RAW FILE 
Disability:IN Virtual Inclusion Works Meeting 2025
Session 10:  Healthcare Industry Breakout 
Thursday, February 27, 2025
4:45 p.m. EST 

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>> Recording in progress.
>> DEB DAGIT: Welcome to the healthcare industry breakout session.  If you have been with us all day, you are probably like me with your head full of all kinds of quotable ideas and lessons learned and things that you are going to take back to your organization.
And this last session will not disappoint.  We have so much great information to share.  But this is for just our healthcare industry members of our Inclusion Works corporate partners.
And we will have three speakers that you see on the screen here that I'm going to be introducing in a moment.  And I am partnering with my friend and colleague, Mylene Padolina.  She and I are both corporate Disability:IN Inclusion Works consultants.  As far as introduction of me, um a white female with short hair and glasses.  And I identify as a person with both apparent and non‑apparent disabilities.
And I had the privilege of being one of the founders of Inclusion Works when we first got it started 10 years ago.
If we can go to our next slide, we have a little bit of housekeeping to remind you of and we are doing this at the top of every session.  So some of you may have seen it before.  But for others, if this is your first time attending, just a quick reminder, if you need any help, you will go ahead and put your questions into the Q&A or the chat to let us know that we can assist you.  You can also put your questions in the chat.  And at the very end we are recording now and we are going to record up through the three presentations and the associated Q&A with each of those presentations.  But at the very end we are going to turn off the recording and just have an open discussion and that's for any confidential conversations that anyone would like to have.
  And we do have captions available and we have ASL interpreters.  I want to thank our ASL interpreters.  We have two that are interpreting the presentations today.  And then we also have someone available to voice if one of our participants who is deaf requests that someone voice for them.
So, thank you very much to all those who are helping us make this accessible.
In terms of the overview of who is exactly the community of practice.  Well, we are 17 different companies and you see the logos represented here.  They represent 32 members.  And so far we have had two meetings in 2024.  This is our first one of 2025.  And we are anticipating having an in‑person meeting on July 14th at our in‑person Inclusion Works meeting in Orlando.
Why do we exist?  Well, it was at your request.  We heard that you wanted to talk to other folks within the healthcare industry which we are defining broadly to include service delivery, pharmaceutical.  So you can see we have quite a range of types of companies here, insurance, it's an exchange of ideas led by peers, safe and confidential environment, and so hopefully you will find this invaluable.  But you get out of it what you put into it.  So, please be sure to fully participate in the Q&A.
So, next slide, please.
So, this is what we are going to cover today.  First, Becky Curran is going to be talking to us about the Disability Index results for our industry.  So she has really interesting highlights to cover.
And then we are going to touch briefly on the healthcare recruiting showcase that's going to be happening.  And Bridgette Anderson, our director of talent acquisition, is going to remind you of how you can participate in that and when it's happening.
And then we are so fortunate to have Kate Gonzalez, who is an accessibility director at Elevance Health and she is going to talk about how to create accessibility in the laboratories and manufacturing facilities.
And then we will, again, turn off the recording and move to any hot topics.
Next slide, please.
It is my pleasure now to turn the slides over and the conversation over to my friend and fellow little person and scooter rider, she just got a brand‑new scooter.  Becky Curran Kekula is going to talk to us about what we have learned from this index about this healthcare industry.  Becky.
>> BECKY CURRAN: Thank you, Deb, and thank you all for your commitment to this group.  I will say myself the past few years have been near and dear to consuming everything that the healthcare industry has to offer so I appreciate all the work that all of you do.
' we start to look through the results from the 2024 index, we got together as a team and we decided to figure out who in this group is represented in the index and even though this is a healthcare industry of practice, we know that some companies may not in the Disability Equality Index because there are plenty of industries that you may relate to and you may touch healthcare in one way or another.
So, what we did is we drilled down on those industries that are represented in this group and we took the results.  And some of your companies have received a deep dive presentation.  Please talk to your consultant if you weren't around when that happened or if you still need one for your company.  But these deep dive presentations have a lot of this similar information but we are just not doing a comparison across as many industries that are represented in this slide.
