Whether your organization calls it EDIA, DEIA, IDEA, or something analogous, inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, and belonging have been top of mind for employers for well over a decade and are still a hot topic today for organizations.

Employers not only need to be inclusive, but they also want to be inclusive. The research, as well as the anecdotal evidence, support this notion. In contrast, though, the employment statistics do not. People with disabilities in Ontario continue to have a higher rate of unemployment or underemployment than their non-disabled peers.

If we, as employers, are so open to a diverse workforce and champion equity over equality, why is this not the reality? The answer in one word: fear. Employers are afraid to ask the questions they really want to ask their employees and job seekers, so as not to get into legal or compliance issues. While at the same time, employees and job seekers are afraid to disclose information, fearing they will not be offered the job, keeping their job, and how others will perceive them. As an HR professional, I have experienced this fear from both the employer/HR perspective and the job seeker/employee perspective.

So how do we shift the narrative from compliance to compassion and inclusion? As HR professionals, if we do not have an understanding or experience with disability, we can start by understanding the job seeker’s perspective.

The Job Seeker/Employee Perspective

Disability can manifest in many forms: visible, invisible, chronic, temporary, and episodic are just a few examples. It can appear at all stages of life: it can be congenital or appear at any time during one’s life, and can be gradual or sudden. At some point in life, most people will experience a disability, whether temporary or permanent.

Disability disclosure is very personal. As an employer, I am a strong advocate of employees disclosing so we can best support them with employment accommodation and better understand their individual’s needs. From an employee perspective, there is often hesitation to disclose because once you disclose, you cannot take it back.

Fear

I was invited to write this article over a year ago because I have had over 20 years of experience working in HR across the manufacturing, not-for-profit, academic, and arts sectors. I also am a person with a disability.

So why did it take me so long to write this article? I told the editors I was busy with work, as well as personal and family priorities. While this was true, the reality was also that the first and second drafts were complete months ago…. but something did not feel right. The weekend before the article was due, I read a LinkedIn post that Jodi Kovitz, CEO of HRPA, had written earlier the same day:

“People do their best work when they feel seen, valued and able to bring their whole selves to what they do. When belonging is real – when people are automatically supported and empowered to contribute meaningfully – everything escalates: innovation, trust, performance and the ability to more effectively navigate and adapt change”[1]

I had my “ah-ha” moment and knew why I had procrastinated on submitting this article and why it did not feel right. There is a disability rights and inclusion principle, “Nothing about us without us.” I had written the article from a third-party perspective and what was missing was my lived experience.

If you Google me, you will see that I have appeared on TV shows and been quoted in newspaper articles as an HR or disability employment subject matter expert. While I have disclosed my disability to my employers and co-workers, nowhere in a public, professional forum have I done this… until now. I was afraid to publicly write that I have a disability for fear of how it may impact me professionally in the future. I had told the editors a year ago that I have a story to tell, but I had in fact failed to tell it.

Lived Experience

I have a congenital condition and always knew I was different. I am of South Asian descent and have Albinism. My family has brown skin and dark hair, but I do not. People with Albinism are very fair, have none-to-very-little pigment, are very light sensitive, and are legally blind, with varying degrees of low-to-no vision. If you don’t know anything about albinism, then you might think I just have really blond hair, happen to need glasses, and, now that I am of a certain vintage, that maybe my hair turned white early.

Unlike many of my peers who live with a disability, I have had a job since I was 12 years old. I started with a paper route, then various part-time jobs through high school and university, and then started working full-time right after school and have been consistently employed. I have been fortunate that all of the organizations I have worked for, regardless of if they had formal diversity and inclusion programs or not, treated me as an individual, saw me for my skills and abilities, and were supportive in terms of accommodation needs. Throughout my career, I experienced challenges with some individuals who felt that because I had a disability, I automatically was not capable of success. However, they taught me what not to be when I became a people leader.

