Welcome. To the earn Training Center earn, or the employer assistance and, Resource Network, on, disability, inclusion is housed, at the Bacardi Center and funded, by the Office of Disability, Employment policy at. The Department, of Labor the training. Center contains recordings, of course to access disability. Inclusion information. And practices, to help increase the labor force participation rate, of people with disabilities, in the country, my. Name is Derrick shields and I will be your trainer for today's topic, be. Tech savvy. Accessible. Information and, communication. Technology. Hey. Everybody this is Derrick welcome back it's, good to have you and today we're going to focus on, be. Tech savvy or, accessible, technology. We'll. Get a little bit more technical in the framework. Again. What we do in this series is the inclusion, of work framework it's a seven segments. Framework. For building a disability, inclusive organization. First. Is lead the way and build. The pipeline higher. And keep the best ensure. Productivity. Communicate. In today's. Topic, be, tech savvy and then. The final segment grow success. So. We'll. Dig into it a little bit them and to set that framework up for. Be tech savvy we. Wanted to set the stage a little bit and. So if you're not familiar with accessible, technology, and you don't identify as having a disability buddy, it's, really important, to get the community out there to consider, what, it would be like to, arrive to work on. Any given day and that. Everyone in the office could use their computers, except. You, and. Then in, that scenario when, you actually made a complaint. Or submitted, a helpdesk request, about the, situation. Others. In. Your co-workers, would. Seem to imply the it happened to be your fault. Then. When you challenge to remove those barriers, the. Team doesn't. Really know how to correct the problem, everyone. Else comes to work and they're able to log in and get, moving with their tasks, in this, case that. Doesn't always happen and for users of assistive, devices, it, can be challenging, the, be tech savvy framework. This, segment, of the inclusion, of work framework, really, drives a successful, implementation of, accessible. Information and communication, technologies, to. Allow organizations, to, access, the. Productivity. And innovation, that's, really desired, from, the talent, in the workforce that, happens to have disabilities. Find we're, going to dig into the. Proven. Practices coming, from employers, around the country, around. Being. A tech-savvy. Workplace. The. First, area is that we're going to identify for, our come from corporate commitment, so. First corporate commitment to accessibility really. Is in the development, procurement, lease, maintenance. And use, what. We call ICT. Or information. And communication, technology, and, that all these are central to business operations, and that if we don't have that commitment, to access then. Our workers that. Need that won't be able to not only access, but, be. As productive, as possible in support of the organization's, mission. And. Then accessible, ICT, offers. The. Chance to have accessible, employment, lines and then. Once somebody is of course, recruited, and hired than. An accessible, employment, experience, so. The nature of technology. In today's workforce. It's. Required. For, access. Ensure. There's some legal. Requirements. Behind this and. In, this we're going to talk about ways to. Not. Just comply, but, to get to the accessible. Employment. Pipelines, and experiences. So. After, you have the corporate commitment then we look at the next segment. Of the proven practices and, that zeroes. In on leadership and team, approach. First. Securing. Leadership, at the highest levels, of the company to facilitate, this buy-in, and. To establish a, corporate. Commitment to, accessible, ICT. We. Know when the c-suite. Of senior, leaders. Voices. That, the company will have accessible, ICT policies. And practices, then. The. Functional. Units to implement can follow suit that, could be the IT. Organization it, could, be the procurement, organization, or. It could be the recruiting, organization. For talent acquisition, all, of these have to come in, under senior leadership and, implement. A policy, through, proven, accessible, practices. Next. It's important, to establish that, network, of individuals, responsible. For the implementation. If. The, strategy, for, accessible, ICT is, stove-piped. In just one of those segments. Then. The, cross. Functional, or intersectional. Approach. To this won't be realized and then, accessible.