So, as we look at these slides, we are going to look at the 542 total companies participated in the 2024 Disability Index.  And among those companies, there were 58 companies in the healthcare, health service and healthcare medical facilities industry.  So that's 11% of participating companies.
So, other industries represented in this group are pharmaceuticals, chemical and bio tech, manufacturing, agriculture ‑‑ and agriculture.  We looked at the amount of participating companies, which is the ‑‑ and then the percentage of the whole out of the 542, and we found that the technology industry is the highest represented industry.  And healthcare is not too far behind that.
Banking and financial services is in the middle of those two.
The average score for the healthcare industry was 95.  For pharmaceuticals, 94.  Chemical and bio tech, 89.  Manufacturing 91, and agriculture 92.
As you will see on the far right, we are looking at those leading industries, hotels, resorts and casinos, only had five participating companies so even though their average score was 100, the denominator was a lot lower than the healthcare industry.  Same with maintenance, repair and operations.  They have two companies in their industry.  And their average score was 100.
In the healthcare industry, 54 of the companies received a top score, meaning 89 to 100.  And then the other industries have the similar data.
So with the healthcare resorts ‑‑ hotels, resorts and casinos, they scored 100, again, that's out of the five companies.
So the self‑ID rate, companies are always eager to see how people are doing with the self‑ID rate.  What we have found is that the new hire rate sometimes leans a little higher than the existing employee count because people are excited to join a company and they are excited to share all their information.  And that's what we did see in the healthcare industry, 4.7% was the median self‑ID rate for new hires.  And 4.2% was the median rate for existing employees.
As you will see the tobacco and educational services industries had a larger percentage, but, again, there were fewer anticipating companies.
Next slide.
As we look at the leading practices where the U.S. overall percentages were fairly high, we are looking at the written statement of commitment to diverse and inclusion, that mentions disability, 80% in the U.S.  And then healthcare actually trended higher, pharmaceuticals, chemical and bio tech and manufacturing all above that 81%.  So the officially recognized Employee Resource Group, as you can see, there's a high percent here as well.  External hiring goal for people with disabilities, we do see this is actually an important practice, but it is a lower percentage for companies.
And I do want to point out as your company is preparing to fill out the 2025 index, the hiring goal does not have to be numerical.  So, we do see that two lines down there's a question around external recruitment efforts that are in place specifically towards hiring people with disabilities and that is in the recruitment category of the index.  And for that you may answer how you are looking to hire more people with disabilities.  You can use some of that same information in the culture question set 3 where we ask if you have a higher end goal for people with disabilities.  It does not necessarily have to be numerical.  So, that's something to consider as you are filling out the 2025 index.
Having a written mission statement that includes disability as an area of focus for your Diversity Council, we can see the rates are a little bit lower, but the healthcare industry trended higher than the U.S. average.
We just kind of landed on that high percentage in recruitment efforts.  Formal programs in place to understand how to address the needs of the disability community.  I think those percentages are fairly high as well.  And everyone is doing great work.  I think some best practices around that are related to getting cross‑functional people with disabilities who are involved in your Employee Resource Group involved in trying out your products and services, whether or not they are internally or externally facing.
Having a supplier inclusion manager, leader who is dedicated to overseeing supplier diversity initiatives.  The healthcare industry trends higher than the U.S. average.  And pharmaceuticals is at 100% there.
So, really having someone who can drive the supplier inclusion work forward within your organization.
And if there are areas for improvement in that category, the index for your company, that person can really try to focus on those areas that we are looking for you to think about as it comes to engaging with disability‑owned businesses.
And then having language about diversity and inclusion when bidding out contracts to potential direct suppliers is something that we encourage.  So, you are telling suppliers that that is a consideration.
You can see the leading industries again.  And then if anyone wants more information related to any of these slides, we can dig a little deeper into how many companies are involved in each of these leading industries.  But companies are accomplishing these leading practices.
