Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility
DEIA
Disability is a natural part of the human experience and a dimension of diversity that crosses all communities. People with disabilities are a highly diverse group with lived experiences that overlap. Gender, race, class, sexuality, age and religion are all examples of an individual’s interlocking identities.
Identifying as both a person with a disability and another dimension of diversity can affect how someone thinks about their disability. It can also impact their ability to access resources, opportunities and support.
Employees should be able to express these interlocking identities confidently and ask for what they need to be successful at their jobs. It’s a best practice for organizations to consider Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) as interconnected strands rather than separate pieces.
Below are a few featured PEAT resources that highlight DEIA, as well as a continually updated list of our DEIA-related content.
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Podcast: Bringing Authentic Inclusion into Today’s Digital & Physical Workplaces
Zariah Cameron, Equity Centered UX strategist at Ally, shares how critical it is to embrace authentic inclusion in all aspects of work. She discusses how you can make your digital and physical workplaces more inclusive and more equitable by paying attention to the details such as inclusive alt text, mental health programs, and more. Zariah also shares how being a Black woman in UX design has motivated her to create pathways for others in the field. […]
Surveillance and Remote Work
Some employers report using surveillance tools because they fear that remote work lowers productivity. However, research consistently shows the opposite is true. The International Workplace Group found that 85% of businesses reported that offering remote options made their businesses more productive—with 67% estimating that it improved productivity by at least one-fifth.
Federal and State Efforts to Address Surveillance Issues
Concerns about workplace surveillance are rising across federal and state governments.
Key Takeaways for Employers
Employers should exercise strong caution when using automated surveillance tools. They should develop best practices that limit surveillance through intentional centralized governance procedures that prioritize inclusion for people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups. Aside from legal compliance concerns, automated workplace surveillance could result in harmful organizational cultures and other undesirable outcomes.
How Surveillance Tools Risk Discrimination
People with disabilities and chronic health conditions are less likely to be employed due to systemic barriers, including workplace discrimination. They are also particularly vulnerable to the harms of automated surveillance, which can exacerbate barriers. When it comes to automated decision-making, research shows that data science predictions are often completely wrong for outlier groups like people with disabilities.
Automated Surveillance Can Create Barriers for Workers with Disabilities
Employers are adopting new surveillance technologies to monitor and rank how employees move and behave on the job. However, this trend may create barriers for workers with disabilities and other underrepresented groups, undermining Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) goals. Surveillance technologies can result in negative workplace cultures and even cause legal issues for the employers who use them.
What are Surveillance Technologies?
In the workplace context, surveillance technologies are tools that monitor employees at work, including by automatically tracking employee productivity, attentiveness, movement, and other metrics. Employers might use this information to make decisions about task management, advancement, and even termination.
Podcast: How You Can Support Employees with Invisible Disabilities
Albert Kim, Accessibility Consultant, Trainer, and Founder of Accessibility Next Gen, discusses the challenges workers with invisible disabilities face and shares his own lived experience. He gives tips for employers who want to make sure their organizations are inviting and inclusive for people whether or not they wish to disclose their disability. […]
Podcast: NDEAM & LGBTQ+ History Month – A Conversation on Intersectional Identities at Work
Bill Curtis-Davidson, PEAT’s Co-director, and Chris Wood, Executive Director and Co-Founder of LGBT Tech and Chair of the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council share personal experiences and insights to mark National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) and LGBTQ+ History Month. Bill and Chris talk about the importance of digital equity, share tips for LGBTQ+ leaders in the workplace, and more. Warning: This episode briefly mentions threats of violence and suicide. […]
Podcast: Attract Top Talent with Inclusive Hiring Practices
Meryl Evans, accessibility expert and LinkedIn Top Voice in Disability Advocacy 2022, discusses the top small steps that hiring managers can take to impact inclusion in talent acquisition. Companies often miss opportunities to hire skilled workers because of barriers in the hiring process. Sharing her own experiences as a person who is deaf, Meryl offers tangible tips to create more inclusive hiring practices for everyone. […]
Podcast: A Personal Story of Long COVID & Disability Disclosure
Pam Bingham, Senior Program Manager for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Tech team at Intuit, shares her personal story of navigating long COVID symptoms at work. She also gives thoughtful tips on how HR leaders can support employees with disabilities from underrepresented groups and shares advice for anyone experiencing long COVID in the workplace. […]
Creating a Truly Inclusive Workplace: A Conversation Between Colleagues with Disabilities
Four colleagues at Wheelhouse Group, who lead the PIA & PEAT initiatives as prime contractors, come together to discuss their personal experiences as employees with disabilities. Based on their lived experiences as individuals with mental health disabilities, visual impairment and substance use disorder, they offer their advice on what employers and fellow team members can do to create a truly inclusive and stigma free workplace. […]
Check Out PEAT’s axe-con & CSUN Slides
The PEAT team presented at some exciting events during the month of March. If you attended and want a refresher or could not make it and would like to read what we shared, the slides are linked below. […]
Podcast: Neurodiversity & Intersectionality: A Disclosure Challenge
Wesley Faulkner, Head of Community at SingleStore, shares how being a person of color and having ADHD & dyslexia impacted disclosing his disability at work. He also reveals his vision for the inclusive workplace of the future. […]
Podcast: DEIA Driven by AI
Jeffrey Brown, Diversity and Inclusion Research Fellow at the Partnership on AI, discusses strategies for using AI-enabled recruiting technologies in ways that enhance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) priorities. […]
Ways to Boost Inclusion in Your Workplace
Inclusion Starts with You There are many ways that you can boost inclusion in your workplace. From ensuring that the technologies you use are accessible to participating in community initiatives, you can make an impact. Below are ideas and resources to help you create and maintain an inclusive work environment. Commit to Inclusion Boost diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives by actively seeking out and hiring people with disabilities. Read the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) guidance on building an inclusive workforce. Foster a culture [...]
Inclusive XR Brief
This brief overview is designed to help leadership understand the value of inclusive extended reality (XR) technologies in the workplace.
Equitable AI Hub & Spoke Model Infographic
An infographic that shows a conceptual hub-and-spoke model for implementing Equitable AI in your organization. At the center of the graphic is The Equitable AI Hub, which is surrounded by Advisors. Advisors include: the CEO, Board of Directors and Chief AI Ethics Officer. A concentric circle surrounding the Advisors outlines Champions. Champions are influential leaders who promote the Equitable AI Initiative across your organization. These typically include Digital Accessibility, DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility), ERGs (Employee Resource Groups), Procurement, Legal, L&D (Learning & Development) and HR (Human Resources). A concentric circle surrounding the Champions shows [...]
Podcast: How Remote Internships Can Bridge the Disability Employment Gap
Ahva Sadeghi and Paula Mora, founders of Symba, discuss how companies can increase their access to a diverse talent pool through remote internship and apprenticeship programs. […]
The Equitable AI Playbook
The Equitable AI Playbook is a blueprint that can help your organization foster inclusion as you procure, develop or implement artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in your workplace. Organizations are increasingly using AI to screen job candidates, streamline the application process, monitor employee actions, and provide employee training. However, AI technologies can often be unintentionally biased and produce unfair outcomes for different protected classes. This can increase the risk of bias and discrimination against job candidates and employees.
