10/16/25 - NDEAM stuff ... Two serious, one not so much

Hi there!

Here are three more articles related to National Disability Employment Awareness Month, (NDEAM), in the US. I've added a satire because it's been a while since I linked something from The Squeaky Wheel ...

Neil Barnfather on Why We Can’t Afford to Overlook Leaders with Disabilities

Sara Minkara, Curious Currents - October 14, 2025

"Around the world, students with disabilities are routinely pulled from math and science tracks and steered toward “safe” or “manageable” careers — regardless of their interests or talents ... When they do enter the workforce, many find that while corporations tout disability inclusion programs, these are often confined to entry-level roles ... We need to move beyond “inclusion for inclusion’s sake.” Instead, we should recognize people with disabilities as strategic assets — especially in leadership positions."

Here is a bit of a fresh take, with a powerful real-person example, of one of the classic arguments about hiring disabled people – that disabled people should be hired not as charity, or even inclusion, but because we are uniquely valuable assets in the workplace. That's still a valid argument. But frankly, I think it's more relevant in some jobs and professions than others. Specifically, it's usually a better argument in higher-level, higher-paying, "white collar" corporate careers than in entry-level, lower-wage, "blue collar jobs. It's also interesting that the person profiled here is not just qualified, but massively over-qualified for the jobs that were denied to him. The contrast is useful because it helps clarify how disability discrimination works against people who probably would be hired if not for their disabilities. But is this man's experience typical? And how far does the "good for business" argument really go in most cases of disabled people looking for work? It's a good argument! But I wonder if we make a mistake in relying on it too much, especially each October during NDEAM.

Hiring people with disabilities makes organizations stronger

Kendra Davenport, Fast Company - November 1, 2024

"The concept is simple: People with different backgrounds bring different, often complementary skill sets to an organization. These in turn help make organizations better suited to navigate a complex and dynamic world. This is why companies and organizations that invest in diverse workforces outperform their counterparts that do not."

Again, this is the standard self-interest/performance argument made to employers on hiring disabled people. And again, it's not wrong. But the way it's written about here in a publication like Fast Company further highlights how this appeal might have limited effect in workplaces that aren't usually thought of as "organizations," with hundreds of employees and that carefully measure the nuances of "performance" and "productivity." It may be a valid argument. But it all feels like it's written for an entirely different business and work culture – one that relatively few disabled job applicants even approach.

Powerful CEO Doesn’t Let Her Disability Stop Her From Denying Employees’ PTO Requests

Max Kerwien, The Squeaky Wheel - October 12, 2025

"'When I was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, it was a shock' Bamford tells us. 'I thought: ‘wow, is this really happening to me?’ I went to therapy. Then I went to Japan – then I went back into therapy because of some stuff that happened in Japan. Now, I finally feel at peace with my body and diagnosis. No longer will arthritis stop me from seeing my assistant’s PTO request to spend time with her sick aunt and smashing that ‘deny’ button.'"

I will resist the temptation to explain the joke. I will simply point out what is unfortunately not obvious to all of us who have disabilities – that we can be both disadvantaged by our disabilities and ableism, and hold power and privilege over others. I know this from personal experience as someone who has been far too late to recognize my own power and privilege. I hope I was never as cruel and oblivious as "Bamford" here. But I may have been a few times without realizing it.

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