Next slide.
Areas for improvement.  So where overall the percentages were a bit lower and the healthcare industry was a bit lower as well, except for the written disability accommodation procedure, which trended higher, requirement to ensure digital products are accessibility and usable by individuals with disabilities.  The overall for the U.S. was 70% adoption rate.  But we see in pharma, chemical and bio tech and manufacturing, the percentages were lower.
Internal or external accessibility expert who can resolve accessibility and capability issues, we saw the percentages were lower among the healthcare through manufacturing, making job candidates aware of the option to request an accommodation for the interview.  Again, those percentages are a bit lower than we would like to see.  Hopefully companies can think about putting it out there that they are ready, willing and able to make an accommodation if someone needs one for the interview.  And this takes talking to the recruiters having it as part of their script or part of the email script while they are confirming the date, time and location of an interview.
And written disability accommodation procedure available to employees, which explains the process for requesting a disability accommodation.  Again, it's a way for people to know how and where to ask for an accommodation if they need one.
And centralized accommodations fund or budget margin for accommodations, a few years ago we made a tweak to this question set.  It initially had asked just about a centralized accommodations fund.  But the budget margin was a suggested piece because companies operate differently and their budget structures are different.  Really the intent of this question is making sure that there is a place to access money if a new candidate or someone who may acquire a disability during their time at your company who needs an accommodation can get those accommodations without a manager feeling resentful and not wanting to include them in their budget because their budget is small.  So, is there a place where someone can access money if they need it for accommodations.  And that needs to be communicated.  In the past as I was reviewing the results, I was surprised that companies said they had the funds but people managers aren't aware of it.  So it's really important to communicate about it as well.
Next slide so best practices.  We all like best practices.  We had to comb through anonymously as we were looking through these best practices because we are not able to share companies' names.  But these are some things that stood out when we were looking through the best practices.  And one of the best ways to share best practices with other companies is or finding out what are the best practices, are identifying an area for improvement that you plan on working on in the next year or three years of your Inclusion Works partnership, and the consultants are able to have their ‑‑ have a conversation in their weekly meeting so they can connect you with other companies who are doing well in this space.  But as we are looking through some of the index results, we were able to find some of these areas that stood out for best practices. 
So, reducing employee time, effort and the stigma associated with requesting accommodations by providing a catalog or library of options, eliminating the need for medical documentation or diagnosis, setting up assistive technology and ergonomic labs that offer employee opportunities to try out equipment.  And establishing centers or hubs or teams or websites to offer information, make requests and find contacts.
These best practices also are geared towards accommodations, how to be more accommodating of people with disabilities.  That's kind of where we are shining a light.  And in addition to these groups that you are part of, there are lots of best practices being shared across Disability:IN around accommodations.  So we can continue to have conversations about this topic.  But these are what stood out.
So, offering professional job coaches for neurodiverse employees outside of those offered as part of a neurodiversity hiring program.  Partnering with ERGs to enhance the accommodation process and promote it to employees.  ERG partnerships are key, because it really is a cross‑functional group of people who identifies having a disability or allies and they are willing to be part of the change to make improvements.
With return‑to‑work mandates, increasing focus on facilities accessibility and inclusive design.  I think sometimes excuse for a company may be that someone with a disability can work remotely if the place is inaccessible.  But there are people with disabilities who do want to go back to the office and they want to be able to have those access needs fulfilled.
And then offering business travel information and resources geared towards people with disabilities, again, it's important for people to know that they are able to travel and have the support to do so if that's what their job requires.  And ergonomic assessments offered for home offices.  And just in general when I was looking at this best practice, as someone with a physical disability that's dwarfism as Deb said, I was afraid to ask for an accommodation until I absolutely needed one.  And what ended up happening is my third full‑time job asked me if I wanted an ergonomic assessment, and at that time I had agreed to get a step stool because that was going to help me feel like I was comfortable at my desk.  And in that environment, I was able to get a step stool in every area of the office that I would need to access.  So there was one in the kitchen, there was one in the bathroom.
And they even if there was an area of the building where I didn't go as often but maybe there would be meetings, there was a step stool there.  I would say that was above a reasonable accommodation.  But it was nice that people were thinking outside the box when it came to making sure I had access to every area of the building.
I think that is my last slide.  I am going to turn it back over to Deb.  I don't know how much time we have for Q&A.  But thank you all and please register for the Index for 2025 if you haven't already.  And we are happy to help you along the way.
>> DEB DAGIT: Thank you so much, Becky.  What a great presentation.  And we are a little bit jammed for time.  So I'm going to ask that we get Bridgette up and running in terms of her camera and microphone.  And while we are doing that, if anybody does have a burning question for Becky, go ahead and put that in the chat.  And while we might not be able to get to that today, we will make sure we get back to you with an answer and you will be getting a copy of these slides which are fully accessible.
Bridgette, if you could tell us a little bit about the Disability:IN healthcare industry virtual showcase.  That's a mouthful and a great opportunity coming up.  Bridgette, please take it away.
>> BRIDGETTE ANDERSON: Thank you, Deb.  Hello, everybody, thanks for having me today, I am here to briefly chat about the healthcare showcase coming up on August 20th.  This event is a product of feedback received from our Inclusion Works companies, specifically asking for opportunities to recruit targeted talent for this specific industry.  You asked, we answered.
This event is open to 20 Inclusion Works companies.  It's going to be a first come, first served basis.  And registration opens on June 2nd.  If you have an interest in participating or just general questions on the event, you are more than welcome to email me at Bridgette@DisabilityIN.org or get in contact with your consultant who can probably also answer your questions.  If not, they will pop you over to me.  But they are pretty equipped with all of the information they need.
This year I'm really, really excited to be partnering with another Disability:IN program, which is Operation Opportunity.  We with that program will be providing opportunities to our veteran candidates so that our companies can anticipate junior enlisted and beyond veteran candidates specifically looking for roles in healthcare.  So the profiles will range from early entry to experience with about 10 plus years of experience, which I think is going to be phenomenal.  I'm really excited about giving that opportunity.  But then also just partnering with operation opportunity which is a wonderful program.
And another change for this year is the platform that we are using, which will allow our companies to host a main events page where one representative can answer candidate questions, run through a presentation, share details about roles and benefits and programs, while up to 10 recruiters from your company can join also and utilize private interview rooms with candidates that they have either sourced pre‑event, during the event, and then they can also schedule for interviews after the event.
But the idea is utilizing those private interview rooms with candidates who fit the rules they are hiring for during the event.  If they are having conversation in that general chatroom and they decide, hey, Deb looks really, really great for a role I am hiring for, hey, Deb, do you want to go into this private room with me?  Let's have a quick chat.  I would love to introduce you to what our talent process is like, which is a wonderful opportunity for recruiters and asked to meet.  And then start the process.  And then be introduced formally into their interview process.
We really, really did want to offer our Inclusion Works companies an opportunity to engage with the candidates live, while also giving you the chance to highlight your culture and your jobs and your best practices.  And this platform allows us to do it all.  So, I really do hope that you are able to join us.
And also keep in mind, if you don't have open roles during the event or upcoming or even right after the event, this is still an excellent opportunity to speak to what your company does.  Very often our candidates know your logo or they have seen your commercial but they don't really know what you do.  But this allows you guys to highlight what you are doing, where you are hiring, what candidates should know, and the best ways for them to engage with the talent team.  So, building a talent pool is, you know, the first step to making yourself known as an employer of choice and making sure that they know what you do so that they know your name, they know your brand, and then essentially that will benefit you all when you do have those open roles to fill.  So, one last thing to note is that this is free of charge, as it's included in your Inclusion Works membership.  And so if you have questions, again, feel free to email me or your consultant, we are always here to help.
I know that we don't have tons of time for me to dig in.  But if there are questions, just let us know.  I am always happy to assist in this space.
