>> Sean Marihugh:
My name is Sean Marihugh
and I work at Microsoft.
I’m an escalation engineer
on what's called the
Disability Answer Desk
which is a free
technical support service
for customers with disabilities.
>> Jean Hodgson:
I'm Jean Hodgson.
I work for PROVAIL.
We're a nonprofit organization
that advocates for
folks with disabilities.
We help them get into
the mainstream job market,
into mainstream jobs
working with Americans
in the fields of all
different types of work.
>> Sam Sepah:
I'm Sam Sepah.
I am an HR professional
and I have worked
for a variety of tech companies
over the last 10 years of my career.
And now I'm focusing on
recruitment for software engineers.
>> Susan Sears: I'm Susann Sears
and I work for the University of Illinois,
specifically with the Disability Resources
and Educational Services office.
>> Mike Forehand:
I'm Mike Forehand.
I work in the recruiting space
with a focus on
creating diversity outreach
primarily towards the
disabled community.
>> Tony Baylis:
My name is Tony Baylis.
I work at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
that's in Livermore, California.
It's one of 17 Department of Energy labs.
Our focus is on national security.
[music]
>> Sean Marihugh:
People with disabilities
are in general fairly underrepresented
in a lot of fields.
Computing’s definitely one
of the top drivers--- top fields there.
I think it's really critical
that we, that students,
feel encouraged and empowered
to pursue fields of computing
because I think they
can pave the way
to make everyone else's experience
with technology better.
>> Tony Baylis: How are we
supposed to solve societal problems
if we're not representing
society as a whole?
And in that regard,
you need to be inclusive
with the individuals that you're serving
and that's the entire population.
If you have 2 billion
people with disabilities,
how can you ignore that?
How can you ignore not inviting
them into the discussion?
>> Sam Sepah:
Candidates with disabilities
have a unique thought process
to bring to a company.
Our country is diverse so the
marketplace needs to attract
a lot of diverse people who will
use the products that we're selling
or the services we're providing.
If a country is diverse, your team
needs to be diverse as well
to parallel what our
country's demographics are.
>> Mike Forehand:
As team members
they're just as passionate
about making a contribution
and being a part of a broader team
as everyone else is,
the difference being that
they look at the world
and they have different
problem-solving and coping skills
that lead them to
different solutions.
>> Sean Marihugh:
I don't think it's the case
that someone with a disability knows
everything about everyone else's disability,
but I think they bring a
certain empathy to a company
so they'll understand people
have different experiences
and having interns and
employees with disabilities,
I think they can bring
that perspective.
>> Tony Baylis: I think having people
with disabilities in your culture
actually helps people
to better understand
about our cultural differences,
about our learning differences,
about how you can have
different perspectives.
>> Sam Sepah:
More sensitivity is needed
when you're talking about interviewing
these type of candidates.
You need to think about the support
that they're going to need
in the interview beforehand.
And have more of a streamlined process
that makes the candidates feel welcomed
right at the start of the interview
so that they feel welcomed
into the team.
They know what's going to
have to be happening
in the process
of the interview.
It empowers them
and really allows
for that magic to happen
in the interview process.
>> Jean Hodgson: We work currently
as a partner with Microsoft
on their autistic hiring program.
We help them recruit,
we help them obtain lots of individuals
that they might include
in their hiring pool.
We coach the folks that are
going to be interviewing them,
we coach the interviewees
in helping them through
some of the difficult areas
like phone screenings,
making a little bit of a
softer job interview process
so that you can get to the core
of the skills of the individual
and see if they are a great fit
for your employment.
>> Sam Sepah: One study
that really inspired me
that I read about was asking
customers in the marketplace
if they learned about a company
that hired people with disabilities.
What they found out was that customers
that found this out about companies
would be more willing to buy
their products and services
and we learned that it's because
customers have more respect
for a business that does that
not only because it's
the right thing to do
but because they're really
taking charge of that responsibility.
They're committed to diversity
and hiring a diverse workforce,
including people with disabilities.
>> Jean Hodgson: Anytime that inclusion
is part of a goal, everyone benefits.
And when there's technology
that is inclusive,
such as videos
that are captioned
or websites where it's more accessible
to someone with any type of difficulty,
then there’s a more
expansive audience,
there’s more expansive
ability for profiting.
>> Susann Sears: I think that
the investment in everybody's future
has to do with building and
designing things that are accessible
from the very beginning.
It's an investment for
all our futures,
not just the person,
individuals, with disabilities.
None of us know what's going
to happen to us individually.
In a matter of seconds,
your whole life can change
and you yourself may join
the disability community
and need these accommodations,
so it's not just about, you know,
hiring and recruiting people
but it's an investment
for all of us.
>> Tony Baylis:
I think we have a challenge,
but to include
people with disabilities
we have to start to work on
shedding biases in general,
these implicit and unconscious
biases across the board
and that’s even with
people with disabilities.
I think we'll have
a long road, unfortunately,
but I think it's a road
that we can work together.
I think we need organizations
and companies
to collaboratively
work on this effort.
>> Mike Forehand:
In an environment
where industry is based on
cross-cultural collaboration
and everything is
kind of team-oriented,
having a completely different
point of view is invaluable.
>> Sean Marihugh: When we're
bringing the perspectives of,
at least considering the different
perspectives that other people have,
I think we can make our products
way more inclusive,
make our culture,
make our workplace
just way more inclusive
and a better place to be.
>> Susann Sears: Truly,
attitudinal access is the most
important part of being inclusive.
It's not physical access.
It's attitudinal access.
So we have to impact culture
and I know that takes a while
and that can be challenging
but I think starting out small
and having one good success
is an incredible start and then
you build momentum from there.