A Journey Into Disability: Shifting My Own Perceptions

"Are there any accommodations or needs that we should be aware of that would make it easier for you to succeed in your potential role at Champions?"

I remember this question vividly from when I was interviewed for the position of Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Champions last year. At the time, I literally had no idea what Lori James, our Client Services Manager, was getting at when she asked me this. This was representative of the knowledge which I had about disabilities, inclusion and employment at this time in my life - which was little to none.

Prior to this moment, I had generally been committed to issues and ideas surrounding the concept of social justice, both in my professional and academic lives. I have always been deeply concerned about the various inequalities which exist in the societies we live in, and have embarked on a career path where I aspire to address their root or structural causes. (My friends in the corporate world call this career path the PDG - Professional Do Gooder - but this isn't article about addressing their cynicism) While I had never worked with persons with disabilities, or as a career developer for that matter, applying for a position at Champions Career Centre seemed to fit neatly within the kind of work I wanted to do with my life.

At the time, and immediately after being hired, it seemed so simple. Of course people with a disability deserve an equal opportunity to participate in the workforce! Let's help them get jobs!

About one month into my time at Champions, and after a several week crash course on all things related to diversity and inclusion, I participated in my first all day staff meeting. Which was the first all day staff meeting I had ever attended in an office environment. By the end of the meeting my head was pounding and I was completely disoriented.

Now, I understand that almost everyone has a special place in the dark corners of their heart for an all day staff meeting. I sincerely doubt anyone really looks forward to them, or relishes in their glory as they creep into their seventh and eighth hours. However, what I was feeling wasn't the normal fatigue related to being knee deep in a swamp of minutiae all day long, but were symptoms related to Post-Concussion Syndrome.

Before coming to Champions, there were two realities to my life. I loved to work independently, with most of my work experience involving consulting, research and volunteering in a solo capacity. I also seem to love to hit my head. Over the course of my lifetime I have taken a good half dozen shots to the skull, with the after effects getting worse with each concurrent blow, fall or golf ball. It was only with my last concussion - the aforementioned Titleist -  that I had to see doctors about the change in personality and symptoms I was experiencing in the weeks after the accident. Over time, the post-concussion symptoms subsided, and because I worked independently and at my own pace, I didn't believe there any long term ramifications associated with this injury.

It was scary to see my symptoms return. How do you tell a new boss you're struggling? Is it okay to ask for "special" treatment? What will my co-workers think? What if I can't do this job?

I am sure you can see the irony here. All of these questions are asked at Champions almost daily, both by our clients and by employers who want to tackle these challenges. If there ever was a place where a person could disclose how they are feeling about a barrier they are facing in their job, it is at Champions.

One meeting later, I met with Lisa Moon, my Executive Director, to disclose how I was feeling and come up with strategies to be successful, and my official journey into the world of disability began.

And what a journey it has been.

The great thing about being in Marketing and Communications in the modern world is the concept of engagement. Being good in this role is more about listening than anything else. I am a person who loves to learn - I would have gone to university my whole life, and many people would accuse me of trying - and to be a good "MarComm" person in this age involves listening and learning every day.

For the better part of the last two years I have been able to listen and learn from the amazing team at Champions, from the personal successes and challenges facing our clients, and from the amazing people and resources available online.

"Everyone experiences their disability in a unique way." This is a common phrase when it comes to talking about disabilities. It makes sense at a general level, but being able to experience it at a personal level has completely changed my perspective about the world. The fundamental change I have experienced is a respect and understanding for difference.

Yes, I deal with Post-Concussion Syndrome still to this day. Do I consider it a disability? That is tougher to say. I am not alone in this thinking. There are many people who are hard of hearing or deaf who don't consider themselves as living with a disability. Yet there are many, many others who embrace the term. I have no idea what it is like to live with spina bifida, or to be diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, or to live with fibromyalgia and be in chronic pain. Believe me, the list of what I don't understand in the world of disabilities is a mile long - because that is the range of experiences that exist.