Deb.
>> DEB DAGIT: Thank you so much.  Great, Bridgette.  Thank you, thank you.  I am turning it over now to Mylene, who will facilitate our next speaker.
>> MYLENE PADOLINA: Thanks, Deb.  Hi, everyone, Mylene Padolina, Corporate Disability Inclusion Consultant with the Inclusion Works program and also partner in crime with Deb in terms of organizing, planning and implementing this healthcare community of practice.
So, last year as Deb had mentioned, we had two meetings and we also polled our members to find out the topics that were of most interest, what were the best practices that they were hoping to gain from their peers that pertain to their specific industry.  So, one of the things that we heard loud and clear last year was a discussion and best practices around inclusive and accessible labs and manufacturing facilities.
So, we are so appreciative and excited about having Kate Gonzalez, accessibility director with Elevance Health, to come and speak about the practices at their organization.
So, I'm going to turn it over to her so we give her plenty of time to share some of their best practices.  Kate.
>> KATE GONZALEZ: Thanks, Mylene.  Good afternoon, everyone, thank you so much for joining.  It's the last session so I'm glad you are here, I am excited to be with you.  My name is Kate Gonzalez my pronouns are she/her.  I'm a white win with chin length blond hair and dark glasses.  I identify as a person with non‑apparent disabilities and I'm an accessibility director at Elevance Health I've been working in the accessibility field for around 16 years, 12 of which were at an architecture firm as an accessibility specialist, I started back as an occupational therapist and loved working with with individual clients but quickly realized I wanted to be part of larger scale change.  So, this has been a really exciting way to do that.
I'm glad to be with you talking about inclusive and accessible labs and manufacturing facilities.
Next slide, please.
On this slide we have a simple timeline with a sign on the left and a clock showing 4:00 on the right.  In between there are boxes with different points throughout the day.  There's a cartoon image of a scientist who is a wheelchair user with bright pink hair and dark glasses and she is wearing a lab coat.  This is Mia.  She arrives at her job at a laboratory at 6:00 a.m. and the parking, the exterior route and the entrance are built and maintained to be fully accessible.
She makes her way through the facility with an accessible route.  We are talking clear width, accessible signage, elevators, all components to make this a smooth trip.
Her first stop is the locker room to change into her lab gear.  The locker room and rest rooms must be fully accessible.  From there she heads to her workstation in the lab.  She must be able to approach, enter and exit the work area.  For the space itself there must be an accessible egress.  And if the area is served by audible alarms they must be wired for visual alarms, too.  And if the work area is more than 1000 square feet a common circulation route through it must be fully accessible.  That way she is easily access her workstation.  Other accessibility requirements do not apply to this work area.  It's lunchtime.  Mia and her coworkers head to the cafeteria to eat.  This area must meet on all accessibility requirements reducing barriers for all employees.  That means dining surfaces, checkout aisles, first service lines, sales counters, routes throughout, all of that must be accessible according to standards.  She stops off at the rest room on her way back and that is a common use element so it must meet all accessibility standards.  Mia heads back to her work area and her station in the lab.  This area has some adjustments that have been made for Mia to meet her individual needs.  The accommodations include equipment that she uses on a daily basis being located on shelving that's near had he station at a height that she can reach.  She wears noise canceling headphones designed to help mother focus.  She has regular breaks to help her manage her diabetes.  She heads to the break area which must be designed to meet ADA standards so that means counter highs, clear spaces all those things.
Then she heads back to her station and finishes her work for the afternoon and just like that, the day is done.  Mia heads back to the locker room to change and get her things there she finds the right number of fully accessible lockers, bench and mirrors.  She collects her things and heads back to her car that's in a successful parking space.
In new construction, all areas of a facility must be accessible with a few exceptions.  One exception that we will talk about a bit today is employee work areas.  A work area is where only work is performed by employees and these areas do not need to meet all requirements to be fully accessible.  As we talked with Mia, space is not used for work like break rooms, rest rooms, locker rooms and parking must be fully accessible, those are common use areas.
There are limited requirements for employee work areas, and here we will talk about some things that would be ideal to go beyond these minimum requirements that are going to provide more safety and more inclusive experiences.
So, a couple of things to go beyond the minimums.  The first one is providing ample aisle width.  The work area must have a route through it which can be as narrow as 36 inches.  It doesn't require turning space, but where it's necessary to turn like to get into your workstation or to move away from hazards quickly, a 60‑inch space to turn would make sense.
So this is just a good guideline for laying out these stations.  It's going to provide sufficient space for someone to maneuver mobility devices like a wheelchair or a scooter without bumping into people who are using equipment or hazardous materials at their stations.
Next, make sure to put items in reachable locations.  So when you are mounting equipment, stocking shelves or creating other storage, be sure it's not too high or too low.  If you have limited trunk control or balance, something on the floor can be just as difficult to reach as something that's positioned really high up.
It could be good to use open shelving in a range around like 24 inches to 42 inches high.  And you are going to see those are different than standards because it's sort of a recognition of going beyond those pieces of maximum minutes.
You can use cabinets with large pull hardware rather than knobs, which are going to be easier for everyone to access. 
The next one is an operational item but it's important to keep areas clear of storage and clutter.  Things tend to just kind of collect on these spaces so it's really important that you make sure that we are not impeding accessible spaces like lower counters, accessible knee clearance, accessible routes or clearance in front of emergency equipment.
Keep these features accessible by having consistent storage locations for all items that everybody knows about.  So they won't become catchalls.
They can provide visual output.  Earlier I mentioned that work areas are required only to have wiring for visual alarms but by providing that function, you make a work space that's welcoming and safe for everyone.  This way someone who is deaf or hard of hearing will be alerted visually with flashing lights to emergencies.
Next on this list, using color and tactile input can be helpful in delineating spaces so someone who has low vision can easily distinguishing different services and elements.
And finally on this slide, ensuring clear sight lines can be really helpful for folks navigating spaces and for people with conditions such as PTSD where you might feel more comfortable with you can see the space all around you.
Next slide, please.
So the standards are standard for a reason.  It makes things simple to apply correctly and consistently and it makes things predictable for users.  But flexibility really is key for universal and inclusive design.  Providing options that can make things more accessible because people now have some control over what they need.  On this slide, there's a picture of a yellow traffic sign that says, old ways won't open new doors.  And the point is to change the mindset from it's just how we have always done it, to what will make this role work for somebody?
And here are a few examples on this list.  It's really going to depend on the person.  So, ask them and be ready to figure out ways to make it work.  For example, noise canceling headphones could help someone who has trouble focusing or who is overstimulated or who has difficulty processing auditory input.  This weekend I was watching an episode of this old house and I saw that they make headphones that are noise canceling, they filter out the background noise but they also allow conversation which is really important for communication and for safety in these settings.
It's also important to offer options for lighting.  So overhead and task lighting can create a really different experience and being able to modulate that can make a difference for some folks.
Next on this list, a sensory or quiet room can be really helpful.  These work areas might be full of sensory input, loud or ongoing noises, lots of voices, specific or harsh lighting, fumes or odors.  It can be helpful for some workers to have an opportunity to get a break in a way that works for them and by offering a quiet space, you can have those breaks throughout the day as needed.
It can also be beneficial to provide support around the work itself, the tasks, so providing additional information when getting started about a new task for each step and then a written sequence of the steps can make a difference.
It's always important to be clear about what's needed and some workers may just need additional clarity to set them up for success.  So being open and flexible to those options as well.
Next slide, please.
On this slide we have images of a worker who is seated at a desk doing a task and then standing at a desk doing the same task.  And the person is using an electric adjustable height work surface.  It's another example of flexibility meaning someone can do the task seated in a chair mobility device or standing.
On the right there's a metal cabinet with wheels.  Having equipment that could be moved around the space means that someone can bring different types of equipment to a space that works for them.  This means they can do different tasks as needed.  And they could use a certain location to do different work.
