{"id":17449,"date":"2023-10-14T05:17:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T05:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/focus-on-the-ability-not-the-disability\/"},"modified":"2023-10-14T05:17:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T05:17:45","slug":"focus-on-the-ability-not-the-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=17449","title":{"rendered":"Focus On The Ability, Not The Disability"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When I met Ruth Rathblott in person, I was enraptured. She\u2019s sharp, witty, funny and unapologetic. Her book, Singlehandedly: Learning to Unhide and Embrace Connection has become an international bestseller. Her message: stop hiding your disability, and instead be bold, be proud and approach those who don\u2019t know how to approach you. Sometimes people don\u2019t know what to say, what to ask, and there are awkward pauses or odd questions. It takes understanding on both sides to break long-standing stigmas surrounding disability.<\/p>\n

Rathblott was born with a limb difference. In her TEDx Talk she shares how she hid her disability for over twenty years, describing it as \u201cexhausting and lonely.\u201d She was afraid that if someone found out they wouldn\u2019t be her friend. That she wouldn\u2019t be hired. That no one would want to date her. Being seen as normal would come to run her life. The longer she hid, the harder it was to stop hiding.<\/p>\n

All it took for her to stop hiding was one person. She met someone who taught her how to love her hand, how to touch it, how to love the part of herself that she deemed unlovable for so long. And little by little, she let others in. \u201cI connected with a group of people like me who had limb differences and it was super powerful to know\u2013 I wasn\u2019t alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

I reached out to Ruth again recently to ask her why disability is often left out of diversity initiatives, how leaders can work to address this and how returning to the office is going to affect those with both visible and invisible disabilities. Here\u2019s what she shared.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere was a silver lining with the pandemic, we made things more accessible and we opened up opportunities for people with disabilities. We know, and it was proven that people can work remotely, and we tapped into a much larger talent pool, because we weren\u2019t dependent on physical location. For some, there is now a forced return to work and they are fearful it will close doors again.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared a story of a woman hired during the pandemic who hadn\u2019t told her employer that she was immobile. The woman never mentioned her disability because she didn\u2019t have to, and because she didn\u2019t need to travel. Now she was living in fear of the day she was asked to come into the office, that her team would think she was \u201cless than\u201d or \u201chigh maintenance\u201d because of the accommodations that would need to be made for her.<\/p>\n

Rathblott\u2019s advice to this woman was to get ahead of it and speak to human resources about a resolution, sharing her story and how much she truly enjoyed her job. If it\u2019s a smaller company she advised going straight to the owner and having that discussion. \u201cLeaders need to take the first step by being vulnerable and sharing. When employees feel safe, these conversations happen more organically.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to the DEI conversation, those with disabilities, both visible and hidden, are often left out of the conversation. Rathblott says there\u2019s a reason why: people are afraid to talk about disability. But the reality is disability can affect us all at some point of our lives. You may be born with one, acquire one later in life, or be a caregiver to someone with a disability.<\/p>\n

Even leaders with disabilities don’t talk about it. One of the most famous examples is President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was wheelchair-bound and the general public didn\u2019t know. He gave addresses by radio and was photographed from a distance. Today, only 20% of C-suite leaders with a disability feel comfortable admitting their disability to a colleague.*<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a taboo topic for a long time. How do we unsay it? How do we own the word disability?\u201d asked Rathblott. \u201cI often hear, \u2018I don\u2019t like the work disability because of the \u2018dis.\u2019 My response, \u2018Do you like the word distinguished? You\u2019re not looking to take \u2018dis\u2019 out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared that, \u201c90% of companies claim to prioritize diversity but only 4% consider disability in those initiatives.\u201d What does it take to get measured? She said you need to put resources behind it. \u201cFor those with disabilities, it\u2019s one of the hardest ERGs (employee resource groups) to start. There are those who aren\u2019t ready to associate with it, and those who are afraid to be allies because they think others will think they have a disability. Leadership needs to own this piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

One in four American adults live with a disability, making it the largest minority group. It cuts across all lines. It doesn\u2019t discriminate. As a consultant, she advises companies on pursuing the path to inclusion, but says first they need to do the \u201cunderstanding\u201d part, and that takes a concerted effort to do the research. She shared Emily Ladau\u2019s book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally<\/em> as a resource and 101 guide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times when I think maybe I should go and do something else, is anyone even listening? And then I get an email from someone who is hiding part of themselves. \u2018Thank you for writing about this.\u2019 All of us are hiding something. We need to release that fear of rejection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rathblott is proud of creating this movement and shares that when we unhide we get the freedom to be ourselves. \u201cPeople are in pain, whether it\u2019s a disability or another aspect of their life, a bad relationship, scars on their body\u2026if we can start to value difference and different experiences, that\u2019s what diversity is to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do we bring disability and all the pieces together so that we feel safe? It starts with leadership and it\u2019s a two-way conversation. Everyone wants to feel seen and heard, and feel like they belong and are accepted. When we hide parts of ourselves, we miss out. There is momentum in telling the truth.<\/p>\n

Learn more of Ruth Rathblott\u2019s story, you can find her book here.<\/p>\n

Additional resources: Global Disability Inclusion and Disability:IN<\/p>\n

*Source: The Valuable 500<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I met Ruth Rathblott in person, I was enraptured. She\u2019s sharp, witty, funny and unapologetic. Her book, Singlehandedly: Learning to Unhide and Embrace Connection has become an international bestseller. Her message: stop hiding your disability, and instead be bold, be proud and approach those who don\u2019t know how to approach you. Sometimes people don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\nFocus On The Ability, Not The Disability | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I met Ruth Rathblott in person, I was enraptured. She\u2019s sharp, witty, funny and unapologetic. 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