current commissioner for an Accessibiity and Disability Commission. Andrea’s scholarly contributions include co-authoring the pivotal health equity report, The Atlantic | OPRG’s report on “The Intersection of Health Equity in Communities & Business Strategy,” which addresses systemic challenges in health equity. Her work has graced prestigious platforms like Park Avenue Armory, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Rutgers University. Her work has also been recognized in Forbes, Billboard Magazine, The Atlantic Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and The New York Times.

Able and Ready: Former Easterseals Camper is Setting a New Standard for Accessible Transportation

by Erin Hawley

Rhonda Clark, 55, has spastic cerebral palsy. “I wasn’t supposed to live past 48 hours. I jokingly tell people I have cerebral palsy, but it doesn’t have me.”

Rhonda started going to Easterseals camp in Wisconsin from 1981 to the early 90s. She grew up in an abusive household, and the two weeks at camp were her reprieve. A week before camp ended, she cried knowing she had to go home. She shares how Easterseals camp allowed her to do exciting things she wouldn’t have otherwise, such as adaptive zip lining and swimming. She even met her first boyfriend at camp. “No one would judge me [there]; everyone was the same,” she said.

Rhonda at Easterseals Camp, 1983

Easterseals camp taught her independence and gave her the confidence to navigate inaccessibility and ableism as an adult. “I’m not one to just settle for what I’ve been told I can have. I’ve never been. And I think going to Easterseals camp as a kid made a huge impact on me in that respect, because that’s where I got my first taste of living independently.”

Rhonda currently lives in Nashville and moved there 28 years ago after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay in 1995. Her goal after college was to work in country music, and Rhonda was promised a job at a record label. However, fate intervened, and she learned of the label closing right before getting on the plane to Nashville. She had already shipped her belongings to her new home, including her power wheelchair, which she didn’t want to risk getting damaged on the flight. Despite knowing few people in the city, she didn’t want to be stranded in Wisconsin without her power chair, so she went ahead with the move.

“I literally pedaled my resume down music row,” she said. Rhonda was able to land a few gigs, and then spent two and a half years with United Cerebral Palsy in Middle Tennessee, where she helped book talent for their telethons.

Rhonda also volunteered for Easterseals, where she met her dear friend, Beverly Jones. Beverly was in a video for Holly Dunn’s song “I Am Who I am,” which Easterseals played during a telethon. The two met backstage where Rhonda was volunteering and have been a constant in each other’s lives ever since.

After her time at United Cerebral Palsy, Rhonda worked for Country Music Television for seven years, and then at a children’s hospital for 11 years.

Now, Rhonda is starting a non-emergency transportation company in Tennessee, Able and Ready Transportation Incorporated, to address the poor transportation options for disabled individuals – especially wheelchair users like herself.

Rhonda in her accessible van

Paratransit is only available in Davidson County, and Tennessee is a big state – not everyone can live in that service area. She shared that transportation is particularly challenging because of the lack of sidewalks and limited public transit outside of Davidson County. For example, Rhonda would be able to drive her wheelchair to her dog’s vet, which is less than a mile away, but there are no sidewalks to get her there safely; she has to rely on someone else to drive her, which impacts her independence and autonomy.

Her goal with Able and Ready Transportation Incorporated is to offer on-demand, low-cost, 24/7 access to accessible transportation for any reason – not limited to medical transportation. This service could help in a vast number of circumstances, such as when someone’s accessible vehicle breaks down on the road, potentially leaving them stranded, or getting them to work while their car is in the shop. It can unite friends for a night on the town – without a restriction on what time to go home. Able and Ready could also work with hotels or airports to ensure they have accessible shuttle options for wheelchair users. “I just want people to know they can live, work and be who they were created to be. And be with who they want to be with, when they want to be with them,” Rhonda shared.

Rhonda began working on Able and Ready in 2019 and was forced to delay plans because of the pandemic. She is now working with a small team to raise funds and navigate complicated laws around transportation and for-profit businesses. To deploy her services across county lines, which is vital to her mission in reaching all Tennesseans, there is a legal requirement to be a for-profit business.

She started raising money on GoFundMe but found that service was taking too much of a cut. She then moved to fundraising directly on the Able and Ready website. Able and Ready was able to fund one van, but there is still a need for more vans, office space, and staff. These overhead costs would put her in $300,000 in debt, but she is slowly raising that money to get them truly started.

Rhonda’s ultimate goal is to set a precedence in Tennessee and catapult this work to other states.

She proudly states, “somebody said that I set the bar too high, and I said, well, somebody’s got to.”

Bridging the Gap in Public Transportation for Disabled Travelers

by Blog Writers

By Mike Ervin

If you ride public transit trains here in Chicago, at each boarding platform you will see a couple storage boxes made of silver metal. Each of those boxes contains what’s called a gap filler, which is a fiberglass square  with wheels on the side. Gap fillers are painted yellow and on each, planted in blue, is the international symbol of wheelchair access and the words WELCOME ABOARD. The gap filler is about five feet tall and four feet wide.