Next slide, please.
Now I want to shift into a few specific items that you might find in a lab or manufacturing facility.  This is an element that could be considered part of an employee work area.  I'm offering some suggestions that we could consider if an employee requested an accommodations but it could also be part of a new design which would allow for flexibility for employees and for making accommodations simpler and faster to provide when requested.
So, here's a worker who is using a critical piece of laboratory equipment, a fume hood.  In the photo the person is seated at a table that has a large metal hood over it.  They are wearing protective equipment and doing some sort of work within this space.
And these are often provided at standing height but in this image the user is seated.  The height is appropriate for the user and there's knee clearance below it would be important to ensure all the controls are in an accessible reach range and that they can be operated without tight grasp be, pink and twisting of the wrist and providing these options as a base default means they are there for everyone and available as needed.
Next slide, please. 
In a lab you will often see counters with sinks and storage for individual use.  There are several photos on this slide showing individual workstations that are at a lower height.  And there's a wall hung trough style sink that also has near clearance as another example.
All of these sinks are providing near clearance so you could roll up under it and they have covered point which is important for seated users and it helps protect folks who may have reduced sensation from burns or cuts from exposed pipes.  These work spaces should have accessible controls like faucets and polls and outlets too we are talking about an accessible location not to deep back from the edge, not too low or high or inoperable.
It would be ideally to have lower spaces in different functional areas or all low counters so that means a user could move within their team or function as opposed to being limited to one designated lower space this is a place where it could be possible to use adjustable height counter that could give that flexibility again.  Another thought with thesis counters is to provide a marine edge which is a raised edge along the counter which can be helpful with orienting around the space and keeping things from falling off.
Next slide, please.
On this slide we are looking at clean rooms and there's a photo of a glass walled room with a sliding glass door.  There's two workers inside working full protective equipment.  One is seated at a table and the other is pushing a cart with equipment on it.
This is a space that's only used by employees for work.  So it would be considered an employee work area.  It would then have the limited requirements of approach, enter and exit.  For that purpose, you would be necessary to have an accessible route to the space, accessible door, accessible floor transition so a threshold or however the door works, and a clear floor space within the work area.
A few other considerations beyond those requirements could be beneficial for eventual accommodations and just general inclusivity.
Those could include turning space within the clean room, accessible reach to elements and operable controls like we talked about, and policies that support accommodation requests.  There might be an accommodation that someone would request if they have a mobility device and perhaps you can accommodate having a separate device within the room and without so they have a cane or a walker that they use within the clean room and then one that they use outside.
Next slide, please.
Safety equipment is really important in these settings.  So emergency showers and eye wash stations are critical for providing that safety.  On this slide we have an image of a shower fixture that has a large triangle pole to activate it so you can image how you could reach an arm or a device in there and pull down as needed.
It also has a basin that someone would lean over to rinse their eyes.  And I have drawn a yellow arrow that's pointing at it simulating an arrow on the floor.  The fixtures should have a clear route, clear floor space for use, controls that are at an accessible height and are operable, and for the eye wash station, you would want to have knee clearance to be able to pull up under it and to lean over it to use it.
So the yellow arrow on the floor is sort of an idea that might be helpful to have a high contrast occasion leading users to this device.
Next slide, please.
There are a lot of items beyond space and fixtures that can improve access and inclusion in this setting.  We will discuss a few here but this is not a full list.  On this site we have an image of a service dog in a lab wearing full protective equipment so the dog has on goggles, a lab coat and booties.
One important thing to be certain of is whether there's a clear and well‑known way to request accommodations.  We talked about the importance of accommodations in work areas.  There are limited requirements because different employees may require different ways to make it possible to do a job.
