Volunteer United Hosts Disability Awareness & Employment Panel

Ivy: Good morning, everyone! We are so excited to welcome you to this year’s Disability Awareness & Employment Panel and we’re glad you could make it!

My name is Ivy Cirillo and I’m the Marketing Associate for Sioux Empire United Way and the Staff Liaison for Volunteer United.

For the last three years, VU and SEUW have co-hosted events throughout the month of October in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

This year’s NDEAM theme is “Access to Good Jobs for All” because a disability-inclusive workforce is a strong workforce.

In today’s panel, we’re proud to feature three SEUW funded programs and two SEUW Board Members. We’ll discuss topics surrounding disability awareness, employment accommodations, accessible hiring practices, and more.

But first, I’d like to introduce our Volunteer Activities Co-Chairs, Brett Anderson and Madeline Snyder.

Brett: Well first and foremost, thank you guys all for coming out today. I know it may have been a little confusing, you guys can blame me for the parking and the directional stuff.

So this is a wonderful facility though so thank you Augustana for hosting us and for donors. I went here too long ago now, but this wasn’t here and so I’m a little jealous now that the students get to enjoy such a spade.

I’m Brett Anderson. I’m Co-Chair for the events committee for Volunteer United faction of the United Way. We host at least one activity each month to help engage the community with all our funded agencies and we also host things like this; panels that kind of get more education and awareness to the programs in our greater community and the people that support them.

So I was gong to introduce everyone individually, but I’m actually going to pass the microphone down and you can all introduce yourselves and give your own little blurb on who you are because no one knows you better than you do.

So I’ll start with you and then we’ll go around and then maybe we’ll hop right into the panel questions.

Julie A: First of all, I’m a mom and I have a son with Autism. Other than that, I’m at a season in my life, it’s my 28^th year teaching this year at Augustana University and I’m supposed to retire and I’m a bit mad, really quite a bit right now.

So one of the things I created at Augustana about 15 years ago is FRIENDSlink. FRIENDSlink is for anyone that’s graduated from high school We are all ages and it’s a program that was an organization where we hang out with adults with different abilities in the community and do all kinds of fun things. I have a staff of five Augie students, two directors. Other staff and students come to the events too and enjoy meeting other Augie students and parents. We’ve had over 1600 registrations and over 120 individuals with differing abilities at FRIENDSlink. And we always want more so if you know anyone that’d love to come and do some of these things, they can come have fun, they can sign up or take a look.

What is our Goal? Our goal is to build natural friendships between college students and community members of all abilities to form special friendships, long-lasting friendships.

Who’s involved? Everyone is welcome. People of all abilities and students of all majors.

Brett: Thank you, Julie. You know, the FRIENDSlink program has been around for a number of years now and I know people that have been involved in it’s been a great addition to Augustana campus as well as the students. Thank you for all the work that you do.

I’ll start here with Molly and I’ll let her introduce herself and kinda pass it down the line.

Molly: Hello everyone *laughter* I’m Molly O’Connor and I am the executive director of REACH Literacy an I’m also an accessibility advocate. And I wanted to give you a quick glimpse of why I came to this space and why I do the work that I do.

I do it because of my dad. He was my entry point into this work. He had multiple disabilities and growing up with him, I watched him navigate the world with disabilities and have to find workarounds in order to navigate the world. And often they’re workarounds right? And so I understood from a very young age that society expected people with disabilities to find workarounds in order to participate.

And then I became a designer. I grew up. I started making products for other people, visuals, information, things like that, and I started to become a leader in my field and understood that it was my responsibility to remove those barriers and make them as accessible as possible, and not the people with disabilities to do. Because it was not their jobs, right? It was mine. And so this understanding of disability was really a result of context and where we’re at within society. And so after getting into the field, my degree wasn’t in accessibility, I managed my way with resources, I’m self taught. The resources are out there if you’re willing to put in the work. I found my mentors from people with lived experience. People are willing to talk through it to understand it better and I started speaking publicly about it. I did a Ted Talk last year. I worked with companies, including my previous company to make their digital work more accessible. So that’s just a real quick behind-the-scenes that got me to this point. In January I started with REACH Literacy and I’ve been able to start implementing those things in our offices and I’d be remiss if I did not mention that the Sioux Empire United Way is a huge reason we are able to do the things that we do. They give us give us the funds to provide these programs that has led us to start implementing the accessibility that we needed.

