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>> Sean Marihugh:
My name is Sean Marihugh

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and I work at Microsoft.
I’m an escalation engineer

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on what's called the
Disability Answer Desk

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which is a free
technical support service

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for customers with disabilities.

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>> Jean Hodgson:
I'm Jean Hodgson.

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I work for PROVAIL.

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We're a nonprofit organization

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that advocates for
folks with disabilities.

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We help them get into
the mainstream job market,

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into mainstream jobs
working with Americans

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in the fields of all
different types of work.

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>> Sam Sepah:
I'm Sam Sepah.

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I am an HR professional
and I have worked

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for a variety of tech companies
over the last 10 years of my career.

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And now I'm focusing on
recruitment for software engineers.

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>> Susan Sears: I'm Susann Sears
and I work for the University of Illinois,

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specifically with the Disability Resources
and Educational Services office.

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>> Mike Forehand:
I'm Mike Forehand.

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I work in the recruiting space

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with a focus on
creating diversity outreach

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primarily towards the
disabled community.

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>> Tony Baylis:
My name is Tony Baylis.

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I work at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory

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that's in Livermore, California.

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It's one of 17 Department of Energy labs.

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Our focus is on national security.

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[music]

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>> Sean Marihugh:
People with disabilities

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are in general fairly underrepresented
in a lot of fields.

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Computing’s definitely one
of the top drivers--- top fields there.

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I think it's really critical
that we, that students,

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feel encouraged and empowered
to pursue fields of computing

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because I think they
can pave the way

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to make everyone else's experience
with technology better.

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>> Tony Baylis: How are we
supposed to solve societal problems

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if we're not representing
society as a whole?

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And in that regard,
you need to be inclusive

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with the individuals that you're serving
and that's the entire population.

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If you have 2 billion
people with disabilities,

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how can you ignore that?

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How can you ignore not inviting
them into the discussion?

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>> Sam Sepah:
Candidates with disabilities

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have a unique thought process
to bring to a company.

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Our country is diverse so the
marketplace needs to attract

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a lot of diverse people who will

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use the products that we're selling
or the services we're providing.

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If a country is diverse, your team
needs to be diverse as well

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to parallel what our
country's demographics are.

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>> Mike Forehand:
As team members

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they're just as passionate
about making a contribution

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and being a part of a broader team
as everyone else is,

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the difference being that
they look at the world

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and they have different
problem-solving and coping skills

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that lead them to
different solutions.

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>> Sean Marihugh:
I don't think it's the case

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that someone with a disability knows
everything about everyone else's disability,

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but I think they bring a
certain empathy to a company

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so they'll understand people
have different experiences

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and having interns and
employees with disabilities,

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I think they can bring
that perspective.

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>> Tony Baylis: I think having people
with disabilities in your culture

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actually helps people
to better understand

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about our cultural differences,
about our learning differences,

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about how you can have
different perspectives.

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>> Sam Sepah:
More sensitivity is needed

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when you're talking about interviewing
these type of candidates.

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You need to think about the support
that they're going to need

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in the interview beforehand.

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And have more of a streamlined process

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that makes the candidates feel welcomed
right at the start of the interview

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so that they feel welcomed
into the team.

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They know what's going to
have to be happening

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in the process
of the interview.

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It empowers them
and really allows

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for that magic to happen
in the interview process.

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>> Jean Hodgson: We work currently
as a partner with Microsoft

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on their autistic hiring program.

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We help them recruit,
we help them obtain lots of individuals

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that they might include
in their hiring pool.

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We coach the folks that are
going to be interviewing them,

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we coach the interviewees

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in helping them through
some of the difficult areas

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like phone screenings,

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making a little bit of a
softer job interview process

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so that you can get to the core
of the skills of the individual

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and see if they are a great fit
for your employment.

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>> Sam Sepah: One study
that really inspired me

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that I read about was asking
customers in the marketplace

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if they learned about a company
that hired people with disabilities.

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What they found out was that customers
that found this out about companies

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would be more willing to buy
their products and services

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and we learned that it's because
customers have more respect

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for a business that does that

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not only because it's
the right thing to do

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but because they're really
taking charge of that responsibility.

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They're committed to diversity
and hiring a diverse workforce,

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including people with disabilities.

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>> Jean Hodgson: Anytime that inclusion
is part of a goal, everyone benefits.

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And when there's technology
that is inclusive,

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such as videos
that are captioned

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or websites where it's more accessible
to someone with any type of difficulty,

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then there’s a more
expansive audience,

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there’s more expansive
ability for profiting.

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>> Susann Sears: I think that
the investment in everybody's future

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has to do with building and
designing things that are accessible

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from the very beginning.

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It's an investment for
all our futures,

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not just the person,
individuals, with disabilities.

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None of us know what's going
to happen to us individually.

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In a matter of seconds,
your whole life can change

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and you yourself may join
the disability community

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and need these accommodations,

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so it's not just about, you know,
hiring and recruiting people

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but it's an investment
for all of us.

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>> Tony Baylis:
I think we have a challenge,

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but to include
people with disabilities

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we have to start to work on
shedding biases in general,

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these implicit and unconscious
biases across the board

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and that’s even with
people with disabilities.

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I think we'll have
a long road, unfortunately,

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but I think it's a road
that we can work together.

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I think we need organizations
and companies

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to collaboratively
work on this effort.

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>> Mike Forehand:
In an environment

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where industry is based on
cross-cultural collaboration

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and everything is
kind of team-oriented,

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having a completely different
point of view is invaluable.

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>> Sean Marihugh: When we're
bringing the perspectives of,

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at least considering the different
perspectives that other people have,

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I think we can make our products
way more inclusive,

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make our culture,
make our workplace

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just way more inclusive
and a better place to be.

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>> Susann Sears: Truly,

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attitudinal access is the most
important part of being inclusive.

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It's not physical access.
It's attitudinal access.

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So we have to impact culture
and I know that takes a while

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and that can be challenging

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but I think starting out small
and having one good success

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is an incredible start and then
you build momentum from there.