In a blog post published this week, Adobe’s Elle Waters shared details on the San Jose-based company’s work to commemorate this year’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month initiatives.
“In acknowledgment this year, our Access at Adobe Employee Network is centering employee engagement activities around the internal NDEAM theme [of] ‘Unseen journeys, open conversations.’ This theme honors the stories and experiences of individuals with both visible and invisible disabilities who have found their sense of belonging in the workplace,” Waters wrote in the lede. “Additionally, it underscores the significance of ensuring that [persons with disabilities] have equitable opportunities to prepare for and excel, fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce also enhances innovation and creativity.”
Waters divides the post into two parts. In the first half, she recaps Adobe’s activities around its internal Adobe For All Days, which I reported on last month, that saw the adoption of new accessibility principles and the formation of an accessibility board. Waters also shares a transcript of the panel discussion with Tom Babb, Manish Agrawal, and Jen White-Johnson during which the trio talked “what imagination means to them, their creative process, features, and tech they use most often, what barriers they face and opportunities ahead.”
As to the accessibility principles, Adobe posted a video to YouTube.
The second half of Waters’ post is dedicated to what is described as ways to “increase inclusion.” Waters writes Adobe is cognizant of the fact that building more empathetic, inclusive work environments involves a “collective effort that involves everyone in the organization.” She cites data from The Return on Disability Report that found the disability market is seeing continued growth with an estimated 1.85 billion people worldwide. Waters added consumer insights experts are monitoring the trend and are forecasting the addition of another 3.4 billion customers.
“We are committed to removing barriers faced by [persons with disabilities] to make transformative change,” Waters said of Adobe’s commitment to furthering diversity and inclusion vis-a-vis disability.
Beyond the statistics, Waters shared five tips for what she called “integrating more inclusion” in the workplace. Adobe’s tips include soliciting feedback from the disability community, identifying and removing potential barriers, ensuring internal tools are accessible so as to promote creativity, being an advocate and an ally, and thinking of innovative ways to solve problems pertaining to accessibility.
In closing, Waters shares the whole philosophy behind working on accessibility and assistive technology, saying building more empathetic and inclusive products ultimately benefits everyone, regardless of their ability. Doing so, she added, creates a “better user experience while contributing to a more diverse and representative digital landscape.”
For the rest of October, Waters said Adobe is excited to “celebrating the uniqueness and brilliance” of the disability community, and will embrace this culture year-round by creating an environment which “fosters a sense of belonging while elevating diverse, underrepresented voices.”
Read the full article here