Julie W: Thank you. I feel like we should sing “Hit me with your best shot” *laughter* Ok, Ok. So my name is Julie Waage and I work at a company called RAS which is Risk Administration Services. It’s a carrier for workers compensation insurance. I work as the VP of HR there. So we do, I do, all things HR and we have staff to help me with that. But anything from, you know, staffing to compensation to conflict management and employee relations. So I’ve been there for 15 years. I also serve on the Sioux Empire United Way board and also serve as the Chair of the HR Committee which is, you know, an option of the board and then I’m also on the board for Pathways to Inclusive and Equitable Workplaces. And Pathways is an organization that provides resources and best practices in the DEI space to workplaces. So that’s fairly new, but I’ve been on the board almost since it’s inception. Thank you for having us.

Anelis: Good morning, my name is Anelis Coscioni and I’m the director of the Toy Lending Library of South Dakota. We are a nonprofit organization and we create toy boxes for kids 0-5 that want to play. We use our toy boxes to create inclusion and talk about disabilities because the only thing you can do, and should do, as parents is tell them to think about it and ask them “how can we play together?” That’s another special thing about toy lending library is that we have about 50 volunteers that come through our organization every week that have some kind of developmental disability that’s part of the solution. And we just hired our first person that has special abilities and we’re happy to have him.

Vicki: Hello. Thank you for having us, what a great panel to be a part of. Very excited to be here. I too am a graduate of Augustana so it’s fun to be on campus, but like Brett I still get to have a good time with you. So it’s nice to be back and see all the buildings, the new buildings, and excited to be back on campus.  I’m Vicki Stewart, with Employment Disability Resources, the Executive Director, and we are a nonprofit and our mission is to provide education, awareness, and resources to promote successful employment and inclusion of people with disabilities. I’ve been in that position for eight years, but I’ve worked in the disability field for 32 years now. So I’m a strong advocate for people with disabilities really to be fully included in programs, employment, and all things included. I am married to a person who also uses a wheelchair. He has a spinal cord injury. I was born with my disability, so I’ve used a wheelchair all my life and I feel very strongly about advocating for myself. Thank you again.

JoDee: My name is JoDee Steen and I’m a third year Augie Access student. I’m from northern Iowa and I’m excited to be here today.

Jessica: I’ll take responsibility for the weird microphone. *laughter* I am Jessica Lamb and for the next 8 days, I am the Program Director for Augie Access with is the state building comprehensive transition and post-secondary program. It’s Homecoming at Augustana and there’s like 14 events going on on campus right now and apparently they’re all using the other microphones. So anyways, thank you for being here.

Brett: So that’s a little bit about all of our panelists and our moderators and so, we’re gonna hop in here now. I think JoDee and Jessica will have questions for all our panelists up here, dawning on their own experiences and some of the things they find in their own career that they’ve handled by the employments of people with differing abilities and I’ll let you take it from here.

I’ll work on that. I’ll try to help.

Jessica: So my first question will be for JoDee. I would like for you to share with the group, how you’ve benefited from the FRIENDSlink program and Augie Access.

JoDee: I’m getting the things that I have not been and haven’t done yet that I would have not gotten the experience if not for the Augie Access program on campus.

Anelis, Toy Lending Library has both volunteers and employees with disabilities. How do you promote their strengths in their organization?

Anelis: Good question, thank you. So what I think, and Vicki here is going to correct me if I say something wrong. *laughter* So I’m learning and listening to you and maybe making mistakes along the way. But having so many people with disabilities coming to the Toy Lending Library and being a place where everybody feels welcome, feels respected, and feels valued is what each one of us wants, right? If you a disability, or you don’t have a disability, there’s no difference. So why, why is it so hard? Why can’t we work towards having everybody feeling the same way? One of the things, I don’t know if you guys remember, it’s an old book now “Good to Great” from Jim Collins and he talks about having the right people on the bus. And that’s what I do at the Toy Library. Anytime somebody volunteers or have interest in the Toy Library I tell them “why don’t you try the different things you have and see what you like doing?” Because if you like what you do, it makes you want to come back, but also it gives you the chance for you to see and show me what are your skills. Each one of us, we have gifts. Each one of us in this room, everybody has gifts. And sometimes we don’t recognize the gifts that we have. We don’t know, we just think of a job, you know, this is the job that is available, but as somebody that can hire somebody or can have volunteers. It’s important for you to recognize if that person doesn’t know what are their gifts, so give them opportunity to show you or to learn themselves what are their gifts and then put them in that position. That’s all. Like how great of an organization to be or a place to be, if the people can use their gifts. They’re gonna love their job, they’ll want to do a great job, like I do. Like, I love my job and I could get to use my gifts and that should be given to everybody. Not given, it should be a right sometimes. Did I answer? *laughter*

Jessica: This next question is for Vicki. So, Vicki, Employment Disability Resources assists employers with finding employees with disabilities and ways to incorporate them successfully into their companies and work cultures. What misconceptions or biases do you see day to day regarding individuals with disabilities in the workplace?

