This put up was co-authored by Lead Incapacity Inclusion Advisor Mary Fernandez and Accessibility Program Supervisor Monica Wegner.
After we share that we work on accessibility and incapacity inclusion at Cisco, individuals would possibly suppose, “That’s good, but it surely actually doesn’t have an effect on me”—however that’s the place they’re fallacious.
In contrast to different identities—reminiscent of race, coloration, faith, gender, sexual orientation, nationwide origin, age, and veteran standing—anybody can abruptly discover themselves disabled. The truth is, if we’re lucky to reside lengthy sufficient, every of us will ultimately develop some form of incapacity, whether or not it’s short-term (one thing as frequent as breaking a bone) or one thing extra everlasting.
This is the reason the accessibility and incapacity inclusion work we do as a part of Cisco’s Social Justice Actions is so vital. As a result of any of us could be—and almost all of us will be—disabled sooner or later in our lifetime.
As we commemorate the thirty third anniversary of the People with Disabilities Act, we mirror on the methods by which we’ve improved accessibility for our workers, companions, suppliers, and prospects, and acknowledge the trail we’ve but to journey.
Accessibility is the precept that everybody, no matter their skills, can entry and use the identical issues—whether or not that’s a bodily location, know-how, methods, or content material. Cisco’s Social Impression Workplace appears at accessibility and incapacity inclusion via every of those lenses, recognizing the various methods by which Cisco engages with people. This spans the recruiting and employment expertise, our services, and the way we work together with prospects, companions and suppliers.
“In contrast to different identities—reminiscent of race, coloration, faith, gender, sexual orientation, nationwide origin, age, and veteran standing—anybody can abruptly discover themselves disabled.”
Along with being material specialists in accessibility and incapacity inclusion and consultants to Cisco groups, we work on the Social Justice Motion 12 accessibility workstream which pertains to human rights in know-how options. Particularly, we’re answerable for assessing the state of accessibility at Cisco, proposing a method for enhancing accessibility all through the enterprise, and transferring that work ahead.
To see the place Cisco’s accessibility and incapacity inclusion gaps are, we performed interviews with greater than 100 individuals throughout each space of our enterprise, together with a number of focus teams with individuals who recognized as disabled or neurodivergent.
This analysis confirmed that there’s nonetheless an amazing alternative to make Cisco and all our merchandise actually accessible and inclusive–an effort that requires participation in any respect ranges of the corporate in addition to a mindset shift in how we conduct enterprise.
The enterprise crucial is obvious: more and more, our prospects are asking us about accessibility. We’ve got additionally seen some cases the place prospects—significantly authorities consumers, instructional establishments, and companies in regulated industries—have formalized necessities for accessibility. Know-how that doesn’t meet these requirements gained’t be thought of.
“Accessibility is the precept that everybody, no matter their skills, can entry and use the identical issues—whether or not that’s a bodily location, know-how, methods, or content material.”
As leaders of this work, one factor we’ve been happy to see is Cisco’s public dedication to specializing in the incapacity and neurodivergent communities and placing accessibility on the manager agenda via collaborating within the Useful 500, a world group of 500 firms working to finish incapacity exclusion. As part of our Useful 500 dedication, Cisco has pledged to take motion in 4 areas that assist our perception that equal entry to our merchandise and office is a basic human proper:
- We’ll design with human rights in thoughts
- We’ll improve financial alternatives for individuals with disabilities
- We’ll put money into coaching to assist the recruiting, hiring, retention, and promotion of workers with disabilities
- We’ll set up a everlasting, devoted accessibility infrastructure that’s each resourced and accountable
Cisco’s public dedication to doing this work and holding ourselves accountable for our progress is necessary to disabled individuals, however, actually, it’s necessary to all of us. Our function is to energy an inclusive future for all. This implies the know-how and companies we offer to our prospects, companions, suppliers, and workers ought to be accessible to all. And whereas we’re making progress, we nonetheless have work to do.
Be taught extra about Accessibility at Cisco, and browse the 2022 Function Report to learn the way we’re powering an inclusive future for all via our Social Justice Actions.
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