They Don’t Ask for Inclusion. Grads Expect It.

They grew up with accommodations as normal. Now they’re teaching workplaces what disability inclusion really looks like.

Welcome to my new subscribers - there are over 250 people unlearning together!

I can see many of you have joined from Ebe Ganon’s brilliant disability inclusion community in higher education. (If you don’t already, I highly recommend subscribing to Ebe’s newsletter, Higher Hopes, and connecting with them on LinkedIn)

Today’s edition is a thank you to those working towards disability inclusion in education, particularly higher education. Like many of us working towards equity, inclusion and accessibility, I’m sure you focus on all the ways to make education more accessible and inclusive. I appreciate your efforts because I see the impact that graduates have on disability inclusion in the workplace.

A quick intro to Mostly Unlearning

Mostly Unlearning is where I share what I learn, and mostly, what I unlearn about disability, accessibility, gender and inclusion. Thank you for joining me on this journey of unlearning.

One of the core tenets of Mostly Unlearning is that our systems shouldn’t rely on individual bravery, but they often do. And when they do, it’s disabled people who carry the heaviest load.

The habit of inclusion is underpinned by learning and unlearning. Mostly unlearning.

At the end of every edition, I provide unlearning prompts. These questions are designed to prompt you to reflect on your habits and consider a more inclusive approach to today’s topic. It’s helped me, and I hope it helps you too.

Got a topic you want to unlearn? Send me a message or leave a comment.

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In this edition, I want to share the ripple effect of disability inclusion efforts in higher education and the almost effortless way some graduates put pressure on organisations to be more inclusive, generally, and disability-inclusive, specifically.

Your efforts are making businesses and organisations more inclusive of people with disabilities - thank you.

Grads assume inclusion

I recall speaking at an induction for new graduates, and their evident confusion about the need for a Pride Committee.

“Why do you need a Pride Committee? Or any of these employee resource groups?” someone confidently asked. We’d just finished presenting on our Employee Resource Groups and opened the floor for questions. “Who needs to be convinced to include us?”

They were genuinely confused that there would be discrimination at work.

Internally, I’m wondering if they’ve connected the dots between confronting conversations at family events and the leaders in big businesses. Workplaces are multigenerational spaces, not unlike those awkward family gatherings with generations ranging from Baby Boomers to Gen X, Millennials, and their Gen Y peers/cousins. The higher up you go, the more Baby Boomers you’ll find.

Outwardly, I say something like “it’s nice to have a community of people across the business, particularly for disability, people often acquire a disability in their working life”, followed by wowing them with a disability statistic or two.

What’s beautiful about these grads is their expectation of inclusion as the default.

They’ve been educated in systems that provide more accommodations more easily than ever before. They didn’t suffer through like Boomers did, or advocate for change like Gen X and Millennials. They’ve enjoyed the inclusion of those efforts at school, and they show up at work expecting the same.

But work life isn’t like education, and everyone has something to learn.

Adjustments are common and assumed

“This grad says I can’t call them”, splutters an executive.

“Why can’t I call them? They need to answer the phone so I can teach them what to do,” explains an exhausted leader.

We are talking about a grad, who has shared their cognitive disability and requested that written instructions, rather than verbal instructions, be provided. I’ve had similar discussions about cameras being off during one-on-one meetings, coming into the office, and requesting extensions for deliverables.

Executives, leaders and managers are irritated by expectations that land like an instruction, not a meek, half-hearted request or a permission-seeking ask. A straightforward request for their needs to be met. While I’ve never heard it explicitly expressed this way, I observe them to be somewhat irritated by the disability confidence of the younger generations.

I’ve experienced first-hand how disability confidence can be confronting between peers — and even more so when it pushes up against power.

It’s this shift in power that many in positions of power are not okay with. Boomers and some Gen X entered the workforce when you ‘suffered through’, other Gen X and Millennials have pushed for the normalisation of disability adjustments - sometimes at a personal cost. Many have spent time in their careers doing things someone else’s way, only to gain a position of power and then have that power shift. It’s the workplace equivalent of The Sandwich Generation - squeezed between the traditions they inherited and the inclusion expectations now rising beneath them.

Generational changes to work norms

The reality is that the grad can ask for instructions to be written, to keep their camera off, work from home, and for more time. What they will also learn is that the workplace is not fair, and it’s not graded like school. Workplaces are not a meritocracy; they can be a popularity contest, and opportunities go to people who others like working with. The quality of work often comes secondary to how someone works.

But that’s future learning. In this moment, the entrenched, multi-generational system of the organisation is being challenged by newer, youthful models of disability inclusion – and I love it.

The reality is systems are inclined to self-preservation, and it’s all entirely to be expected. It’s not lazy or ill-intentioned; it’s habitual, organisational norms, it’s efficient, it’s what’s worked up until now. The grads’ ask is pushing the system, and over time, these asks and expectations shift organisations.

In the 13 years since I acquired my disability, so much has changed – normalising workplace adjustments over time, plus the almost overnight shift to hybrid working during COVID - we are getting better and better and finding new, more inclusive ways to work together.

Each new graduate cohort is at the forefront of change in disability inclusion in business. They open up a whole lot more discussion about workplace adjustments and disability inclusion at work, as well as for customers.

In this way, higher education is shifting business norms.

A moment of learning, and unlearning.

To those working toward disability inclusion in education, particularly in higher education, thank you. Your work has sparked conversations and moments of learning and unlearning far beyond your classrooms.

Everyone is learning and unlearning something.

• A good leader or manager should be able to provide verbal and written instructions.

• In the last few years, the ability to generate a transcript from a meeting has enabled both verbal and written needs to be met with assistive technology.

• Graduates are learning the difference between school and work, the importance of being flexible, and understanding the norms of the system they are entering.

• There is an important role for employee resource groups (ERGs).

Please continue to advocate for student accommodations, maintaining a pipeline of educated and confident disabled leaders who join graduate programs.

Unlearning prompts

• Where might your impact ripple?

• What do grads teach us about culture?

• What can grads see that we can’t?

• How has your generation shaped your bias?