Vicki: Would you mind holding it?

I’d say one thing that I realize that people think about restrictions and accommodations and kinda let that overshadow what gifts and abilities they do have. It’s easy for us to do, but like Anelis said everyone has gifts and abilities, we just need to give people the opportunity to use those skills and to learn what their interests are and what they’re good at. I also think there’s an impression that people with disabilities should just apply for entry level jobs and that is not the case. There’s a wide range of people with varied disabilities and they may have advanced degrees. There’s no reason they can’t be in managerial positions if they are developed like the rest of the staff, given the developmental opportunities to succeed in the workplace. I think that’s another misconception out there. And then I also think there’s a fear about providing reasonable accommodations. A lot of times a business might be hesitant to hire a person with disabilities because they think they’re going to have to invest a lot of extra money to have that person be successful. Not related, in decades. Most people with disabilities actually don’t even need a reasonable, and if they do, they’re typically $300 or less. So for a minimum cost, more people with disabilities know what accommodations they need and the most common accommodation that is requested is more flexible schedules and that goes across the board. People without disabilities and people with disabilities, we all appreciate the opportunity to help us work together.

JoDee: Thank you. Molly, REACH builds specialized programs for individuals in the workplace to meet literacy needs in our community. As an accessibility advocate, what actions do you take to make sure these programs are accessible to individuals with disabilities?

Molly: Thank you, that’s a great question. So our workplace literacy program, we have many programs at REACH Literacy and I should have told you what REACH Literacy is and what we do, so I just assumed and I apologize. Our mission is to empower folks in the Sioux Empire community with literacy education. And most of the folks that are we’re serving are English language learners and a lot of the places we meet these folks is through the workplace literacy program. And that is a specific relationship we have with different businesses in town, lots of large immigrant populations with lots of English language learners, and what we do is we go to that place of business and we meet with the learners there. And so in that way we write down those barriers so that we’re accessible for all folks in that they won’t have to figure out transportation, they’re already there, they don’t have to figure out childcare, they already had to figure that out for work, they’re being paid, so that would take away that financial burden too in that way. And so that isn’t in regard to disability though, so in regards to disability if they’re employed in that place, they have accommodations there and the possibility they’ve told their employer their accommodations at that place. And what we do is we work employer to make sure that we know about the folks coming in, that we are able to communicate with the folks before they get to us, because we want to make sure that they know, our learns know, when they come to us, that we will be able to accommodate their disabilities, any disability that they have that they need accommodations for. And so that really, I think, makes it a more welcoming space and makes people more apt to come to us because they know that they’re going to be met with accommodations and with resources and with, you know, we’ll do everything we can to help them through their journey, their literacy journey with us instead of saying “I don’t think they have this for me,” which I completely understand all that. So, we really work hard to take away those barriers and fear to show up to our classes. And you didn’t ask this about our new program, that you don’t really know about, but I have to plug it real quick because it is huge. We have got a grant that we are working on literacy tutoring for folks who speak English but are struggling with literacy or low literacy because of dyslexia or other disabilities. This is a huge thing for us because you have to take specialized training in order to offer these classes and we’ve never offered this service before and it will be fully up and running in November and so that is another way we’re working to accommodate folks with disabilities who need our services that we haven’t been able to reach in the past.  

Jessica: Julie, speaking from a Human Resources perspective, what steps does your organization take to ensure that your processes are inclusive and accessible to everyone from job postings, through hiring, and day to day practices?

