I hate that so much of workplace inclusion of those with disabilities are focused on upskilling or making disabled people 'more employable'.

Many of us are employable AF. It's workplaces that are inaccessible.

A thread on #disability and workplace accessibility...

Workplaces are inaccessible both in terms of physical accessibility, but also due to workplace culture.

Able-bodied people are struggling with burnout due to the climate of modern workplaces, where legally mandated things like sick leave & annual leave are treated as a luxury

Many workplaces demand specific hours or on-site work even when it's not needed for the job.

Then add on the fact that managers pile on roles onto a single person, making it hard for anybody to keep up. Able-bodied people see the impacts on their health.

But when disabled people struggle with these effects, their disability is blamed instead of the work culture.

We're gaslit into thinking we're the problem. That accommodating us in very basic ways is a huge burden.

That the insane work demands are fine, we're just weak

And when we can't handle it anymore (which happens to able-bodied people too), and you quit, many workplaces take away the lesson of "Don't hire disabled people" instead of "Wow, we should make our workplace more accessible"

This applies to a range of disabilities, from mental illness to chronic illness and physical disabilities.

We're treated like we have to 'learn' to be productive members of society. We don't. We need workplaces & work culture that don't exploit people.

Make accessibility the norm, not the exception. Because for many people with disabilities, it's ableism and inaccessibility that keeps us out of the workplace. Not our ability to work or be productive and valuable additions to the workplace.