Disability Inclusivity with Dr. Feranmi Okanlami: Video Transcript

When you've met one person with a disability, you've met one person with a disability. If we attempt to be inclusive and equitable in providing access for all, it requires speaking to individuals and hearing what their needs are and meeting them there while recognizing that not one solution is going to work for all people.

Why inclusion matters is because if your organization is trying to have the biggest impact that it can have, any individual that does not see themselves in your organization, anyone that does not see that they feel valued by what your organization does, is something that will then be a detrimental impact to your organization.

And so whether you're an institution that claims it's a public serving institution to want to support students from all walks of life, whether you are a company trying to sell a product that wants to make sure that as many people buy your product as possible, this is something that the more individuals of diverse mindsets, diverse abilities, diverse thoughts, diverse perspectives, you can connect with, you can include, the better that will be for your organization.

Many individuals with disabilities because of the inaccessibility of our world, have then been forced to be innovative and creative and solve problems because things weren't often solved for them. Things were not already made accessible to them.

And so then when you have created innovative individuals as part of your team, the overall work that you can do will improve. And to then expand this beyond disability alone, when you have individuals with diverse mindsets on your team, you will have people that look at problems and find solutions that are different than you may have yourself.

And so while that is just part of attracting a diverse talent pool to your organization, as we've mentioned, you will also then attract diverse clients and diverse customers who will then see that the work that you do has them in it.

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