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5 Takeaways from Adweek’s Disability Summit
Adweek held its Disability Inclusion Summit yesterday and it was fantastic. The panel, comprised of industry rockstars with various disabilities and perspectives, came armed with vital insights for the industry.
Far beyond the advertising world, AdWeek’s summit dove into systemic issues in the workplace across industries and how the media industry wholly impacts how society treats disabled people.
1. It all comes down to hiring disabled people
It’s fitting that Adweek held this summit a day ahead of Disability Employment Month — people with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed and often face discrimination in the hiring process.
The panel was lead by a personal hero of mine, Becky Curan Kekula, who shared that she sent out 1,000 resumes and went on over 100 job interviews before getting her first job in marketing.
She was discriminated against in every part of the job process; it’s an experience many of us can empathize with. I bet everyone reading this with a physical disability understands the pain and frustration of being more than qualified for a role and ableism standing in the way.
But as Walmart’s Russell Shaffer notes, realistic portrayal of disability in media comes down to much more than…