Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Stephanie W Cawthon Of The University of Texas at Austin On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have a Disability

An Interview With Eric Pines

Learn how to reach audiences who don’t already know you. It’s so much more interesting to have a mix of audiences that you communicate with — both those who are in the weeds with you and know the nitty gritty and those who can understand your big picture. Both audiences provide you feedback and connection in different ways.

As we all know, over the past several years there has been a great deal of discussion about inclusion and diversity in the workplace. One aspect of inclusion that is not discussed enough, is how businesses can be inclusive of people with disabilities. We know that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. What exactly does this look like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Are Disabled “.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie W. Cawthon.

Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD, is an internationally renowned author, researcher, and consultant who brings relatable insights and real-world skills to her mission that — when we tap the power of accessibility — we ensure disabled people can thrive and succeed. Dr. Cawthon’s groundbreaking research has been funded by over $50 million in federal and other grants. She is a Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, the founder of the National Disability Center for Student Success, and the author of Disability Is Human: The Vital Power of Accessibility in Everyday Life.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?

Thank you for having me!

My backstory has both personal and professional parts to it.

The personal:

I was born deaf, use hearing aids, and use sign language as well as spoken English. I was born in Canada in the early 70s before many protections for disabled people came into law. By about age four, I wasn’t talking much, spoke mostly vowels with few consonants, and was very withdrawn. I was sent to the special school for the handicapped (what it was named at the time) for speech training. At about age seven, my family moved to California where I was enrolled in a mainstream Catholic school. I mostly read lips and sat in the front of the classroom, trying to understand what the teacher was saying. This was all before the age of federal policies to support learning for disabled students, and so I coped as best I could with what I had!

I identify as disabled, although this is new to me as something that I am comfortable embracing. In addition to my congenital hearing loss, I have acquired several mental health and physical disabilities that have a significant impact on my ability to engage in important life activities. This includes three knee surgeries (thank you, volleyball!), a pending hip replacement (thank you, arthritis!), regular panic attacks in moving vehicles and airplanes, migraines that hit about 2–3 times a month, recurring vertigo, and post-COVID-19 effects on my lungs that appear unexpectedly during physical activities and Air Quality Alert days. In each of these, I am still building my support network and self-care strategies in moving towards full participation in life; this includes the medical community, my mental health and social networks, and my connection to community.

My professional journey has mostly been at The University of Texas at Austin where I am a professor in the College of Education. Most of my early research was on accessible assessment. My mid-career focused on the personal, family, and education factors that predict postsecondary outcomes for disabled people. I’m now exploring ideas related to the content of this book — disability, ableism, and accessibility. I regularly teach a course on the Culture of Disability that draws students from across the University. Beyond the classroom, I give workshops on these and related topics to professionals in education, healthcare, law, and more.

Large federal initiatives bring me in contact with a broad range of young people (and not-so-young people) from many walks of life. I was the Founding Director of the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes and have recently launched a new National Disability Center for Student Success. Both are important professional experiences that have challenged, fed, and brought me into places with many other disabled people. Central to these experiences is working with both disabled youth and disabled adults who seek full opportunity in education and the workplace. I value connection to the community, and I serve my field at the local, state, and national levels by sitting on advisory boards and participating in advocacy for disabled young people.

By many accounts, I have experienced a great deal of professional success. I have had opportunities to work with the top scholars in my field, teach thousands of students, and build projects that have a significant impact on how leaders in both education and government agencies think about investments to improve the lives of disabled people.

Yet imposter syndrome still looms large. For each of these accomplishments, I spend untold hours behind the scenes striving to make the cut, to be good enough, to do enough. When people learn about my imposter syndrome, they are often confused. What I have come to realize is that they do not understand how much the deaf and disabled experiences shape what it is like to operate both in the workplace and in my own skin.

When I tell the story of my journey, I often share what has been said to me along the way. Language truly does matter. There have been some very mixed messages of praise for my academic success and yet many ableist undercurrents that lead to a palpable level of doubt.

“She’s good in spite of her disabilities.” — the “Yes, but …” effect of praise that also cuts to the bone.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Three character traits that were most instrumental to my success:

• Being good at managing complex projects.
• Story telling on paper and in person.
• A focus on “good enough”, or “shipping beats perfection”

Here’s a story for each:

Managing complex projects:

The complexity of the projects has increased over time, but the fundamental components remain the same: Timeline, sequencing steps, communicating with collaborators, finishing tasks, getting feedback, and documenting processes are all essential components to quality project management. But I did not learn these skills in business school or through a project management certificate. Instead, I cut my teeth on project management in college as a stage manager for student theater productions. We were ambitious, staging shows that cost many tens of thousands of dollars with audiences that filled Memorial Auditorium, one of the largest indoor venues on the Stanford Campus. This job required top notch organizational and communication skills, keeping a cast and crew on task and implementing the vision of our show directors (did I mention these were all musicals?). Anything I did well after that in a workplace environment I can trace back to those days on the headset, in the dark, as the house lights fell and the cast took their places on stage: Light cue one, GO.