Julie W: Thanks. Well, the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about this question is just, you know, our managers, whether it’s hiring or dealing with employee relations issues or managing performance, and I’ve gone through the front line, and and what we’ve done, consciously done a lot of training specifically around ADA which is the legal requirement made and I remember, this is going to date me, but the ADA back in the day was real specific and used to say, “Ok, here’s the list of disabilities.” Is migraine headaches on there? Is that one we have to accommodate? And then well, how many years ago was it to the point of all inclusions? Like, well it’s been 5 years, more than that. Maybe I would say 7-10 years ago, I went to the ADAAA which expanded the ADA to basically be many, many things. So at that point, you know, from an HR perspective, we took a step back and said “listen, we need, we’re not gonna look at those as parameters to be met, we’re going to train our managers on how to engage and interact with employees with an understanding, and you know, physical disabilities are you could see them right? Think of all the out of the DEI iceberg, you know, the things that you can stand on, and the things you can’t see and the other disabilities can be under the iceberg. Maybe, that’s somebody struggling with mental illness or even has some type of disability that isn’t diagnosed, or ADHD, or you know, some of these other things you can’t see that and sometimes employees aren’t willing to share that an employer, but I think that having managers learn to try and identify some of those things, not specifically that they have to identify or talk with that employee, you know, even if they don’t have something that’s on the list, what do you need to be able to do your job more effectively? How can I help you do that? And I think somebody said it used be kind of a thing for managers to ask. If you want us to know, you can tell us, but not if you don’t want us to know, but now training is about how you need to engage, you need to ask them what do you need to be able to do the job more effectively? And we often find that sometimes employees that are struggling, they just need an accommodation and it could be a flexible schedule. It could be, I, I recall this one employee who was having significant anxieties and she was working from home, so was not coming in, which was a benefit to her that was very helpful to her, but her and myself and manager talked several times to try to help her figure out how she could more effectively do her job and the flexibility was a piece, more breaks was a piece, and it was also the way the manager presented work to her. And she ended up, she’s no longer with us, but she ended up really, truly being one of our best employees and she was struggling majorly before we really engaged in that process and honestly could have said “look manager, we’ve been going down this path, she’s not performing her job, she’s not. She’s not getting work done, not effectively.” And we worked with her to figure out what she needed, turned it around, and I’ve used that example a lot and the manager learned a lot with that experience and I did too. So that’s, we do a lot of other things, but that was the thinking.

JoDee: Anelis, as an organization that encourages inclusive play and provides accessible employment, what have you learned from working with individuals with disabilities?

Anelis: Ok, what I think what I learned is that there are many things and like us they want the same things each one of us wants. And if you just take the time to help them figure out, what are their gifts, and as you said Julie, what are the things they need to work? One of the things you might not have thought is that they want their job and they’re going to work hard. And the training, the retraining you have to do is very little. That’s so impressive. Like I have people that have no disability and they have to be retrained over and over. *laughter* My employee with a disability, he got this. Like it took him a little bit of time for him to learn. He has his routine, but he does a job that I can, I don’t give to anybody else because I know his skills. He’s very detailed on his job and I don’t have any doubt that he’s working right now. So I don’t need to retrain, I don’t. So it’s just like giving that first, the first raining, taking the time to listen, ask questions. What’s good? What do you need? And make sure also that the person

feel as part of the team like anybody else so the main things you do for anybody else do the same way because. That's what it makes a good employee, a good team, a good environment. Being somewhere you want to work every day.

Jessica: Molly, as an accessibility advocate can you share what actions you have taken to make sure that your organization is both inclusive to your customers and to your employees?

Molly: Absolutely. So the thing I didn’t mention is that we also have a bookstore. I just, every time, I’ll just tell you a little bit more about us. So we have a donation based bookstore, so that’s where we’ve got our customer base. So when you ask that question, we’re talking about our bookstore patrons, our staff, our learners, our program staff, our volunteers, a laundry list, a large number of people.

I think one of the other things I want to point out is that we have a more space now that we've expanded and it used to be incredibly inaccessible, very narrow pathways. You know, I wasn’t there at that point. I visited as a patron, but I couldn’t tell you how wide they were. I'm sure they were not ADA compliant. They are much wider now. They are accessible and I’m very proud of that and I’m excited to share that. But the things that I have worked on since joining Reach are mostly in the digital accessibility space because that’s the space that I know best and they are also some of the easier things to.

And these are things that have happened in the 9 months since I started. And that is in our communication with folks digitally, We are making sure that we're including image descriptions  to describe the images. Which is what alt text does, but image descriptions paint a clearer picture. And so, that’s not a necessity, but I think it's important. So we include that in our social media. When we do stories on Facebook or Instagram, we're talking to our people.

We make sure that we have captions so that if somebody is watching without sound. Maybe the baby’s napping or they can’t hear, they can access it. Other things to consider with web you know, e-mail, social media, any images is contrast. If we are putting text on a background we're making sure that the color is accessible for people with low vision or blindness. Additionally, if you're putting text in images, make sure you’re putting it in the social post or in the email or the website because text in an image isn’t accessible. Screen readers can’t read that.

So we're trying to consider all the tools that people are using and testing our content and making sure they do so. Other things that we are making sure that we're doing is having inclusion in the imagery that we're sharing. I think nonprofits are better though because they’re, we’re showing the people we’re serving. I’m showing enrolled immigrant, but making sure that there’s diversity and and we’re not just showing the same color, body type, disability, age, everything, all of those things all the time so that you're not making people look just like yourself.

So that's something that we're considering and making sure we're implementing all the time in for all involved. And then lastly, this is a new one, our website, we have two.