So, whenever I ride the train, I tell my destination to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) customer assistant that’s on duty in the kiosk at the station from where I am departing. The CA, as they are called, then escorts me to the boarding platform. Either that or they meet me there.  The CA has a big ring of keys and uses one of them to unlock the nearest silver storage box. They roll out the gap filler. When the train arrives and the doors open, the CA puts the yellow slab in place in front of the door to bridge the gap between the station platform and the train and I roll in. After the train leaves and the CA returns to their kiosk, they contact the CA on duty at the station of my destination to let them know I am coming so that they can be waiting to put down the gap filler when my train arrives so I can roll off.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, it mandated wheelchair access to all public transportation. So the CTA was faced with the challenge of convincing people with disabilities to try riding the newly-accessible buses and trains. Thus, the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) was formed. JIC members were CTA officials and Chicagoans with disabilities. We met regularly to brainstorm ways to make riding the CTA as smooth as possible for wheelchair users. We knew that the key to getting wheelchair users to try riding was to make them feel welcome. We all agreed that not too many wheelchair users were going to jump on the CTA just because the federal government declared that they had a right to do so. Disabled people were too used to being excluded from the public transit system because of all the physical barriers that  kept them out and the reluctance of the CTA to do anything about removing any of those barriers. They needed to be confident that the CTA understood and addressed all of the little details that added up to true accommodation.

Just adding elevators to make train stations and platforms accessible wasn’t enough. When trains pulled up to the platform and their doors opened to let riders in and out, that would create another barrier. The floor of the train would be a few inches higher than  the platform. Most people would  just step over that gap without giving it a thought. But that gap could prohibit a wheelchair user from boarding the trains.

So the JIC recommended that there be something available at every boarding point that can be deployed to bridge the gap. But there would have to be humans involved because these bridges weren’t going to deploy themselves. It made the most sense that assisting people with disabilities in this way would be one of the job duties of the CA. But what if there was no CA on duty or if they were away from the kiosk assisting somebody else and couldn’t be contacted?

In that case, if there was no CA around and a passenger needed the gap filler to get on or off of the train, it would be the job of the person operating the train to get out of the train and deploy it.

That’s how the gap fillers and the system of deploying then came to be long, long ago. There are a lot of moving parts, which makes it more likely that something will go wrong. But all I can say is that I have ridden CTA trains hundreds of times. And whenever I’ve needed the gap filler, a CA or train operator has always deployed it. It’s become a matter of routine for CTA employees. When someone who uses a wheelchair shows up to ride, everybody knows just  what to do.

But one thing that has changed since the ADA became law is that train cars that are much more wheelchair accessible are being manufactured and CTA has put several of them into service. When a train consisting of these cars pulls up and the door opens, the car is usually on the same level as the platform so there’s no need for me to use the gap filler to get on or off.

That’s what happened when I rode a CTA train earlier this summer. As I waited on the platform for the train to arrive, the CA vigilantly stood next to me clutching the yellow gap filler. ready to put it in place. But when the train pulled up and the doors opened, it was one of the newer, more accessible cars. The entrance of the doorway was level with the platform so I really didn’t need to use the gap filler to get on. But before I could say anything, the CA was already putting the gap filler in place. So I just thanked him and rolled on.

When I arrived at my destination, another CA was waiting on the platform with a gap filler. The doors opened and again, before I knew it, she had put it in place.

My return trip went the same way. The train car was one of the new ones so I didn’t need the gap filler to get on or off. But the CAs were always right there to put one in place.

And again, the only thing I said to them was thank you. I didn’t want to say or do anything that might discourage any of them from going the extra mile to make people with disabilities feel welcome riding the CTA.

Mike Ervin is a writer and disability-rights activist living in Chicago. He is a columnist for the Progressive magazine and writes the blog Smart Ass Cripple.

Sex Ed for All: How We Can Support Disabled Students

by Blog Writers

By Ashira Greenberg

Sex education is a sensitive topic that garners a lot of attention in news and media. While sex education is intended to keep people safe and prepare youth for life, many people get uncomfortable with how to approach the topic to support young people, which leads to much discussion about how to approach sex education throughout the country. No national laws govern what sex education should include or how content should be taught across the country.  Additionally, states’ laws and guidelines can often mean that there is no guarantee that education sufficiently covers the topics that people need to learn to stay healthy. According to SIECUS’ state profiles, several states emphasize abstinence-only education for all students, and so many students are left out of conversation entirely in certain spaces — including LGBTQ+ students, BIPOC students and disabled students. While the focus of this blog is disability and accessibility, reflection on the experiences of different communities is important as people do not live single-issue lives.  

People with disabilities are a diverse group with different needs and experiences. According to the United Nations, the disability community is the largest minority in the world, and the community intersects with all other communities. The World Health Organization highlights that people with disabilities can identify with any gender as well as with any sexual orientation and the community spans across all cultures. Regardless of identities or background, people with disabilities can be impacted by a full gamut of sexual experiences, including casual encounters, violence and abuse, and long-term committed relationships.