ICT Won't, be realized, and. One. Way to do that with these kind, of a leadership, team or a network of responsible, individuals, is that. We make a business case for ensuring. That the technology, that's, used by the business is accessible. To as many as possible and when. We think about that it's not, just about our employees. With disabilities today. It's. Also employees. Who, will acquire, disabilities. As. Workers, in the workforce and, part of the aging population. It, also looks, to our applicant, pool when. We looked at seeking. Talent, and tight. Labor markets, then, the more accessible, our platforms. And systems are then, the more approachable we, are to those candidates. And. Last, but not least this also. Attracting. Customers with, disabilities. So. Senior. Leadership commitment. With, a team. To implement the, approach and looking. At this in a holistic, perspective is, that the accessible, ICT is, for. Recruitment. Employment. And the. Customers, that we want to attract, as well. After. Leadership. And team approach the, next part of the be, tech-savvy framework. Focuses, on needs, assessment, and feedback. This. Is really a time to consider all of the ICT that's, used or. Offered and truly, make, inventory. Of the, platform's devices, and applications. When. We do that then, we have a better idea of what. We're facing. In that assessment, we can evaluate the, accessibility by. Testing, those. Tools. And applications. We. Could use that through automated, accessibility testing, tools that are available on the market and, by, considering, use user experiences. It's. Important. That we look at also, collecting, feedback from, website. Mobile, applications. That. Way we can find out from our end-users what, the website, experience, was in terms of accessibility and, really. Just user, experience. And, understanding. Where. It could be improved in both. Of those instances, evaluating. The accessibility. By testing and in, the collection, of feedback from the website it's, important, to include. Users. With disabilities, to, get their feedback, along, with the tools so. There's a parallel, model and then posted that the. Input, groups can be analyzed. For, where ICT. Accessibility can. Be improved. And. Once we have those, in place and of course we can establish a process. With. The criteria that can be used for. Both, setting priorities, as, in, remedies. And fixes. And. Also in. Wholesale. Upgrades, where perhaps, the ICT. Accessibility is. Missing, the mark then. A new, investment, can be made. So. That looks at the assessment, and feedback portion. And. Now I'm going to turn to policies. Practices and procedures, so. Obviously. We want to have, the senior leader commitment, and. One way to show, that is through changing, policies, because, we know when policies, change, then. The implementing, practices can, follow so.
Adopting And implementing, that website, and ICT, accessibility policy. Is a critical. And proven, practice, by employers, in. The inclusion at work framework. Adopting. Specific. Technical. Standards. And the. Functional, performance criteria. Will. Be one way to implement. Teachers so, when we say we're going to do it then those standards, would tell us well what do we have to have to. Consider, proper. Implementation. And. Performance. Criteria, would show you outcomes. From. That adoption. When. It comes to the online. Systems. In, the third bullet here, the. Proven. Practices shows. To adopt an accessible, online application. System that. Allows it to be integrated. Into website, it, has job. Posting, and, distribution. Tools and it. Also allows for the submission, of applications and. Resumes. This. Will, trigger, accessible. Communication, between the applicant, pool and the employer and that allows. For the, candidate, search to, have, started. In an inclusive manner, and. Then it allows for that to continue, through. The communication. To, the. Interview. Process. If. The, policies. Are in place that, require it then the implementation. Of the, practices, and the tools certainly. Follow and this allows for the front door of the, recruitment. Process to, be accessible. Our. Next. Recommendation from, proven practices is, having corporate-wide. Infrastructure. This. Starts. Out with providing. Outsourcing. Guidelines, so, if you ask suppliers. Or partners to build, something, for you that you, provide them with some guidance that might, be like on the website the. Web. Development, standard, it. Could be if. You're. Looking at federal. Contracting. As in, section. 508, standards, so. There's a variety of accessibility, requirements. That, you could adopt and, put in with different levels of performance, it's. What's, important, in the framework and, from proven practices is, to identify which. Standards, and then, make sure they're, incorporated. And. With that if. We are buying things and we have clear, procurement, policy these and that those acquisition, professionals. Understand. The, purpose, of, accessibility. Being, built into the procurement language. Itself. Next. The. Proven, practices to delineate, the respective, roles of key personnel, and so. That would look at the acquisition, community like a chief acquisition officer. Or the. Chief information officer. And in. Some best, practices, today we see large, organizations. Adopting, a chief accessibility officer, who. Not only has direct access to the. President or chief executive, officer, but, he or she has access to the. Other c-suite, officials, to work, cross-functionally. And, that allows for customer. Facing products, and internal.
Tools For employees, along. With the talent acquisition community. To all be helped. It receiving. Support. Around. The. Mission, to, improve accessibility. With. All this in mind of course training, is critical, and. The. Achieved, accessibility. Officer, or the, disability. Inclusion. Community can come together and, help with, that training for the. Internal. Staff, and. Then when this is all in play then we can deploy the. Accessible, ICT, throughout. The company and. This would allow, for, establish. Procedures. This. Is important, for things like upgrades, so. If there's a patch that's sent out those. Patches for security, purposes, are critical. At. The same time we don't want those patches to, push users. Of assistive devices. Or accessible. Technologies, to, be. Pushed out and then. The next morning they come in and once, again they're back at that starting point that says why, is it I can't log in today and it, was because the, IT team, forgot, about me so. Having accessible, ICT. Policies. And practices, would include things like refresh, and. Ensuring. That there's, a centralized. Source to. Support that process, as well. And. Then we move on to evaluation. In the countability, as, the next step in in the process so appointing. A chief accessibility officer, is, certainly a tactic. That the best practice, and they report to high-ranking, official, that, person is knowledgeable, about the accessibility. Policy, and legal requirements, and also. Responsible, for the coordination, and implementation, of the. ICT. Accessibility policy. For, the employer. It's. A contact person for, all the content providers, and also. Someone who's responsible, for ensuring, that best. Practices, guidance, are. Provided. Across. The company to, keep, ICT, accessibility in, mind as the, organization, and the sort. Appointing. A cross-functional, committee, that's, charged, with monitoring. Or maintaining. Conformance. Is. Pretty important, this. Group, can assist the chief accessibility officer. In. Get. Obtaining. Successful, outcomes, but. You know so those two connected. Are part of the proven. Practice. And. Other. Organizations. Retain independent, website, accessibility, consultants. Sometimes. The, best. Way to move, forward with something you don't know is to bring in consultants, that can assist in. Certainly. Looking at accessible, website development, but also in. Application. Development. Databases. And. Also in, document. Creation. Like, PDF. Type files and how to make sure that those are accessible, so all users, including. Users with disabilities can access them. The. Next segment of evaluation. In accountability, talks, to notifying, employees. And, managers. About the company's policy, so, not only about to do this but let's make sure everyone. Is aware that we're doing it and that. Can be connected with the training. Reinforcing. Individuals, with disabilities, are involved. With the development implementation, and, evaluation, of. The policies, and practices. And. Tagging. Onto that having, established measurable. Objectives, like, we do with all of our other work to put metrics, in place with. Some type of performance, benchmark, that, suggests, we. Know this. Is the market we're reaching for and where. We are in comparison to that metric. And. Then last some type of collection. System. That, allows for us to get inputs, and track, the data to, know, from. Reporting, from end-users, customers, employees and applicants. Where. Things. Are working and where things aren't working and, that that reporting, cycle, can help inform decision-making. So. Let's. Summarize, let's. Summarize, now where, we've been so be. Tech savvy the, inclusion, of work framework, says we, want to look at corporate commitment to accessible, technology. Assessments. Feedback, and prioritization. Formal. Policies, practices, and, procedures. Establishing. A corporate wide in infrastructure. In that last, evaluation, in, the countability, these. Are, the. Factors, that drive accessible. ICT, and, our. Proven practices, from employers, around the country who, are leading, the way in inclusive, policies. That, help employ. People, with disabilities and.
Productive, Positions. One. Of the resources we wanted to share today with you is a partner, of earth called, peat or. The partnership, on employment and, accessible technology. You. Can access their information online, at Pete works org. On. This screen we have a graphic of. Pizza. Model. It. Provides. Three. Segments. To, the approach, that we just talked about for how, to purchase and implement, on. The other side of the screen we have a variety, of the resources, first. Policy. Matters, there's, a lot of information on. ICT, laws and regulations, if you're trying to figure out what is it that we're required, to do. Highly, recommend, that you check out Pete's, policy. Matters, the. Buy it accessible. Purchasing, guide shows. You the model on the side with planning, solicitation. And. Post-award. Activities. That. Accessible, purchasing, guide would allow you to adopt best practices at, your organization. And implement, those policies. Importantly. There's a tech tech benchmarking. Tool if you're, unsure about, your, level. Of ICT, accessibility. You. Could use that tech tech tool to, help benchmark, where you are and, help. Create an inventory. And. Then they, have a tool, called, talentworks. Really. Helps improve, erecruiting. And the accessibility. Of your recruiting. Tools, and platforms, and. Then last but not least Pete has a great. Amount, of resources, to use, in training they, have, podcasts, webinars and, a lot of other documents. That can help take, the, ICT, accessibility. Requirements. And really. Create. A more, informed, and, modern. Approach. Looking. At the gig economy and, looking at how. The. Evolution of town acquisition. Is moving and, then, the intersection of, your. Company's, policies, and practices, so. Highly recommend checking out burns partner Pete for, more resources. So. That. Is the conclusion of, be, tech savvy thank. You for checking in with us on accessing, this earn Training Center recording, if. You are interested, in learning more about effective strategies. To increase disability. Inclusion in the workplace please. Visit ask an org, and, access our resources tool. Kits and other recordings, in the training center please. Also provide your feedback on this recording, to help us in developing, future. Training. Content, and join. Our email list. To receive notification. Of future, webinars, and stay informed when, new earn releases, occur. For resources, and training, centers, recordings. Thank. You and having, stay.
2018-09-20