They are not good. One you can shop on and the other one is for our nonprofit. That is the thing I want to tackle in 2025, starting the ball rolling, I’m announcing, but that’s not something you do overnight, even if you’re a web designer and I’m not. But when you hire one, make sure you work with somebody who values, understands, and implements accessible accessibility in your web in your website. So if you are hiring out, make sure that you are really talking accessibility from the beginning of the project, because building it in the beginning is much easier than to remedy it at the end. You should, if you’re trying to build in accessibility in. So, that is kind of the touch point for our customers, our learners, everybody involved with REACH. So those are some early steps and we have a lot of work, more work to do after that.

Ivy: As they’re passing the mic over, if you guys have any questions about digital accessibility or anything like that, as a Board Member of Pathways, we have presented with the Chamber an entire presentation on digital accessibility and things like that. So it is a free resource if you guys want it, I’m more than happy to share it and you can also reach out to the Pathways board as well.

JoDee: Vicki, what advice do you have for community leaders to reach, hire, and accommodate a more diverse workforce?

Vicki: I would say to consider the physical accessibility of your workplace. Is there accessible parking? If there are steps, is there a sign to direct people to towards the accessible entrance? Are your restrooms accessible? Are your workplaces accessible? So all of those things are good to consider. And I totally agree with Molly about digital accessibility. That’s huge because most applications are now done on a website. And they’re not accessible to everyone, they’re not. And I know, I often hear too that applications do get timed out if you don’t fill them out quickly enough. So for a learning disability, a cognitive disability, anything like that, it gets really frustrating when you’ve worked hard at an application and then you get kicked out, timed out. So that turns people off right there, where they don’t even get through the application process. So they’re probably not going to continue on to apply for a job in your workplace. I also think it’s super important to have somewhere on your website, with your application “For accommodations please contact” and a name, a number, and an email address because there are people that need help filling out the application, they need to see if they’re invited to some interview and they don’t know if your workplace is accessible, can they access the interview space? So all those things should have a name and number is super helpful for people applying for jobs. There are a lot of great agencies in our community that have tested job internships with disabilities and I encourage you to connect with them. Lifescape, DakotAbilities, there’s agencies, there’s rehabs, Augie Access, other collages, there’s a lot of resources to tap into and find. And when you tap into those organizations, they really help make a good match. They personally know the person and what skills include. I would also say contact Employment Disability Resources. We give disability inclusion partner sticker awards to businesses that employ at least one person with a disability and what we’ve found is that job seekers go onto our website and look at that list because they know at least somebody’s been hired there so it makes them a little bit more comfortable to know that they’re willing to hire them. Finally, we offer provider meetings. So all of our job providers in the community that work directly with job seekers, we have monthly meetings where we’ll either go to a business and get a tour and learn about their open positions or we’ll have a virtual meeting and connect way more there. We can learn what the positions are, what reasonable accommodations they’ve made for other employees they’ve hired, just to make that connection with the organization. We also do disability etiquette presentations because sometimes people don’t have experience communicating with people with disabilities and they fear it. So we can kind of knock down that barrier before someone even tries, it makes it easier.

Jessica: Julie, as a Board Member for both SEUW and Pathways to Inclusive Workplaces, what changes would you like to see the organizations in our community make to create positive and inclusive work cultures?

Julie W: This one I had to think about a little bit. You know, I think I’d like to see organizations to be more helpful and open minded about things. To Vicki’s point, there’s a fear in us sometimes, people are afraid when they see something that’s different than them because that’s normal, they’re afraid of what to say, they’re afraid of using the wrong words. And I use the wrong words all the time, I say I try to be mindful, but it’s hard, right? It is hard, but you do need to think about it more. So I think, you know, open mindedness. And if I take a step back and think about from a state of equity and inclusion and really push to that point, I think our world is a little bit hurt right now. I think that it is a hard time for DEI and you know, I have colleagues which are folks in the community with organizations that do absolutely outstanding work in this space and they are just doing wonderful things. And they are talking about what they’re doing, and I have other colleagues in this community where their organizations aren’t gonna to go there. Or they did go there and now they’re pulling back and they’re not gonna go there anymore. And I think that’s been real detrimental. The reality is, if everybody’s in the room and leaders you know this right, if you’re in a room and everybody’s just like you look what you get done. You might make decisions but there’s no, there’s no diversity of thought. In order, it is my opinion, that in order for a business to be successful you need to have diverse folks at the table. You may disagree, but the point is you can interact positively and I hope that the businesses can understand that and I think, you know, this is a hard question. But what we can change, and what I really want to see change, that’s a difficult question, but that’s what came to mind.

