3 Key Ways to Boost Your Pleasure Business with a Disability Consultant
Photo courtesy, Karneshia Patton.
I started working for myself 10 years ago this past June as a Disability Awareness Consultant – having no real clue or idea what the fuck I was doing. In all that time, I have consulted for big companies, businesses, and small independent producers to help them make their businesses that much more accessible and inclusive.
In this brief article, I want to share with you 3 ways hiring a Disability Awareness Consultant is in fact a boon for your business. Let’s crack into it!
1. Disability Awareness Consultants make you aware of different perspectives:
I mean, it’s sort of right in my job title, but one of the things that I truly enjoy about being a Disability Awareness Consultant is that I get to bring a different perspective to projects that a non-disabled person might not understand or truly appreciate.
For example, I can bring perspectives around care, independence, and access into a workplace because I am disabled. Helping my clients connect to a part of disability they hadn’t considered and giving them a light bulb moment is extremely rewarding for me.
Also, being able to explore issues around accessibility in a digital space with clients, showing them that certain fonts, website layouts, etc., are in fact inaccessible, is really cool because it informs how they do their work moving forward.
Highlighting also some of the ableism inherent in the digital space is important too, because by showing them the ableism that disabled people encounter every day, the client can grow and learn how not to replicate that behavior themselves.
2. What’s in a word? Language is everything!
One of the biggest things I do for companies as a disability awareness consultant is help them reconsider the language they're using when talking about disability. So many clients I work with will quickly realize that they have not included disabled people in their digital copy whatsoever. Or, perhaps the language they are using has fallen out of favor with the disability community (so many people are using “special needs” or “handicapped” when really they should just be using disabled).
As a disability consultant, we can inform you why these words are important, and how by using the right verbiage, you will activate a whole new customer base. When we use the accepted language, we are showing disabled people that they matter – and as a business, you want to build that relationship with disabled people because they have disability dollars that can help your business grow.
3. Showing that you work with disabled people is true diversity.
Bringing in a Disability Awareness Consultant, in my opinion, is true diversity in the workplace. We all want to be part of “inclusion and diversity” initiatives, but I think that we have to put our money where our mouths are, paying disabled people to be a part of our teams and putting them in all communications or harnessing their skills by giving them positions that will utilize their disability knowledge, this is how you can showcase true diversity, I believe.
Now, these are not the only reasons you should hire or work with a Disability Awareness Consultant, but I hope these points provide a strong starting point for your business.
Thanks!
ag xx
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