Take Our ADA Corporate Challenge
Disability awareness, inclusion and accessibility have progressed since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed over thirty years ago. There is still work do be done to reduce the equity gap for people with disabilities in the workplace, in healthcare, for tech access and transportation for example, to ensure human rights, independence and personal fulfillment.
You’re invited to take United Spinal’s Corporate Challenge to deepen your disability awareness, particularly for wheelchairs users living with mobility disabilities, that will enrich your business objectives and commitment to equity. Your colleagues in Inclusion & Diversity, HR, R&D, UX, and advocacy should all take part and please share the Corporate Challenge and the assets provided.
Take the Corporate Challenge NOW – Review 6 questions and complete the response form so we can acknowledge your participation!
Congratulations to the following companies for completing the ADA Corporate Challenge:
AbbVie
Accessibility.com
Allsup
American Physical Therapy Association
Anchor Medical
Biogen
BraunAbility
Cheelcare
Chevron
The Coca-Cola Company
Cure Medical
Dominion Energy
Hodges Partnership
Invacare
ITS America
Latin America for All
Kakana
Microsoft
(2)
Mobility Support Solutions
National Seating & Mobility
NMEDA
(5)
Numotion
Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE)
Path Consultants
Pride Mobility / Quantum Rehab
Rollx Vans
Smith+Nephew
SPR
Stalwart COM LLC
Strowmatt Rehabilitation Services, Inc.
Sunrise Medical
Vantage Mobility
Waymo
Click on these challenge questions and complete the brief form so we can acknowledge your company’s commitment to accessibility and inclusion!
Is my workplace accessible?
The accessible work environment is one where the needs of people with disabilities are specifically considered. This can include: programs, services, products, technology and the built environment.
Join your corporate peers to go beyond ADA compliance, where accessible workplace design is a win for all, not just employees who navigate from a wheelchair. Making our world accessible empowers people with disabilities to become active members of their communities and valued employees, and to pursue goals big and small.
Newly Released by our opens in a new windowAccessibility Services Consulting: opens in a new windowRe-Opening your Business in a COVID World: Safeguarding Accessibility/ADA Compliance opens PDF file
For more info, contact info@unitedspinal.orgcreate new email and check out our Accessibility Services program for assistance in ensuring your facility is accessible to all with plan reviews, site inspections and architect/designer trainings.
Do my coworkers and I need disability etiquette training?
Sensitivity toward people with disabilities is not only in the spirit of the ADA, it makes good business sense. Practicing disability etiquette and awareness can advance your company’s overall thought leadership and further business objectives in HR and R&D for example. When supervisors and co-workers use disability etiquette, employees with disabilities feel more comfortable and work more productively. Practicing disability etiquette is an easy way to make people with disabilities feel welcome and helps employees more effectively interact with people with disabilities within the community.
- Access our popular Disability Etiquette educational booklet and share our PSAs
- Share our ‘Disability Etiquette Top Ten’opens PDF file
- For your marketing and external communications, and to enhance internal disability awareness, review United Spinal’s Disability Style Guide for referencing people with disabilities authored by opens PDF file the New Mobility magazine editorial team.
United Spinal offers customized in-person and online “disability etiquette” training sessions at a reasonable cost for your company, organization, or institution. For more info, contact info@unitedspinal.orgcreate new email.
Is my company actively recruiting people with disabilities?
United Spinal’s Pathways to Employment (PTE) program supports the pursuit of new job opportunities and a successful career for people with disabilities by providing the tools and support necessary to successfully overcome barriers to gainful employment.
- Tips For Employers On Accommodating Job Seekers with Disabilities
- Pathways to Employment Program
- Attend an upcoming Future of Work virtual session
- Gain outstanding insights for a previous Future of Work session focused on AI and Hiring
Our PTE program, having unique access to a large talent pool of people living with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), including wheelchair users, provides job opportunities and trained peer mentors, resources, and professional support to facilitate return to work, including information about benefits and the transition to employment. Let’s work together to advance your disability hiring outcomes!
Contact us to post employment opportunities for United Spinal members, and employment options best suited for wheelchair users, particularly virtual opportunities – aross@unitedspinal.orgcreate new email.
Does my company have a disability focused Employee Resource Group?
Whether your company is seeking to develop or enrich your current disability focused employee resource group (ERG), we have beneficial resources that can boost disability awareness and etiquette in your corporate culture, that extends in to communities where you live and work.
United Spinal has access to over 100,000 wheelchair users, 50+ chapters, 180+ support groups, and 100+ rehabs and hospital partners nationwide––including 10 distinguished Spinal Cord Injury Model System Centers that support innovative projects and research in the field of SCI. Through our extensive national programs and networks, we can assist with valuable insight on employee resources that focus on serving people with disabilities.
United Spinal Resources for your Abilities ERG:
- Connect with a local United Spinal chapter to invite them for a lunch and learn
- Distribute, post, and share with your ERG stakeholders and fellow team members our free disability focused publications
- Join United Spinal’s Free Membership to have every advantage for wellness and independence
- Use our virtual Resource Center to get personalized support with benefits and guidance on many issues impacting your colleagues living with disabilities including veteran expertise and caregivers
- Follow New Mobility Magazine, free with United Spinal membership, a premier lifestyle publication for wheelchair users
To learn more about our ERG resources and ways to engage with our community, contact Scott Lavery, Scott Lavery, scott.lavery@unitedspinal.orgcreate new email.
Are my company’s technology, products and services accessible to employees and customers with disabilities?