Scripting your story telling on paper and in person:

These may seem to be separate, but when you are in a room full of 30 undergraduates or 1,000 conference attendees, you need to stay grounded in story to convey key points effectively. One strategy I use is to write out a script for each of my main presentations. These days it is more of an outline, but one helpful initial audience is my American Sign Language interpreters. To best prepare for a presentation, ASL interpreters (they voice what I sign) need an idea of key points and where the presentation is going ahead of time. Of course I pivot often, answer questions, and get distracted. I also never have the script in front of me when I’m live in the room, so the script is there to get me started, but is not with me when I am finished. My point being: Write out your stories, either for yourself or for others, and the presentations will take on a whole new level of connection.

Focus on “good enough”:

I have never been a perfectionist in the sense that I cannot let go of a project because I need to make it that one more iteration perfect. I tend to have many projects happening at the same time and to survive that, simply cannot put 125% in one project because that will mean I have only, say 75% for another. To keep it all going, I aim for about 90%, except when stakes are extremely high. I have learned to lean into my “good enough” as being not just okay, but probably more than okay. It’s how I fight imposture syndrome. By allowing myself to let something go, and to move onto the next creative thing!

Can you share a story about one of your greatest work related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

One of my greatest work struggles was working on topics related to disability when people told me that no one cared about disability. In those early days around 2000, most of my work was on issues related fairness of deaf students taking standardized tests. People were distraught over these test programs, particularly for disabled students. My focus was on whether deaf students had the same opportunity to learn the test content as their hearing peers. If not, it’s hardly fair to compare their test scores or make decisions about grade promotion and the quality of teaching. I also spent a lot of time investigating what accommodations or changes to test practices deaf students received as teachers tried to make sure they had an equal shot at showing what they know. Taken together, this work formed the bulk of my first 10 years in the field.

So, while what I was doing was relevant to everyone in education (my broader field), the who — deaf children — was not a high incidence population. There just aren’t that many deaf children in our schools to “count”. Estimates vary, but at the time, less than 1% of students in special education had an official classification of deaf or hard of hearing.

This low incidence population demographics means that most people aren’t familiar with deaf people or the issues they face in education. When I first arrived at my faculty position, I received lots of advice on how to “make it” in research. The recommendations from my senior colleagues? Not so encouraging. Here’s the top three:

Pick something that has broader appeal.

People don’t really care about deaf students.

Try to find something that you can get funded.

And my bonus favorite: Don’t publish books.

Here’s the thing: In many ways, they were right. I had a much harder time getting my publications into ‘generalist” outlets that had high ranks and large readerships. I had so many rejections from those top journals and grant programs I could wallpaper my entire office with them. My colleagues in special education and deaf education cared a lot more about what I had to say and my research findings. We supported each other and made sure the teachers, parents and students who needed this information had access to it. But this meant we were not on those big stages, presenting keynotes at education conferences with thousands of people. Instead, we were in the small break out rooms that barely held 30 people, sharing what we knew and strategizing how to make sure what we did helped those who needed it most.

But the truth is: We were scaled down and kept out of sight (much like disabled people, perhaps not surprisingly). It’s hard to raise awareness, gain traction, and make an impact, particularly in the competitive world of research.

When I tell the story of this start to my career journey to early career researchers, they look at me slightly in horror. Mouths agape, they are both shocked by what people said to me and at my response.

“What did you DO?” Asked a particularly rattled new assistant professor.

“I tripled down.”

I’m pretty sure she wasn’t ready for that response. She was hoping for a more magical answer.

But, like, seriously, I tripled down. I did three times the amount of work than what was expected for a scholar at my rank. Three times the publications, the books, and — to the surprise of everyone — the funding. I was relentless.

With a flurry of productivity, I had this message in my head driving me forward:

I DARE YOU to turn me away.

As I next told that new assistant professor with some saltiness: “This is an effective strategy. I’m not saying it’s a smart strategy. Or even a particularly healthy one. But it WAS effective.”

I wanted there to be no question, no matter who else my file was compared to, no matter what comment there might be about journal rank or niche market. It turns out that people don’t quibble nearly as much over personal preferences when there is an avalanche of data that tells them otherwise.

I turned the numbers game into one that I could not lose.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I am super excited about two passion projects:

1. The first exciting project is my new book, Disability is Human: The Vital Power of Accessibility in Everyday Life, coming out this fall. It also comes with an Official Workbook, chock full of strategies for both individual reflection and groups seeking to build their own Action Plan for Accessibility.