This does not mean that I did not face barriers to employment. Like many employed people with disabilities, I faced underemployment, despite having work experience and the education. Early in my career, I felt it was important to disclose information about my vision during the interview process, even though I was not required to. At the time, I felt it was important to let potential employers know that, despite my disability, I can function in a normal environment, and that I had special glasses and used assistive technology that helped me to do so. I was bringing my whole self to work, even though that was not a term used 20 years ago.

Here was the reality that I faced: most of my HR classmates were interviewed by one or two companies before they found a job. I had 11 interviews before I got my first job offer. My first job was a contract HR Administrator role covering a maternity leave. My first manager, when moving on to her next role, gave me some career advice, where she strongly recommend that I spend the first few years of my career learning different functions in HR so that I could decide what I liked most. She explained that while she had been in HR for over 20 years and had managed the pension and benefits function, never did she do it herself and had always relied on my pension and benefits person.

With this advice in mind, I actively targeted a total rewards role with a plan to do for a couple of years and then move on to recruitment or training. My two-year plan turned into a seven-year plan. To be fair, I cannot tease apart whether it was the pension and benefits specialty or my disability that was the limiting factor to roles in other functions. What I do know is that the job search I started after two years in pension and benefits took over a year to land the role at the next level, which was also in pension and benefits. During this job search, I applied to over 100 jobs and had 25 interviews, some of which resulted in second interviews. Three years later, when I was actively seeking my next role, I was more deliberate in my record keeping and purposely decided not to disclose anything about my disability until I moved through the process where I might be the selected candidate.

I applied for 102 jobs, received 47 first interviews, and 30 of which went to the second and third rounds, where I was advised it was between another candidate and me. These roles were across HR functions and included generalist roles, recruitment, training, and pension and benefits roles, across industries: not-for-profits, professional services, financial institutions, and healthcare. When I received the “thanks but no thanks” calls for those 30 final round interviews, I asked what I could do to improve, should there be next time. The answer was consistent: “We went with someone who has banking experience (or insert given industry or function).”

While I did not express this to the employer, I knew that it could not be true because they knew I did not have banking, healthcare, or whatever sector experience they were seeking in a candidate, before the first interview from my resume and before they moved me through several rounds of interviews to the final round. The only thing that changed was that I disclosed my disability. But I could not prove it. This was 2005-2010. During this time, banks were very forward-thinking in terms of their diversity and inclusion programs and rotational employment programs. I was successful in being interviewed by four of the five “big banks” for several of these programs. Again, I moved up through multiple levels of interviews, and I waited to be asked about my accommodation needs before disclosing. When I received the rejection, they all told me I had too much work experience to qualify for their specific program. Again, this information was known to them as part of my application.

Fast forward to when I was ready to move on to my two most recent roles of Director at Trinity College and AVP at ROM. I purposely did not disclose to my respective boss about my disability because I was afraid that they would think I was not capable of doing the job. Both times, I waited until the offers had been signed and we were having pre-meetings in advance of my start date to tell them about my needs. My boss, the former CAO at Trinity, sensed my nervousness about telling him and asked me a great question which was accompanied by a reassuring statement: “You seem very anxious about telling me this. Why is that, given you are often in my position? This does not change why we hired you. Just let me know what you need, and we will make it happen.” When I disclosed to my current CHRO at ROM, I was not nervous. She was so open and welcoming and wanted to ensure I had everything I needed to support my success. As job seekers, we should all be so lucky. As HR professionals, we can help ensure all our candidates have the same experience.

The Employer’s Perspective

In 2016, I was in the role of Manager, HR for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s (CNIB) Ontario Division. This was the organization’s largest division, with over half of the country’s staff and the largest number of clients. At that time, CNIB was embarking on a new strategic plan that changed many aspects of how the organization delivered service and did business. The appropriately named strategic plan, “Path to Change,” included how CNIB supported their blind and partially sighted clients when it came to employment. Historically, the organization had employment support programs, but there had been little change in clients’ employment rates. Given my HR background and my lived experience as a person with low vision, I was asked to develop and implement a career support program that aligned with the Path to Change.

I knew that, as an organization, we had to do something different, and the answer was in the name: Path to Change. HR is very well versed in what our legal obligations and duty to accommodate are under the Human Rights Code, as we have policies, processes, and diversity and inclusion statements in place. That is all well and good, but what were the real barriers to employment?

As I embarked on this project, I met with potential employment partners. Time and time again, I heard, “we want to hire people with disabilities, we know they would bring value to our organization, but…”. I realized that I had to ask these employers to be brave, be vulnerable, be honest, and articulate what the “but…” meant while creating a safe space where they could be candid with me.

In a nutshell, I heard the following feedback: we know what our legal obligations are to accommodate, but how do we get to know these candidates if we can’t ask them about their disability? What if they are poor performers? If we discipline them or terminate them, we could be sued for discrimination. We are not sure how “they” would fit in – what if people were uncomfortable?

I commend my HR peers for their honesty. As a person with disability, I had seen it as part of me, but not something that defined me. In contrast, it was evident that if it was known a candidate had a disability, many employers defined that individual by their disability and, as a result, it became their barrier to employment, even though these employers wanted these candidates to come to work.

Through these conversations, it became evident that in order to have blind and partially sighted job seekers “come to work,” it was not about CNIB helping them with resume writing, or interviewing skills or even technical skills: there were other organizations that already provided those services and did them very well. It was about supporting the candidates with the skills that would ensure they could be strong, productive contributors. These included but were not limited to: orientation and mobility skills that would ensure they could independently travel to and from work and within their work environment; advocacy skills, so that they would have the confidence to speak up for what accommodations they needed; and interpersonal skills so they communicated all of this in a professional environment.

What started as candid conversations grew into the “Come to Work” Program that was built on many partnerships.[2] We worked with job seekers to equip them with the interpersonal skills and daily living skills to be job-ready. We partnered with community agencies that provided traditional employment services (resume writing, job search skills, etc.) and helped them make their programs accessible. Finally, we partnered with employers that were ready to welcome a diverse group of job seekers into their organizations by enabling them to ask the questions they wanted answers to: how do we make our workplace accessible? How do we have conversations about an employee’s specific accommodation needs? How do we address performance issues without them being perceived as harassment or discrimination?

We started with 10 partner employers in 2018 when the program launched, and it has grown to 190 partner employers across Canada, with 460 graduates of the program who are currently employed and a talent pool of 1,800 job seekers.

Answering the Difficult Questions

Q:        How do we make our workplace accessible?

A:         Almost a decade later, there are many more available resources to employers. For example, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) standards, etc.

Q:        How do we have a conversation about an individual’s accommodation needs?

A:         Start by asking, “What workplace accommodation do you require?” Follow your company’s accommodation process or policies in terms of documentation and/or medical support, if required. Most importantly, listen. While educating yourself about an employee’s medical condition or disability is important, accommodation is not a one-size-fits-all solution, as People know what their needs are and how to accommodate them. In the event they do not, your company’s disability management provider will have additional resources.

Q:        How do I address performance issues?

A:         The same way you would address performance issues with any employee. Provide clear expectations, have open and honest conversations and address any issues in a timely manner before they grow into something beyond course correction.

Key Takeaway

Employment accommodations level the playing fields for those of us with disabilities. It is about equity and not equality. What is the difference?

Equality – giving everyone the same thing

Equity – giving people what they actually need to have an equal chance to succeed

Some Specific Tactics

1. Start with individualized accommodation not standardized support.

Equality might offer everyone the same chair or schedule.
Equity asks, “What does this employee need to perform at their best?”

Examples: adaptive technology, flexible hours, alternative formats, ergonomic setups, quiet spaces.

