“At our country’s worst moment, we survived on a steady diet of kindness, generosity and compassion. You may not find those words in any national security plan. But I can assure you – those concepts are just as critical to our national resilience as any component of national defense.”

“It’s been really incredibly liberating to be in any context and say, ‘Yep, I can hop right in,’” Das said.

Das, who also lip reads, says it’s also good to think about how in-person office policies, such as mask mandates, will affect people with disabilities.

“What might that mean for employees who might have a cognitive disability, or employees who might be deaf?” said Das. “I’m really thinking holistically about how the office is organized.”

As businesses bring people back to the office, they are keenly aware that some employees will have difficulty adjusting to the “next normal” in the workplace, juggling expectations at home and in the office.
Company managers need to keep in mind that they may be supervising “long haulers,” or people who have long-term mental health and physical issues caused by COVID-19. This not only could have an impact on employees but on a business’ work productivity. Anxiety and depression are real, and as a nation, we need to take action and help each other. It may be challenging to deal with the stigma of those mental illnesses, but the consequences of not acting — lost productivity, lost workdays, and in the extreme, suicide — are far greater.

Today, as we celebrate the 31st anniversary of the ADA, we also celebrate the strength and resilience of our chairman, who as a congressman voted for the passage of the ADA and has dedicated his life to promoting the ADA’s principles of ensuring that every American has a right and an opportunity to participate in our economic progress.

“We often talk about how resilient people with disabilities are, that they’re problem solvers,” Catherine said. “The pandemic was a great example of that.”

Catherine, the associate director of special projects at the National Organization on Disability, is one of about 61 million disabled Americans who had to adjust to a world with COVID-19, according to numbers from the Department of Labor.

In this ‘next normal’, what will the workplace look like for employees, including those with disabilities?

Join us for NOD’s largest event of the year where c-suite executives and civic officials will share their leadership lessons from this pandemic and discuss what’s next for tomorrow’s workplace.

A conversation on the imperative of digital accessibility in today’s increasingly virtual workplaces. Exclusive to NOD Corporate Leadership Council members!