It can be difficult to understand the importance of accessibility and workplace adjustments if you’ve never used them.
This exercise will help your team members recognise the barriers that some people can face in the workplace.
It’ll also help them think about the difference workplace adjustments can make to remove barriers.
Removing barriers for people with disability makes the workplace more accessible for everyone.
If you’re together physically, you’ll need a place to meet.
If your team is working remotely, you’ll need a phone or video conferencing tool.
When you choose a tool, think if anyone in your team has access requirements and if they’ll be able to easily use it.
Set up your meeting at a time where you’ll get the best results.
This means think about the diverse needs of each of your team members.
Think of things like this:
This is a rough schedule of how you can run the session.
Always acknowledge the traditional owners before you start.
It shows your respect for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
Go around the room and have everyone confirm their pronouns or ask everyone to display them either in their screen name or written down on a piece of paper.
This helps support transgender and gender diverse people and instil empathy for diverse people in your teams’ minds.
Ask everyone to let you know if they have any access requirements to take part in this activity.
Remember, it’s up to them to share information about themselves to you or the group.
Explain to your team why accessibility is important.
A good way to start is to read out this statement from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission:
“Everyone should feel productive and valuable in the workplace. Workplaces are often not designed to be inclusive to people with disabilities, whether it be the layout of the building or the work hours required. This can sometimes prevent people from performing the requirements of their job.”
If possible, invite someone from the Enablers Network to speak to their lived experiences of disability and accessibility.
Ask your team to spend 15-minutes exploring their work environment.
Ask them to note down any accessibility barriers they see.
To help them know what they’re looking for, to your team:
Based on what they find, ask them to note how things could be made more accessible such as:
As a team, discuss:
For people working remotely, get them to discuss what steps or changes they could make so their workplace is more accessible.
If they’re working in their own home, they can think of how they’d make their home more accessible to people with different types of disability.
For people working together, discuss what changes the team or your organisation could make to the work environment so it’s more accessible.
You could make a list of suggestions to give to the team in your organisation that manages workspaces.
Also look at what government programs you can access to help with adjustments.
We consulted with staff networks to check the language in this tool is appropriate and respectful.
For this tool, we consulted with: