Abstract
As far as I am aware, scientists have never tried to quantify how much effort it takes a person who is blind to prepare a visually complex PowerPoint presentation to use during a lecture to a room full of university-level engineering students, nor have they measured such an expenditure of effort against what it takes for a sighted professional to prepare the same slide deck. Yet, that famous adage rings in my ears every time I put on my game face and have a staring contest with my computer screen, which I cannot see, “You have to work twice as hard to do the same job a sighted colleague can do.”
Those of us who are blind supposedly have to work twice as hard for the same amount of output, recognition, pay equity, or job performance in comparison to our sighted colleagues. When we hear these sentiments, it sets up the expectation that the job will be hard, not work out, and it sets us apart as having to do the “blind in the workplace” dance completely alone with no support from employers or colleagues. What if that scenario was not the case? Is finding an ally in our employer really a rarity? Yes, the numbers speak volumes: Blind people are underemployed—the unemployment statistics for people who are blind are shocking and disheartening. In contrast, imagine a scenario in which employers courted blind people and set us up for success by providing us a welcoming, accessible workplace where we felt supported. It would not require shutting sighted employees out by putting only braille instructions on the coffee machine or handing out only brailled agendas for a meeting. Blind and sighted can coexist harmoniously, and both employees and employers need to be part of that equation.
Blind job seekers are told, “Work twice as hard. Be twice as good.” The same ideas are suggested to job candidates who belong to minority groups. In a time in which assistive technology, changing perceptions, and innovation are so readily available and diverse, it is time to retire the idea that certain segments of the workforce need to do twice as much. There are enough accessible technologies, tools, resources, and changing conceptualization of blindness to put this idea to bed and move into a time where blindness does not put the burden on blind people alone to succeed in the workplace. We just need to convince companies to value our input and invest in us as a talent pool rather than complacently waiting for us to work twice as hard to reach the same key performance indicators. How we engage leadership about enacting this doable proposition, then, becomes the question. What entices a CEO to make their company “blind-friendly”? And what does a harmonious workplace look like for a blind person?
Building a “blind-friendly” company
We live in a time where discrimination complaints are the common way to resolve reasonable accommodation concerns. Equity is a form of leadership. If we can motivate our employers to share in the understanding of the barriers blind people face in employment, they will become part of the team, not the opposition. Commitment to accessibility needs to sit in corner offices and executive suites. We need to see more chief technology, executive and information officers take leadership roles in defining what it means to provide a great work environment for blind employees. Whether it means employers excitedly adopting the coolest new tech gadget because it is accessible or firmly pushing back on a company selling a workplace solution because it is not an accessible product, these things matter and will help to build a positive workplace for blind and sighted alike. How much farther along would we be if inclusion and accessibility were the cornerstones of a company’s culture, not things blind people have to fight for alone?
Creating an accessible workplace
Imagine a workplace that is accessible. One in which braille is ubiquitous; devices talk; floor plans are tactile; the environment is free of clutter and well lit, with adjustable lighting; and the company is committed to thinking about the work and work environment in multisensory ways, including its interior design. Equity in the workforce means that the tools, resources, and technology I need to do my job and the tools by which I am measured in the performance of that job need to be accessible to me and everyone else on the team. It also means that my employer is committed to viewing me as a whole person who is talented and highly sought after in the job market, so I will be given a workplace where I thrive and feel fulfilled.
Like any other employee, my tastes and preferences matter. I am not just a problem to be solved, I am an asset that should be courted, fiercely. I am more than a set of legal problems and reasonable accommodations. When given the right tools to do my job, I am a valuable and talented asset, and I expect my employer to value me as such, at bare minimum. I say this as an employee but also as an employer.
I envision a workplace where employers feel excited and empowered to create a dynamic, transformative, innovative, and cutting-edge place of work for blind employees. Where the cooler talk includes discussion about new braille displays and debates on who is the best visual interpreter. Imagine walking into a conference room for a meeting where one person forgets to provide an accessible handout and the rest of the attendees chip in quickly and efficiently to ensure an alternative format is available by the start of the meeting. The mission statement of commitment to accessibility should not just be a page on a website—it should be a daily commitment that everyone in the company has a hand in upholding. Is that not the aim of company-wide training sessions on diversity and inclusion? What if the concepts taught at these sessions were diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility? (It should be noted that accessibility should be part of equity, but until that idea is widely accepted, it still needs its own pillar.)
Transforming hopes into reality
How do these ideas of the ideal workplace become reality? Self-confidence is one way blind people can convince employers to shift their thinking. If we enter the workplace as leaders of our own “blind experience,” believing we are worthy of perks and an incredible, accessible, and comfortable workplaces, employers will begin to share in that vision with us. I do not want to live in a world anymore where I must work twice as hard nor should I need to. If I can commit hours upon hours to making a bunch of animated slides look pretty for a sighted audience, surely the sighted folks can commit to wondering how to make my workplace a little more accessible by the choices they make. It is a “we” thing.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.