Work is where we spend most of our time and efforts. For those of us who work full time, that’s at least forty hours a week. Through our jobs, we earn a living, chart a career path, and often contribute to society; it’s also where we connect socially to a community of peers through our colleagues and team members. It’s only natural to want to feel safe, valued, and seen at work.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for many disabled people. A 2023 DEI report found that only 4.6 percent of employees reveal their disability status to their employers.1 According to a 2020 Accenture report, 76 percent of disabled employees and 80 percent of disabled leaders are not fully transparent about their disability at work, citing reasons like a lack of trust and a fear of prejudice or persecution. Additionally, 60 percent of disabled employees are more likely than non-disabled employees to feel excluded in the workplace.2
These statistics are temperature gauges for the level of psychological safety that disabled employees feel at work. In other words, four out of five disabled employees don’t feel comfortable enough to disclose their disability for fear of reprisal or discrimination, such as coworkers judging their capabilities or a manager writing a biased evaluation or passing them over for promotion. “People are not disclosing their disabilities because the risk of employment discrimination is so real, and they’re rightly afraid,” says disability rights lawyer Haben Girma. “This is particularly relevant for people with non-apparent disabilities.”3 Due to this stigma, many disabled employees feel like they can’t ask for the accommodations they need and deserve to do their job well; therefore, they underperform. They then worry about asking for assistance from a disadvantaged position and can’t explain to others why their performance is suffering and what they’d truly benefit from (accommodations), feeding a culture of secrecy and cycle of shame.
Because of the silence that surrounds this topic, there is, unsurprisingly, a perception gap between how employees feel in the workplace and how leaders think they are doing in terms of providing a healthy and supportive working environment. More than 80 percent of leaders believe that their employees feel safe talking about their disabilities or expressing work concerns, while only slightly more than 60 percent of employees agree.4 This gap in the data leads to ignorance and a lack of urgency when it comes to making change. When leaders don’t know what employees truly think, and the culture already promotes trepidation and silence, it is hard to recognize what needs to be done.
Luckily, this is not an impossible chicken-and-egg scenario. There’s a simple answer to escaping the cycle: from the start, organizations must build a disability-inclusive culture that includes trustworthy systems for reporting and advocacy. When employees feel supported at work and believe that their needs and voices matter, it will start a chain reaction that leads to more transparency and communication.
“The more we talk about disability, the more we create awareness and an open, inclusive work environment,” says Meg O’Connell, president of Global Disability Inclusion. “Studies show that if you feel supported and can bring your ‘whole self’ to work, you’re going to be more productive and engaged.”5
When employees can unlock their full potential, the company always benefits. We’ve learned that there is a strong business case for a disability-inclusive work culture: organizations that focused on disability engagement grew sales 2.9 times faster and profits 4.1 times faster than their counterparts that did not do so.6 Additionally, fostering a disability-inclusive culture doesn’t just benefit people who are already employed—it also helps to attract talented disabled candidates to the pool.
Disabled people have so much to offer the companies we work for. We have our own professional goals, unique talents, and skills honed from living with our disabilities that have made us more creative, compassionate, and determined. Yarelbys Túa is a disability and inclusion advocate and model who was diagnosed with cancer at age fourteen. After receiving treatment, she acquired a spinal cord injury, leaving her with a physical disability in her right leg. Regarding how her disability has pushed her to be more adaptive and creative, she says, “When we adapt our mind, we start to see opportunity where once was a problem. My disability shifted my mindset from complaints to solutions. I started spending more time and energy on ‘how can I make this work?’”7 If Túa can shift her mindset in her personal life, imagine what someone with those skills can bring to a work culture. To do our best work, we deserve to thrive in an environment where we feel free to express our authentic selves, knowing we won’t be judged, silenced, or ignored.
Now it is up to our employers to meet us in the middle to provide accommodations, accessibility, and inclusivity so that we can further develop our confidence and advance our careers.
Jessica Lopez, Diversability’s former social media manager, says about how working with us helped expand her career aspirations, “[At Diversability,] I was given the opportunity to grow in a way I would’ve never been able to anywhere else. I was given the mentorship to learn on-the-job, and that experience led me to build career goals that I never would’ve considered.”24 At the end of the day, having a disability-inclusive culture shows employees that they’re valued as people, that they can be open about who they are, and that their contributions will benefit the company.