According to SIECUS’ 2021 Call-to-Action, however, students with disabilities in the United States are less likely to receive sex education than students who do not have disabilities. Among students with disabilities who do receive formal sex education at school, accommodations and representation within lessons can be limited. Only three states specifically include people with disabilities in sex education requirements, and only five states have additional requirements mandating that health curricula be accessible for people with disabilities. While students with disabilities across the United States may have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan to outline accommodations that must be provided by law to support a given student throughout education, inclusive experiences encompass more than basic accommodations. Legal compliance is key, but a lack of support in classrooms still contributes to risks and harms that impact the disability community. Disability experiences can be more nuanced than legal definitions. Due to a variety of barriers, students with disabilities may have limited access to educational and informational resources, so supportive teachers are key to successful experiences.  

Best practices for accessible and inclusive lessons foster supportive environments for all students with a wide variety of needs. Setting up the learning environment is key to supporting success for all learners. Ensure that the space is accessible, so all people can easily access bathrooms and personal belongings. Be mindful of noises, scents, room temperature, textures, and lighting to support physical comfort. Recognize that students may require accessible furniture, adaptive devices, support people, or service animals to engage in sessions. Setting up the space to accommodate such needs is critical. Setting classroom expectations, like “raise your hand before speaking” and “one speaker at a time,” can help facilitate access by creating a culture of engagement that meets people’s needs. Some expectations may also need to be adjusted to support student needs. Students may need breaks during lessons to allow for movement, snacks, drinks or restroom needs, so plan to be flexible with timing for activities and offer extra time when needed. In addition to a confidential space for questions, tell students how to best communicate concerns with you and ask students for the best way to communicate with them.

Beyond the learning structure, develop a classroom culture with resources that support different learning styles and highlight disability experiences.  Educational frameworks, such as Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction, can set the groundwork for accessible lessons. Universal Design for Learning encourages teachers to facilitate lessons that allow for multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression for students to demonstrate learning in different ways.

Beyond Universal Design for Learning, Differentiated Instruction tailors education to students’ individual learning needs. Be mindful of accessibility of all materials, and consider which textual, audio, visual, and tactile resources will best support learning. Choose educational modalities based on students’ unique needs and offer a variety of different options when possible to maximize the opportunity for engagement with content. When sharing content, clearly define terms to minimize miscommunication and facilitate understanding in areas that may be less familiar or especially sensitive. Emphasize the many potential ways that people can experience fulfilling friendships, relationships, and sexuality. Make sure students know about different ways that abuse can show up in different kinds of relationships. Expand messages about safety and respect to include the needs as well as experiences of students with disabilities who may have some unique concerns. With respect to both consensual and non-consensual interactions, include information on sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, and contraception. Modify role play or story prompts to incorporate a variety of disabilities in different roles throughout scenarios. Support students with disabilities to navigate situations through self-advocacy and asking for help when needed. If content becomes overwhelming or triggering for some students, allow space for self-care.  People need to support each other to create the healthier spaces that are the goal of sex education.

A note on representation: Inclusive representation that shows and tells the story of disability is important in all aspects of life. In the realm of sexuality and relationships where people with disabilities are typically excluded, representation is even more critical to positive experiences. While books, television shows and movies are starting to openly explore sex for disabled people, many resources may be lacking in authenticity and give a mixed impression of disabled experiences. While disabled experiences can be complex, teachers should be mindful of ways that the media can reinforce tropes about disability in the context of sexuality and relationships. Try to select media that includes authentic representation of disability as well as media that was developed directly by disabled people. Many disabled creators and authors have developed videos, books or other resources that explore disabled sexuality as well as relationships. That said, a representation gap exists in the experience of disabled people in sexual/reproductive healthcare. Healthcare is a key part of actualizing sexuality education  safely, and many educators offer “talk to your trusted adult or your healthcare provider” as the automatic response to questions that feel more nuanced or less familiar, which often includes questions about disability. Unfortunately, access to trusted adults and healthcare providers for support with sexual/reproductive health can be uniquely difficult for people with disabilities. Some healthcare spaces have developed articles and videos for people with disabilities, so keeping resources available can be helpful.

All people need affection, love, acceptance and companionship. Disability does not negate a person’s sexuality, bodily autonomy and the right to positive relationships. While disability is common throughout the world, gaps in education harm the disability community, and a lack of support in the classroom can add to the challenge of accessing safe, healthy and fulfilling sexual experiences. Best practice guidance fosters supportive environments for all students with a wide variety of different kinds of needs. Access is just one step to inclusion for people with different identities, but without access, full inclusion is impossible.  Students with disabilities deserve access to education like students without disabilities, and all students deserve access to respectful relationships.

Ashira Greenberg (she/her/hers) graduated with her Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and received her CHES certification. Ashira is passionate about child, youth and family health with an interest in improving educational and healthcare experiences for all young people. Ashira is especially committed to advocacy and health promotion on behalf of youth with disabilities, chronic illness and complex health needs.