In 2020, United Spinal launched its Tech Access Initiative to ensure the consumer voice of the mobility disability community is included in product design and innovation. The program provides for a first of its kind Tech Access Group (TAG) of high-level testers and influencers living with quad and paraplegia. We consistently see the value of including the mobility disability community (wheelchair users) in innovation forums to avoid costly delays and in fostering universal design.
The TAG’s engagement with R&D, UX, and marketing leads informs universal design and a deeper dive into the targeted consumer group of wheelchair users through surveying, product testing and focus group opportunities.
TAG will have input to develop use cases for emerging technologies like AI and advancing digital skills-building for consumers and patients with mobility impairments.
To engage with the TAG, please contact AJ Assaadi, Sr. Director, Development at aassaadi@unitedspinal.orgcreate new email.
How can I learn more about the concerns of wheelchair users and people living with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D)?
Follow United Spinal Association on Social Media
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Follow or Read New Mobility Magazine
A colorful, award-winning lifestyle magazine, New Mobility encourages the integration of active wheelchair users into mainstream society with articles on health, advocacy, travel, employment, relationships, recreation, media, products and more. Ninety percent of its writers live with disabilities, creating a vibrant culture of disability journalism, philosophy and advocacy within each monthly edition.
Attend Our Events
United Spinal hosts virtual and in-person events throughout the year. Visit our events page!
Visit our virtual Resource Center
United Spinal’s Spinal Cord Injury Resource Center provides valuable information on living with spinal cord injuries and disorders, as well as an extensive library of knowledge books on a variety of disability-related topics. The Resource Center can provide you and your colleagues with disabilities, and those who serve as caregivers, more information and resources to support a healthy and independent lifestyle.
Let Us Know You Took Corporate Challenge and Show Off How Your Workplace is Accessible and Inclusive
Please fill out the quick form below to log your participation!
We will acknowledge your commitment to the disability community through our social media channels, send you a virtual Corporate Challenge medallion, and follow up with important resources to share with your diversity and inclusion leads! Hashtag: #ADAChallenge #UnitedSpinal
Position your company as an accessibility leader
opens in a new windowSubmit your Corporate Challenge Video or Photo – Details Here
Have a Photo or Video Showcasing your Company’s Inclusive or Accessible Workplace?
Submit here so we can socialize for others to follow your lead!
“D&I is an inseparable part of who we are and what we do.."
–Evelio Goderich, VP Sales & Marketing, Cheelcare
"Dominion Energy believes it is essential to provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone who connects with the company—both inside and outside of the organization—and to recognize, value, celebrate and embrace our differences. Dominion Energy’s commitment to continuing to build a truly diverse and inclusive culture led to the formation of our DiverseAbility ERG, whose mission is to connect, engage, support and empower disabled employees. The ERG also focuses on employees who are caregivers to the disabled and encourages leaders to create a culture of belonging. The company's commitment to accessibility is evidenced through our proactive Facilities and IT planning processes. "
—Morenike Miles, Vice President Sustainability and Compliance, Dominion Energy
“As an accessibility company, all of our locations are ADA compliant and accessible. As a part of new hire on-boarding, all NSM employees are assigned etiquette and sensitivity training, focused on serving disabled/mobility challenged clients and their families. We seek a diverse employee population and make every effort to make accommodations to encourage hiring of disabled employees. We have a diversity committee supported by advisory groups and ensure that disabled employees have a voice to express ideas and opportunities.”
–Ann Mahaffey, VP Human Resources, National Seating & Mobility
"Our company culture and facility are set up to serve people with disabilities. We have focused on both accessibility and safety protocols to provide a place where everyone feels welcome."
–Scott Andrews, Director Sales and Marketing, Rollx Vans
"Our entire mission is centered around disability access. Our goal is to promote awareness of adaptive transportation solutions available to persons with disabilities, their families and their caregivers. Through the use of mobility equipment, Our members are able to transform the lives of those living with disabilities and grant each of their clients added independence and the ability to get behind the wheel of their own wheelchair accessible vehicle."
–Trevor Jennings, Director of Partner Relations, National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association/NMEDA
"Invacare is a global leader in manufacturing home medical device and is dedicated to putting the patient at the center of everything we do. We are passionate about providing clinical solutions for post-acute care, rehab, homecare, and respiratory markets to promote our Corporate Vision—Making Life’s Experiences Possible™."
–Sandy Habecker, Training & Marketing Specialist, Invacare
"Improving access for people with disabilities was a priority when we designed our new national headquarters, which will open in January 2021\. It informed decisions on everything from office furniture (all desks can be electronically raised and lowered) to flooring (we avoided materials that would be challenging for people in wheelchairs or with balance problems).
APTA has also developed a staff diversity, equity, and inclusion team to support our progress, and in 2021 we will be hiring a vice president of DEI, who will sit on our leadership team.
APTA is committed to promoting equal employment for all persons in its employment and hiring policies and procedures. These are some examples of what APTA is doing to address disability access and inclusion. "
—Jason Bellamy, EVP, Strategic Communications, American Physical Therapy Association
"Our services are provided for people with disabilities, their families and friends. We are on a continous work to improve accessiblity in all of our tours."
–Juan Francisco Maranon, Sales Coordinator, Latin America for All
“Accessibility.com was founded with the mission to become a catalyst for equal access to the physical and digital worlds. Each day, a diverse group of professionals and advocates work toward our vision of an accessible world by helping individuals and business understand and act on their accessibility opportunities and obligations. We're committed to equal opportunity internally and externally."
–Casey Naiduk, Head of Content and Experience, Accessibility.com