JoDee: These next few questions are for the group: What is a common challenge you see when it comes to the inclusion of individuals with disabilities, either in the workplace or society as a whole?

Brett: Anyone wanna take this one? If not, I’ll pick someone * laughter*

Anelis: I think it’s just like people are scared of doing something wrong and that’s what stops a lot of people from doing something inclusive, because they’re scared of doing something wrong. And the training that Vicki does, I think we got the training on disability etiquette at Toy Lending Library, and it was amazing. I’ve worked there, it’s 10 years old, and we’ve had volunteers with disabilities for many, many years. I tried to think, I have one of my volunteers, he’s blind and he used to be a financial advisor traveling around the world. And he got a lot of his clients by taking rides to work, isn’t that cool? But I used to want to take him to the door every time and he’s like “I got this” You know, “this isn’t my first time inside, I got this.” And one of the first things I learned, in class with Vicki too, and I’m glad she said this, is just ask the questions. Like what do you need? Do you need me to take you to the door? Do you need me to push your chair? Like what do you need me to do? I’m happy to do it. But don’t assume things. And, and try to put away the fear because nothing’s wrong. Like you just have to think, that’s it’s okay to feel weird, it’s ok to make a mistake and learn from it. So that’s my answer.

Vicki: I think too, just to focus in reality on some of our similarities instead of some of our differences is huge. I mean, we have a lot more in common than you think. Whether you have a disability or not, people with disabilities are the largest minority group in America. And as a group it’s pretty unique because any of you can join it at any time. You could get into a freak accident, so I think we really need to think about that and think we could be in that place ourselves.

Molly: Yeah, I want to build on to the feedback thing, being open to feedback. I have met many people on my journey, not necessarily without disability making decisions for people with disabilities and use things like the ADA as a checkbox as a thing to do. Did they talk to anybody with a disability? Did they have people come in and did they seek out, you know, more information? Other than the legalities so that they don’t get sued and it’s ok? Many times, no. And many times, they don’t want to hear any sort of feedback no matter how you position it. So I think one of the biggest things is to be open and for feedback to be taken seriously. And so, always, always, include people with disabilities when you’re making decisions about accessibility. If you don’t have one, if you don’t have the specific disability you’re designing for, making a decision for, or any type of decision for somebody else who is different from you, making sure that you’re including them.

Jessica: What is one small request or accommodation you’ve seen can make a huge difference for individuals with disabilities?

Julie W: So I don’t know if it was a huge difference for this individual but it did make a difference. I hired an individual who was a little person and that’s how he liked to be referred to. And he finally came into my office one day and Julie, you know, “the signup sheet for the company is on a counter like that and, I can’t reach it.” And I, it never dawned on me that we did a lot of sign ups at that time that way and he couldn’t get it, it wasn’t accessible to him, he couldn’t reach it and he didn’t want to ask somebody to do it. So we basically found a step stool that we put by there that he could roll around and use to step up and sign up. So it was a little thing, but I makes a difference and he wanted to do it himself. He didn’t want to have to ask for help.

JoDee: What are some suggestions we can all do in and out of our workplaces to be more accessible and inclusive?

Vicki: I would say immerse yourself with people with disabilities and get to know people with various disabilities. And again, that will show us how much we have in common despite our differences. And we have a lot of great organizations in our community, different ways to get involved, and get to meet people with disabilities and hear their stories. I think hearing personal stories makes a huge difference too. Helps you get to know people better, I think that’s huge. And ask people, again, ask people what they need. It doesn’t matter if they have a disability or not, we all need things. And I, I also think it’s super important to invite people to be a part of things. I often feel, as a person with a disability, that I take a lot because I need things, but it’s so important for us to be able to give back to our community. So as a person to be on your board, ask a person to participate in your events, make sure that they’re involved in your business.

Anelis: She’s too busy to be on your board, I’ve asked. *laughter*

Jessica: I’m not on the panel, but I wanted answer that question too. Just to say, I’m a parent of a child with an intellectual disability as well and just presume confidence. Even doing that will change your mindset. It really means a lot to them. So, that’s all the time, really the questions we have for our panel that way. So we would like to open up the panel for questions from the audience to ask the panel and invite Julie if you have questions for her to as well. So we can go ahead and move to that if there’s any questions the audience would like to ask.

Anelis: One of the things that I remembered I wanted to say is we just hired our first individual with differing abilities but people do this thing where they say “thank you for hiring this person” and I’m like “I’m not doing a favor to anybody.” This person does great work and I tell his parents “no, I’m not doing your son a favor.” This person did the work, his work is excellent. Whether he has disabilities or not, he would have this job because he’s good at it. So that’s another thing that I don’t know how we change people’s perceptions to confidence, because it’s a job well done and he deserves credit.

