Communicating in context with different kinds of groups

1. Interacting with people with disabilities
Diversity Awareness in the Workplace

2. Goal to integrate people with disabilities
into all aspects of the workplace and
marketplace
Understanding and sensitivity toward
people with disabilities is not just the law, it
makes good business sense.
American’s With Disabilities
Act
1990

3. Define:
Disability
(noun) a condition of
having a physical or
mental impairment
Sensitivity
(noun) an
understanding of
others’ feelings and
emotions

4. Tips On Interacting With People with
Disabilities
An overview that can help you become
more sensitive to people with disabilities in
the workplace.
Disability Etiquette
Assignment:

5. Tips for Speaking or Writing about
People with Disabilities
◻ A key to any effective communication is to
focus on the communication itself — what
information needs to be transmitted and how
best to transmit it.
◻ Positive language empowers. When writing or
speaking about people with disabilities, it is
important to put the person first — to focus on
the person, not the disability.

6. Positive language empowers
DON’T focus on a
label
Group designations,
such as "the blind,"
"the deaf" or "the
disabled"
are not empowering.
DO put the person first
Use words that reflect
individuality, equality
or dignity — the
person who is blind,
the child who is deaf,
the individual with a
disability.

7. Positive Phrases Negative Phrases
Person with an intellectual,
cognitive, developmental
disability
The retarded; mentally retarded
Person who is blind or visually
impaired
The blind
Person with a disability
The disabled; handicapped
A person with hearing loss
The deaf; deaf and dumb
Person who uses a wheelchair;
wheelchair user
Person confined, bound or
restricted to a wheelchair
Person who is unable to speak, A mute
Person with a psychiatric
disability
A crazy person
Person with a physical disability,

8. Basic tips
◻ Ask before you help
◻ Be sensitive about physical contact
◻ Think before you speak
◻ Don’t make assumptions
◻ Respond graciously to requests
◻ Use appropriate terminology that puts the
person first!

9. 1. Pair into groups of 2
2. Pick a disability and create a google
slide presentation:
Requirements:
• Title and appropriate image
• At least 3 facts about the disability
• At least 2 tips for
successfully/appropriately interacting
Your Turn: Disability Etiquette

10. A person of short stature
There are 200 types of
growth-related
disorders that can
cause ”dwarfism” that
result in a person
being 4’10”
The terms "person of short stature,"
"little person," and "dwarf" are
commonly used in the United States to
refer to a person with a medical
condition called "dwarfism."

11. 3 facts in a professional setting:
1. Be aware of having equipment and
access at their height
2. Communication can be easier at the
same level, stand back and make eye
contact without the person straining
their neck, or sit down in a chair
3. Never treat the person like a child

12. Name of Disability
◻ Appropriate visual
◻ Definition of the disability
◻ 3 interesting facts
◻ 2 tips for interacting with those individuals