That title is built from the ground up, from nearly three decades in the trenches working alongside people, breaking systemic barriers, and seeking opportunities for people with all kinds of disabilities.

Here’s why.

**About “Disability Is Human” **

Disability is a human experience and something nearly every human will experience at some point, either temporarily or permanently. But millions of disabled people will tell you they are not treated as human.

“Disability is Human” is not a catchphrase or a meme. It’s an orientation — a reminder to readers of our fundamental humanity.

Here’s what I know:

People want to make things more accessible.

They say, “just tell me what to do”.

But the strategies are not the starting point– we must back them up to the humanity of disability first.

In this book, I start with disability itself because, without that, accessibility efforts will fail. I then dig deeper into the many barriers disabled people face — especially negative attitudes about disability. Together, we name the ableism that is in our language, in our media, and in our workplaces.

People recognize and value accessibility. I seek to anchor us in an understanding of the humanity of disability experience so that accessibility is grounded in something real.

**About “The Vital Power of Accessibility”**

Vitality is also about humanity.

I’m thinking about where energy comes from, as a life force, as a human force. I’m thinking about “vital” not just as “essential” or “important,” but as a space for expansion, a space for thriving, a space for more than just existence.

Vital also comes from Zen, which taps the Eastern traditions of energy flow — energy that moves us forward, toward movement, into action.

And a little Chuck Norris energy too.

That’s how I think about accessibility — not as a means to an end, but as a means in and of itself that has action and movement. It is our attitudes, actions, and perspectives. It is a catalyst in terms of moving towards change. It is a spark.

It is an “aha” moment.

I can’t wait to see this “aha” moment become part of many people’s lives, in all walks of life!

1. The second is in my continued role as Executive Director of the National Disability Center for Student Success. Now entering its second year, the mission of this center is to build an actionable research foundation to support positive outcomes for disabled students in higher education. This includes students in 2-year colleges, technical training programs, and 4-year colleges across the US. My role as Executive Director is the culmination of decades of work, and I am very excited about what we can build for the future.

In the next four years, the National Disability Center for Student Success will create rigorous research measures, share its study findings, and provide actionable strategies to help build support capacity at U.S. colleges, universities, and training centers — to improve the inclusion of disabled students in higher education programs, boost their degree completion efforts, and increase their readiness for the workforce.

The National Disability Center’s research team — an innovative collaboration between UT Austin faculty members and disabled students, along with national partners — will study topics such as disability disclosure, instructor attitudes, and institutional factors. With this team, I am building upon my decades of research into how disabled students learn and thrive, as well as my experience developing innovative research models that use collaboration to achieve student-centered insights and findings.

We will fill gaps on topics such as:

• Disability disclosure to colleagues, supervisors, and organizations.
• Accessible environments, both online, hybrid, and in-person
• Readiness for the workforce

Importantly, this series of studies includes research to understand college instructors’ knowledge and mindset about accessibility and its relationship to how they teach, design courses, and address accommodations and inclusion with their students. This is directly applicable to managers in the workplace, how they train and onboard employees, and how they address accommodations and inclusion for their employees.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about inclusion. Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?

Disability is not always accepted as part of the overall promotion of diversity and inclusion. While this is shifting slightly, with an emphasis on “accessibility” instead of compliance, rarely do we see disability as an identity category squarely in the middle of diversity trainings an initiative. There are some exceptions — I have presented several times for organizations that emphasize disability as part of company culture. Yet there is also a great deal of variability in how much disability is positioned as part of diversity. In some cases, it is part of the line up in Employee Research Groups more broadly. Other times disability is seen as a separate category, and messages around diversity tend not to reach the larger audiences who need to hear it.

Here’s a story about some of the connections and disconnects in that experience. I live in a state where DEI initiatives, per se, are no longer allowed in my workplace. This is not unique to where I live, but it has played out at my home institution in very real ways over the last year. Our Disability Equity Council was dismantled, our websites are reviewed for diversity-oriented language, and I am regularly asked questions about how decisions are made related to personnel and admissions. While disability is not explicitly a category in many DEI initiatives, much of the progress made in inclusion of disabled people within the culture of our organization has been under the diversity umbrella, building on but separate from the legal compliance umbrella. So, when DEI was removed from how the institution frames its support of students and staff, it also impacted my life and work. It’s been a raw time for many of us.

When I am on a national stage, or even working with people in another state, I feel this experience in a different way. First, I get a lot of questions — what has it been like to be in a place where DEI has been removed from daily practice? I try to give concrete examples, but mostly I see a sea of puzzled faces. This is such a stark change in workplace culture, how can anyone really describe it?

There are, however, a few exceptions. The exceptions are from people who are going through similar experiences in their own workplaces. They nod, quietly. Nothing more is said.