Ivy: Speaking to Anelis’s, sorry Madeline.

Madeline: It’s okay.

Ivy: Point quickly. You are a perfect example of what I, as a disabled and neurodivergent individual, would love more workplaces to speak to. Because the way that every time I’m in your building, office, whatever, location, you speak so highly of your employees. And as me, an autistic and disabled individual, if coworkers, board members, employees, managers, or superiors speak about me the way that you speak about your employees that would mean the world. So, also, just think about your own workplaces. Can you speak about individuals the way that Anelis does because you might be able to tell people outside of the room how great they are and how great they’re doing, I know you also say it in front of them, individuals like myself don’t get that. We get to hear that we are difficult for asking for accommodations or every time we try to be included or just have our needs heard, let alone met. So even just speaking about your employees or volunteers the way that Anelis does will make a difference in their lives and everyone around yours.

Brett: And I want to say on that actually, if I can. So Anelis’ employee that she’s speaking about, his mother works at the daycare that I take my son to and so he came on as kind of an intern, I don’t remember what, a part time worker for a while. And we were able to hire him, I’m on the board for Toy Lending Library, and we were able to hire him about a month ago. And she saw me at drop off and she was in tears, she was so happy about his first job, right? And he, to her point, wants this job enjoys it and it’s perfect for the skills and talents that he has. So Anelis, would you speak a little bit to what he does for you and some of the things that he brings to your team. You know, what are the special talents that he brings to your organization.

Anelis: So this individual is autistic and it’s pretty cool. So when he first got there he was very shy and for the first week he would, you know, head down, like reclusive and overtime, like now, when he gets into the office he’s like this *dancing* *laughter* That melts my heart because then you know he feels safe, he feels respected, he feels part of the team, but he is very detailed on his work. For example, with our toy boxes they have labels on four sides of the boxes and one time there was one number that was different on one of the sides. And I am very, very detailed on my job and I don’t believe I would have caught that. So that’s the kind of thing that he can see that not everybody else can see. And that’s invaluable, for example he, not many people can close my boxes, because that’s the last section before those toyboxes get into the hands of little kids. And so, not everybody can see those things and catch those things like he does. And so that’s why he deserves his job, like he does a good job.

Brett: No, that’s very helpful. I wanted to make sure that you guys know that the talents he has, not many people do that, and that makes what might be seen as a disability to be a superpower, right? So I wanted to make sure that was at least addressed. Are there any other questions that we may have missed before we wrap up here. For the panelists or Julie about FRIENDSlink or?

Madeline: Yeah, I have a quick one and I’ll talk loud. So what have you guys noticed just overall shifted generationally regarding like self-identification or feeling comfortable saying like “I have a disability” or “I need accommodations?” What have you noticed generationally, any shifts and for those of us that are in the workforce in a managerial position, how do you feel like we can ask. And it kind of goes to your point, like what accommodations do you need? Or how are you doing? How would you empower managers to realize it’s okay as long as we ask the question in a person-centered and person-first way, like what can we do for you? Kind of a two fold question, cause I assume there’s been a little bit more of a shift regarding the younger generations feeling comfortable identifying but I guess I don’t know. That was just my assumption.

Vicki: I think you’re right. I also think Covid had a positive impact in the workplace because more mental health issues have come up. I feel like there’s less stigma maybe involved, people are a little more open to talking about anxiety, depression, those types of things, so I think that’s definitely improved and I think there’s becoming a greater awareness of those hidden disabilities like we’ve said, you know, if we don’t see it, we don’t know. Unless it’s a welcoming culture, people are probably not going to disclose and that’s a detriment to the employee as well as your workplace. Because if they’re not comfortable to disclose and asking for an accommodation they’re not going to stay with you. And we all know how important it is to keep our employees and have them at work long term. What was the second question?

Madeline: I think I confused myself, I think. Oh, how would you give us advice on how to approach a conversation with individuals who we suspect might be in need of some type of accommodation, but they haven’t spoken up about it and you don’t wanna, you know, immediately turn to HR or legal and say how do I word this? So I’m appropriate, how can I just do it person to person say “hey is everything ok?” or “What can we do to help you with your job, help you do better?