Accommodations or adjustments are how that's achieved.  So it's really important, do employees know how to do this?  Whether they are new to the role or have been there for 25 years?  Do they feel safe to request accommodations?  Where there's a culture of misunderstanding around accommodations, employees may feel uneasy or discouraged from requesting an accommodation.  Becky shared about that not feeling comfortable requesting accommodations for a while.  And I think that that goes to the culture of the place.  And, you know, whether your managers and leaders are aware of the process and facilitate that for happening.
This is a matter of clarity and awareness for the managers.  And just the team in charge of accommodations.  Are we putting it out there all of the different ways, touchpoints to request it and to get assistance with the process because it can be kind of confusing, too,.
It's also best practice to engage in emergency drills where everyone knows the safety plan and is prepared to act on it.  It's important to be sure that colleagues with physical and sensory disabilities and those who are neurodivergent are included in planning and the drills.
Next slide, please.
A few more items to consider.  When providing signage or information, be sure that you are not conveying information through color alone.  There's an example on this slide where the top line is red text accompanied by a danger icon.  The red text reads stop, five people max in this area.  And below it there's green text with a thumbs up icon and it says less than five people in this area at all times.
This message is conveyed in word, in color and icon, which is important because if it's simply said, more than five people in red and less than five people in green, it would be really confusing for everyone and impossible to understand for some people who are colorblind.
Finally, technology is a huge tool toward inclusive design and it certainly can be used in this setting as well.  It may be possible to use self‑monitoring equipment that alerts users to malfunctions or accidents.  And there's always a question of what can be automated.  This can make things simpler for everyone to complete a task.  It can make it transferable.  There are a lot of ways that automation can help in this regard as well.
So, I guess the root of all of this is sometimes all it takes is clear standards to be accessible but more than that, it takes creativity, flexibility, and listening to the person who knows what they need best.
So by combining all these approaches to reduce and remove barriers we can benefit from the innovation, collaboration and participation of everyone.
And, yeah, that's the resources that I used to put this together.  Thanks, everyone.
>> DEB DAGIT: Well, thank you so much, Kate.  And I am so amazed by the breadth and depth of what you were able to present in such a short time.  And having worked in manufacturing environments, I so wish I had had this presentation at the time I was working in those organizations, because you made it abundantly clear in plain language and you made it feel so doable.  So, thank you.
So, we are going to stop the recording at this point and what I would love is for if anybody has questions for Kate, if you go ahead and send those to Mylene or I, we will get those over to her and we will work with her to get those answers.
To the degree she is able to provide ‑‑
>> Recording stopped.
>> DEB DAGIT: We know that everybody has restrictions in terms of what they are able to provide.
But, Kate, you did double duty back to back today.  You were a superstar in both sessions.  And Mylene and I thank you so much.
So, just have a few minutes left, because I know we are almost at the end of our time.  And if we want to go ahead and put up one of our last slides, Mylene.  Here we go.
The future events with the Inclusion Works meeting on July 14th.  If you have suggestions of things you would like to see us address at that meeting or any future meeting, please send those to Mylene and I.  We did get one piece of feedback that we will do our best to follow up on, which is to make sure that in the future, we do our healthcare community of practice virtual earlier in the day because we did have some global folks that wanted to participate live and it was just too late in the day doing it at the end of the day.  So we will see what we can do about that.
Diane, I see you have your hand raised.  Did you want to unmute and ask a question?  Perhaps not.
So, again, I know we are at the end of the day.  It's been a great, long day.  We had hoped to have more time for questions and answers.  But we also want to respect your time.  So, what we would love for you to do is send us your ideas for future topics, future speakers, and I really want to thank my colleague, Mylene Padolina, who did all the heavy lifting for today's session, creating the slides and just really being our project leader.  I want to thank our ASL interpreters, I want to thank Ashley, who is our Inclusion Works coordinator, who made the whole day work today.  And Cara Pelletier, our fearless leader.
So, thank you, everyone, for participating.  And please do continue to tell us what you are looking for and how we can meet your needs, because that's what we are all about at Inclusion Works.
Thank you, everyone.  And have a great rest of your evening.  Thank you.
(Session was concluded at 5:32 p.m. EST) 

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