I also feel that disability has the potential to activate the very shared humanity that we all have, no matter the context. Disability is a part of over 1 in 4 people’s lives at any given time. All of us will directly or indirectly (a family member or loved one) experience disability during our lifetime. Accessible homes, schools, workplaces, and communities serve to support everyone. It’s a mindset shift beyond any single initiative or policy mandate.

This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?

To me, it’s about aligning with mission and purpose. In my experience, most organizations want to make a difference, sell a product, or create a program that reaches a diverse audience. If that’s true, then the inside of the organization needs to reflect those goals and intention. People are diverse, so our workplace also needs to be. If the work culture is exclusionary, then people who feel the brunt of that will not stay. Inclusive practices help with retention and maintain organization mission.

The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what this looks like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Can you please share a few examples?

To me there is no *exact* definition of a reasonable accommodation. It depends on the person and the task. This grey area is both the advantage and challenge of the ADA guidelines. To me, it is about how a workplace creates policies, resources, and practices that allow disabled people the opportunity to do their jobs. In some cases, this is an official “accommodation”, in some cases, it is simply built into the practices and policies of the organization.

To answer the question more directly, here are a few examples of what might be considered a reasonable accommodation:

• Technology needed to access apps and computer software to conduct company business. This may include speech to text or screen reader software or special computer components.
• If the physical plant is large and someone needs to cover large distances, a motorized vehicle such as a golf cart or other smaller transportation device for someone with mobility challenges.
• Dedicated break room or decompression space. This could be a place for someone to reduce stimulation or rest as needed during breaks in the day.

Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? If you can, please share a few examples.

• Examine hiring processes for accessibility and flexibility. Check job descriptions to make sure they only include essential skills and not auxiliary skills. Write them with universal design in mind.
• Have flexible work scheduling policies so that medical appointments can be fit in during hospital hours. Be clear when meetings are expected so people can prioritize this time with each other, and then manage the rest of their independent time with any needed flexibility in mind.
• Hire and promote disabled leaders. Recognize that representation in management and people-facing positions makes a difference.
• Speaking of leaders — promote accessibility from the top. Create a space where accessibility is seen as part of the leadership’s priorities.

Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help promote disability inclusion? Can you share with us how the work culture was impacted as a result?

Over time, meeting leaders have learned to ask if accessibility is needed proactively, and to train up and dedicate time for administrative staff to put these into place. This has been a game changer so that I do not always have to bring up the issue each time, especially for public events.

My tips for accessibility became part of the slide carousel that greets people to our building, along with the photos of people at signature events and other announcements. It was weaved into the places where we can keep people thinking and aware of accessibility as they are moving about the space.

Anyone in a zoom meeting with me knows I am going to turn on the captions + recording the meeting so that we have a transcript and an archive. Sometimes folks even get there first and get things ready to roll.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started My Career”?

Here are 5 things I wish someone told me when I first started my career:

• Just because you weren’t what an org wasn’t initially looking for, doesn’t mean you won’t excel. When I got my current job, I wasn’t hired because they were looking for someone with my interests and skillsets, but part of a larger package for my (now ex) husband. I was an outlier, for sure, than what the rest of the organization was interested in. But in time, my own work and focus brought success, and now, what I do is spotlighted as an example of what is fantastic about our department. It took time, but your value can stand on its own.
• Learn how to reach audiences who don’t already know you. It’s so much more interesting to have a mix of audiences that you communicate with — both those who are in the weeds with you and know the nitty gritty and those who can understand your big picture. Both audiences provide you feedback and connection in different ways.
• Learn how budgets, spreadsheets and accounting work. You need to be able to both understand what is happening but also be ready to catch mistakes. Ask questions if something seems off. Often this has led to me finding some critical errors in excel formulas to the tune of 100s of thousands of dollars.
• Expect to evolve. It’s okay and in fact helpful to grow from the initial work to that which has an impact later in your career. Think of careers in phases and seasons with different ways of engaging with those core passions.
• You are an influencer. Even if you aren’t a manager or a director, you are always a person with influence. It’s not about status, its about presence. Channel your inner Beyonce!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke

This quote has been with me since my early 20s. I can’t even remember when I first learned of it. But the core of this — live the questions now — has brought me comfort when I have SO MANY QUESTIONS and face uncertainty about the future. It teaches us to stay present, to know that the answers will be there for us when we and they are ready. So many times, I have looked back and thought — ah — I wasn’t ready yet. And when I am, the courage, the opportunities, and the time to make a decision arrives as it needs to.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’m squarely behind the idea that #DisabilityIsHuman. While ableism itself is hard to spot, we can learn to recognize the humanity and dignity in each other.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-cawthon/

Instagram: @DrStephanieCawthon

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!