Julie W: So first of all, the one thing you shouldn’t do is try to diagnose yourself. I’ve had managers come to me and said “I think this person is bipolar or has ADHD or whatever, I’m sure of it.” No, definitely no, not sure of that. Here’s where you have to be really careful, because I think human nature is that we can, we think we know what it is sometimes, and we don’t. So the best advice I can give and I tell my managers is to come to HR, invite them to role play with you. We’ve done it before. But if you don’t want to do that or you’re uncomfortable going to your HR team, you know, I think it is about just having that person to person conversation helping them feel like you’re a partner and not their boss. We could really, if managers could really think about it that way “we’re partners and we need to get this work done, so what do you need from me? How can I help you? Or just, you know, I’ve noticed that it fills like you’re a little bit stressed, what’s going on? And just let them talk, like just, silence. Let the silence do the heavy lifting and let them, just let them talk. And, and again the culture has a lot to do with it. If you have a culture where there’s a fear or command control culture, you could probably talk till you’re red in the face and it might not help. Is that helpful at all?

Madeline: Yeah.

Julie W: Yeah, but use your resources even HR departments  I laugh because I’ve been in employment a lot of years. But make sure you use SHRM too because that’s what they’re there for.

Attendee #1: In my past experience, I think many employees can almost have this, they think their manager is perfect, right? So my past experience is being vulnerable and explaining to them like “I’m not perfect.” In my previous employer, I was very open and honest about my hidden disability, right. I go to counseling, I am on medications to support my mental health and I have multiple instances of sharing that with my employees and them realizing oh, it is okay, like if my leader or my boss or a support person at work can admit and own that they have, they need help for whatever reason they’ll realize it’s okay seek, you know, whatever help they need to. So just owning it and being vulnerable with it benefits them.

Ivy: I think both of those are super accurate. Also speaking from experience, culture definitely has a big part of it because disclosing can be scary. I’ve definitely been discriminated against by disclosing at employers. It’s illegal, but it still happens. And so, also just by trying to, I don’t want to say accommodate everyone, but make everything accessible, not putting the pressure on the induvial to always be the one disclosing and asking for accommodations. If you are already doing those things to be more accessible, they’ll see it, they’ll appreciate the culture and they’ll know it’s a safe space to speak to. But they’ll also know there’s a better chance of being heard and accommodated because you’re already taking the effort to be inclusive.

Attendee #2: Now, and I’ll just share as a leader too, and I’ll go along with I think lots of mistakes. I’ve led the DEI Committee for United Way since it’s inception and let me tell you, I’ve had all kinds of learnings and I just ask people to like you said be open and vulnerable, right? I might not say this right, but my heart is in the right place so help me help you. Help me help you. Help me learn, help me be in that space like Vicki said. How do I engage in learning about different things? So, I think as leaders that’s just a great, great thing about being vulnerable and telling them you may not use the right words, but I’m going to try. I’m going to learn.

Attendee #3: Julie, or sorry, Vicki, from all of your, as you’ve been giving out some of your awards to different businesses are you finding that there’s an industry in the Sioux Empire area that you haven’t been giving out to as much or that there’s an opportunity to bring them into the fold a little bit more? Or one that you’ve noticed you’ve been acknowledging quite often?

Vicki: I cannot because we have a lot of entry level divisions, which could be good or bad. But really we kind of have quite the gambit of businesses that we recognize, but it’s amazing the difference in, you know, how they receive our award. For example, The First National Bank in Sioux Falls they had their whole staff at the presentation, their CEO involved, they had their employee with a disability speak. I mean other than banking, they were so proud of what they had done and they that award for their business, and I mean, it’s not that tough. We did it, they said “we weren’t trying to do it. It’s just what we do.” And I’m like “well not a lot of businesses operate that way” so that was a really good example. And the CEO told a great story about an employee and he also has autism. He was working on a project and the CEO came in one morning to visit with him and he kept looking at his watch and the CEO asked “do you have somewhere you need to go?” And he goes, “No, I’ve got a project that needs to be done. *laughter*

Brett: Anyone else here have a question before we wrap it up here? Good luck. There’s 10 minutes left, so we’ll take one more question if you got it.

Thank you so much for sharing, guys, that’s that’s great. And thank you to the panel, give a round of applause for our panel who did not have to be here. We appreciate you guys a lot volunteering and telling us your experiences and the things that you learned. I know for me, you know, one common theme about all this is it’s not necessarily about the legality of things, it’s not about the ADA. It’s the people, it’s meeting people where they’re at and encouraging them to be themselves, right? And so that was kind of a topic theme for all the stories we could share. It’s not about trying to cater to, it’s to accommodate as well and they can get to know them on their own personal level. So thank you so much for all of your insights. Thank you all for coming. And if you didn’t get lunch, there’s still some in the back. And I encourage you to fill out the last couple questions on our feedback sheet here. This just helps us to plan future event panels and to know what you guys are looking for, what you guys have taken away, and what better experience we can create for all of you. So again, thank you all for coming out.