Developing an understanding of this range of experiences, and an appreciation for difference, has resulted in me viewing the world completely differently. One of the first things that comes to mind when I enter a room or building is to wonder how accessible it is. I understand the importance of language when talking about disabilities, both in general and at an individual level. I will never upload or create a video without adding captions, no matter the time required.  

Finally, I have seen the inventiveness, innovation and adaptability that goes hand in hand with living with a disability. Every single person has barriers, whether they live with a disability or not, and there are countless things many of us can't do. For myself, I can't hold a tune, hold focus very long in prolonged conversations, or "demonstrate sensitivity at a personal level" (girlfriend's words). Some of my limitations may be a result of my inability to prevent my head from coming into contact with objects at high speeds, but most of my limitations are just personal barriers I have been dealing with my whole life.

My time at Champions has caused me to de-link the things we "can't do" from disability. Yes, some people face real barriers that relate to their condition. I would never deny this, but I also would never start there. I have seen a wide range of disabilities in my time at Champions, but I have seen an even wider range of abilities, and the realm of possibilities are far beyond what I ever imagined.

As I embark on the next chapter of my career path, and move away from Champions, I would like to express a sincere thank you to everyone on the Champions team, the clients and employers we have worked with, and the greater disability community at large. My life is fuller and more enriched from my time engaging with you.

Diversity Champion: ServiceMaster Clean

Aligning Core Values with Talent Needs
One in six Albertans has a disability. This enormous talent pool is largely untapped.

When our team at Champions approaches local employers, this is one of the first things we share with them. We know firsthand how hard it can be for employers in Calgary to find and keep the talent they need.  We believe they might be overlooking a pool of talented individuals who can help them meet their recruitment needs.

So when Susan Basudde, one of our Employment Retention Specialists at Champions, contacted ServiceMaster Clean about matching one of our clients with an available position in their company, a new relationship was born.

ServiceMaster Clean is one of the leading cleaning companies in Calgary. They provide janitorial services to commercial buildings, creating better, cleaner environments for employees and visitors of the facilities they service.

“One of our industry’s biggest challenges is employee retention,” says Jennifer Ashley, Director of Business Services at ServiceMaster Clean, “This is a tough job and it takes work to keep people happy and understanding. Cleaning an entire commercial building is a demanding task.”

To meet this challenge, ServiceMaster Clean looks to their core values for keeping their current employees and also to bring in new talent when needed. Central to achieving these goals is their commitment to diversity.

“We believe in diversity. We have associates from very different backgrounds and we know firsthand how a diverse team improves our thinking, makes us more creative, and helps us achieve our collective goals,” explains Jennifer.

ServiceMaster Clean’s commitment to diversity has been an ideal match for working with the team at Champions. In a short period of time we have been able to provide them with several candidates to fill open positions in their company. The variety of positions they have in their organization, and the various work environments that are available, means there is a lot of space to make different accommodations for employees, something ServiceMaster is happy to do.

“The whole team at ServiceMaster Clean is open to new ideas, they want people to work hard and they accommodate them to help make them successful in their role,” says Susan, “They really go above and beyond for their employees.”

We are proud to have ServiceMaster Clean as our Diversity Champion for this month, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them into the future. When we talk to the team at ServiceMaster Clean, we know we are dealing with leaders in their industry and in their commitment to inclusion.

“We care about people, we value teamwork, we do the right thing and we do what we say,” says Jennifer. “We believe in giving everyone an opportunity to work and make a difference in society.”

Diversity Champion: ATCO Structures & Logistics

Reflecting the Diversity in Our Community

“Alberta is not the same place it was 25 years ago.”

Several economic booms, and corresponding busts, and an influx of people from all over Canada and the world have dramatically changed the shape of our province over the last couple decades. Nobody knows this reality better than Alitta Tait, Recruitment Supervisor for ATCO Structures and Logistics (ASL), who is tasked daily with meeting the recruitment challenges of operating in Alberta’s ever-changing work environment.

“Calgary is a boom and bust town,” Alitta explains, “And there is not a lot of available talent with the skills sets and team dynamic we are looking for. Hiring in Alberta is difficult – there are a lot of good companies and a ton of opportunities out there.”

The nature of the economy in Alberta can be both a blessing and curse for ASL. A booming economy creates more business for the company, but also makes it difficult to fill much needed positions to meet the demands of their industry. The oil and gas industry takes up a lot of the workforce and their ability to offer high salaries creates challenges for non-oil and gas companies to find and retain talent.

To meet this challenge, ASL looks to mirror the diversity inherent in their company and in our community.

“The ATCO Group of Companies is very diverse as an organization. We operate on six different continents and have nine different operating companies making the opportunities in our company incredibly diverse.  At the same time, Alberta is a diverse community and reaching out to different groups of people and adapting new sourcing strategies helps us remain competitive,” says Alitta.

At ASL, individual members of the recruiting team have taken on the task of reaching out to various groups who may represent under-utilized talent pools. These groups include persons with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, immigrants, women and more. It allows each recruiter to focus on an area they are passionate about and to connect to possible gatekeepers and knowledge sources for each group.

Alitta explains this philosophy, “Being able to meet with organizations who are specialists, who can guide us and help us network in the right way with the right people is critical. For example, Champions understands our work environment quite well - our workplace culture – and they know how to send the right people who can succeed and enjoy it here.”

Andy Potton, one of our Employment and Retention Specialists at Champions, says it is refreshing to see the commitment from ASL. They have interviewed and hired numerous Champions clients, and are actively working with our team on building a diversity plan that can guide their workplace in the future.

“They really are a leader in the hiring and inclusions of persons with disabilities,” says Andy, “They look right past the disability. All they see are skills and talents and how a person might be the right fit.”

Even with a strong commitment, Alitta knows how difficult building a diverse workforce can be and that it isn’t done in a day. However, since putting a major focus on diversity the results have been more than encouraging.

“At first, it can be daunting,” says Alitta, “But getting involved with Champions, and other community agencies, helps us immensely. Giving us tips on best practices and showing us how to get involved really got the ball rolling and now it has taken on a life of its own.  We’ve always had a great workplace culture here but the amount of excitement, sharing and openness that has occurred since the organization really focused on diversity has been very encouraging.”

If mirroring and reflecting the many diverse communities in Alberta is the goal, then the dynamic and multi-faceted workplace they are building at ATCO Structures & Logistics is definitely moving in the right direction.

ATCO Structures & Logistics has more than 65 years experience providing complete infrastructure solutions to customers worldwide. They are your source for award-winning, innovative modular building solutions, remote workforce accommodations, lodging and site-wide services, noise abatement and air emissions control technologies. They have manufacturing facilities in North America, South America and Australia, operations on 6 continents and a global supply chain, allowing them to deliver a rapid, turn-key solution anywhere it’s needed.

When Culture Meets Disability

When we discuss diversity and inclusion, especially in regards to employment, there is a tendency to divide people into separate categories: Women, aboriginals, visible minorities, LGBT, and persons with disabilities. Attempts at hiring diverse talent often includes targeting individuals who appears to represent one of these distinctions.

However, human beings rarely fall into such clearly delineated categories. We are complex beings and have multiple identities.  It is not extremely rare to see an aboriginal woman living with a disability, or a gay man who is also a new migrant to Canada. Understanding how to truly be inclusive, and overcoming barriers and misconceptions, then requires an understanding of how our different identities interact. Our personal lives, relationships, and workplaces can all be impacted by different conceptions of culture, religion, sexual orientation and disability.

Specifically, let's talk about culture and disability. It is common to think of culture as something foreign - so when we discuss culture in the workplace we often frame it around non-Canadian identities. But it is important to remember that we all have our own sense of culture and identity, and that these identities are formed all the way down from nationality to community to family. Different communities, cultures, and even religious faiths can respond to disability in different ways.

In an increasingly multicultural city like Calgary, it is becoming more and more common for us at Champions to see people respond to their disability differently - based on their various backgrounds and ethnicity. For example, in Canadian culture we have a tendency to explain disability in medical terms (Although this dominant way of thinking is often challenged by persons would rather see disability defined in terms of how society creates barriers to the disabled). However, other cultures and religions may explain disability in different terms, such as through blame, punishment, or a form of karma.

In many cultures it is not unusual for a disability to be blamed on the activities of a mother or parent. It may be blamed on something they did during pregnancy, but also extend to sins or transgressions they may have committed in this life or in previous ones. In this sense a disability can often be treated as a source of shame, resulting in it being quietly ignored within a family or social circle. Responding to disability in this manner can lead to neglect of the person, or isolating and separating them from society.

Treating disability in this manner happens in all cultures. People living with HIV/AIDS in Western cultures were often treated with total neglect and isolated during the early stages of the outbreak as people feared their disease but also associated them with a highly stigmatized lifestyle.

When we talk about disability awareness and strategies for inclusion, whether it be in society or in the workplace, it thus becomes imperative to understand the different ways each of us respond to disability. People living with their disability may view their condition as a gift, a curse, or just an unfortunate accident. Similarly, people may explain another person's disability in those terms as well - which can create conflict when viewpoints differ.

Any discussion of inclusion must include an exploration of culture, faith and personal background. We often say that everyone experiences their disability in a unique way - there is not set path or golden ticket to building an integrated society. But if we pay attention to the details along the way we may just get a little bit closer.

Diversity Champion: The Westin Calgary

Embracing Diversity in all of its Facets

Didier Luneau, GM at The Westin Calgary,
 spends a day in a wheelchair
to better understand what it is like to
live with a disability. 

As an organization committed to helping employers build more inclusive workplaces we have a tendency to focus on persons with disabilities – this is our mandate after all. However, embracing diversity means embracing many different groups of people alongside persons with disabilities, including women, visible minorities and immigrants, aboriginals and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) peoples.  

Being an employer committed to diversity means embracing all of these groups, and our Diversity Champion for the month of July, The Westin Calgary, does just that.

Didier Luneau, General Manager at The Westin Calgary, believes the core of diversity is showing respect to individuals. “We have a lot of passion at The Westin Calgary for diversity and inclusion,” he says, “we know the more diversity we have in the hotel, the better we can accommodate our guests and our associates.”

The Westin Calgary partners with Champions and other community organizations in Calgary for several reasons. To find diverse talent that can help meet their recruiting needs, to improve awareness about diverse peoples in the workplace, and to give back to the community in Calgary.

Posting jobs on the Champions employment board and working closely with our Employment and Retention Specialists to find the right people for the right job is just one way The Westin Calgary tries to find diverse talent.

“Calgary really is a melting pot,” says Susan Reeves, Director of Human Resources at the hotel, “our guests and associates come from all over the world and bring many different values, culture and possibilities to the workplace. All of our new associates go through diversity training when they begin – including disability awareness training.”

Recently, Didier spent an entire day in a wheelchair as part of the Chair-Leaders Enabling Access event in Calgary.

“It was a real eye opener for me,” Didier says. “People were friendly to me but I could tell that they were looking at me more for my disability than as another person. It was interesting to be in that position as I did not feel as recognized as usual. I felt more empathy rather than respect for what I am bringing to the table.”

His time in the wheelchair also meant Didier was able to personally experience and identify many of the barriers which exist in the hotel, both for a guest and an employee. He hopes that they will be able to make the necessary changes in the future.

As mentioned earlier, building an inclusive workplace for persons with disabilities is only one part of how The Westin Calgary embraces diversity. Over 34 different languages are spoken among employees at the hotel, representing numerous cultures from around the world. The hotel hosts different cultural days throughout the year to honour all the different heritages their employees come from.

At The Westin Calgary, embracing different cultures is seen as a smart business decision as it makes the hotel a more welcoming place for their guests and associates.  Hotel associates receive training in cultural etiquette and go as far as to encourage their cooks from different areas of the world to create meals based on their own culture. It’s all a part of making people feel at home by giving them a sense and a memory of where they are coming from.

The Westin Calgary is also keen to include women in roles they aren't traditionally represented in. For example, women are often underrepresented in areas like the kitchen and engineering/maintenance in the hospitality industry. The hotel strives to find and present opportunities to women who are interested in fulfilling these roles. The Westin also continually reaches out to the LGBT community. In fact, Starwood Hotels (The Westin's parent company) was the first hospitality company to become a partner with the Pride at Work initiative – a Canadian organization dedicated to improving the climate of inclusiveness for LGBT employees in the workplace.

Most of all, The Westin wants to contribute to building a better Calgary.

“The community is giving us a lot, and we want to give back as much as we can,” Didier explains.

Which is why The Westin Calgary partners with many organizations like Champions, Inn from the Cold, the Drop In Centre, Rupertsland Institute, Immigrant Services Calgary, La Table Des Chefs (The Chef Table), Calgary Children’s Foundation and many others to find creative ways to give back to the community.  

For four years in a row The Westin Calgary has experienced the highest employee satisfaction and engagement for all of the hotels in Starwood Canada. With their commitment to diversity and inclusion, it is easy to see why. 

Our Executive Director on go! Calgary

Our Executive Director, Lisa Moon, was on go! Calgary with Phoenix last week discussing Champions and employment for persons with disabilities in our city. You can catch the video below:

Diversity Champion: Shell Canada

Thank you to the entire HR and
Recruitment team at Shell
Canada.

This month we are pleased to recognize Shell Canada as our Diversity Champion, our ongoing monthly feature where we acknowledge forward thinking businesses and leaders who embrace inclusion and diversity in our community.

As part of their commitment to building a diverse workforce, Shell recently invited Champions to host a Diverse-Abilities event as part of an Away Day for their HR and Recruitment team. We chose to host the event at the Winter Sport Institute at Canada Olympic Park – a key training facility for Canada’s Paralympic athletes and team. The connection? That just as a disability doesn't mean you can’t be a world class athlete, it also doesn't mean you can’t be top talent for an employer.

The Away Day featured speakers from Shell and Champions, both of whom spoke about challenges and best practices for recruiting persons with disabilities, and then we moved on to interactive games and disability simulation exercises.  The enthusiasm and participation from everyone at Shell was amazing as participants eagerly took part in all of the activities. The day wrapped up with a small panel discussion where members of the Shell team were able to ask members of Champions questions surrounding disabilities, recruiting and accommodation.

Speaking with Deborah Green, Senior Diversity Recruiter at Shell, it becomes easy to see how important diversity is to the company.

“As an oil and gas hub, there is a lot of competition in Calgary. To attract diverse talent the biggest challenge is making sure our inclusion piece is in place. We can recruit all we want, but without an inclusive environment our talent could be going out the back door. We really strive hard to make sure people feel they can be themselves at work.”

Shell Canada combines education and awareness training with employee networks to build an inclusive workplace. In Calgary alone, Shell utilizes seven different employee-driven diversity networks to raise awareness and build support within the company. For their efforts, Shell Canada has been ranked in the Top 100 Employers in Canada for the last 12 years, and been listed as a Top 45 Diversity Employer for the last six.

At Champions, we have been partnering with Shell since 2006 and have provided numerous disability education and awareness sessions to their team over the years.  Thank you to everyone at Shell Canada for your commitment to diversity and repeatedly inviting us to collaborate with you.

CFT7 Disability Employment Symposium, May 8th and 9th

Community Futures Treaty Seven (CFT7) will be hosting their 6th Annual Disability Employment Symposium this May 8th and 9th at the Coast Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre in Calgary.

CFT7 advocates for inclusion in our community by collaborating with organizations and businesses that are actively hiring, training, retaining and supporting employment of First Nations People with disabilities.

The Symposium features several speakers, workshops, an interactive panel discussion and information fair.

For more information please visit www.cft7.ca or contact Johnathon Red Gun at Johnathonrg@t7edc.com.

When: May 8th and 9th
Time: 7:30am to 5pm
Where: Coast Plaza Hotel
1316 33 Street Northeast
Calgary, AB T2A 6B6
(403) 248-8888

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