2. Remove systemic and environmental barriers. Equity means changing the environment, not the person.

Employers should assess:

• Physical barriers (stairs, lighting, noise)
• Digital barriers (inaccessible software, PDFs, intranets)
• Process barriers (rigid job descriptions, inflexible scheduling)
• This shifts responsibility from the individual to the organization.

3. Normalize and streamline the accommodation process

An equitable workplace makes requesting support:

• Simple
• Non-stigmatizing
• Fast
• Confidential

If employees fear being judged, they’ll avoid asking for what they need.

4. Train leaders and teams on inclusive practices. Equity requires awareness. Training should cover:

• Invisible disabilities
• How accommodation requests work
• How to respond with empathy
• Real-life inclusive behaviours

Educated leaders create equitable experiences.

5. Offer flexibility as a default. Flexible work arrangements support equity by acknowledging that people function differently.

Examples:

• Remote or hybrid options
• Adjustable schedules
• Choice in communication formats (email vs. synchronous meetings)

Flexibility decreases the need for “special” accommodations.

6. Include people with disabilities in the decision-making process, and design WITH, not FOR.

True equity includes:

• Consulting employees with disabilities
• Creating ERGs or advisory groups
• Including disability perspectives in policy and design reviews

Nothing for us without us.

7. Ensure equitable access to development and advancement. Equity means equal opportunity to grow, not just equal hiring access.

Employers can:

• Provide accessible training platforms
• Offer mentorship/sponsorship
• Remove bias in performance evaluations

Without equitable development pathways, representation stalls at entry levels.

8. Focus on psychological safety. Employees must feel secure saying:

• “I need this accommodation.”
• “I’m struggling with this task because of a barrier.”
• “This process excludes me.”

Leaders must model trust, empathy, and openness.

Next Steps: What Can HR Do?

Employment accommodation and disability disclosure is not a one-size-fits-all approach to inclusion, diversity, and equity. The common thread is our humanity – putting people first. As HR professionals, we have the responsibility to work with our respective organizations and their leaders to understand that disability is not always obvious and it does not define someone’s ability to succeed at work. We need to ensure we steward an inclusive workforce and community to create a workplace where employees feel safe asking for what they need. As employers, we need to respond with respect, flexibility, and equity so that everyone brings their whole selves to work and has a sense of belonging.

About the Author

Tina Sarkar-Thompson, CHRL, MEd, MBA, is a human resources professional with over 20 years of experience that includes providing strategic HR guidance to senior leaders and employees in all facets of HR, including employee and labour relations, talent development, organizational planning, learning and development, total rewards, health and safety, operations as well as policy and program development.

She is currently the Assistant Vice President, Human Resources at ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) and a part time course developer, designer and lecturer for Toronto Metropolitan University’s new HR Management & Leadership Program. Tina’s HR background includes roles at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), Toronto Metropolitan University and The Anglican Church of Canada. Tina has been sought out as a speaker and consultant in the areas of change management, team building and disability employment issues.

Tina holds a BSc in Psychology and an MEd in Leadership, Higher & Adult Education, specializing in Workplace Learning & Social Change from the University of Toronto. In 2022, she graduated with an Executive MBA with an HR concentration from the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. She is a Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) from the Human Resources Professional Association. Tina is passionate about people, employment and inclusion.

Outside of work, Tina is a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo, an assistant martial arts instructor, and is training for her third-degree black belt. She has held various leadership positions on volunteer boards that serve the community.

References

Kovitz, J. (2025, November 16). HRPA ignite: Idea: Jodi Kovitz. HRPA Ignite: IDEA | Jodi Kovitz. Retrieved December 10, 2025 from https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7395637123187601408/

Come to work. CNIB – Come to Work. (n.d.). https://cometowork.ca/

Footnotes

[1] Kovitz, J. (2025, November 16). HRPA ignite: Idea: Jodi Kovitz. HRPA Ignite: IDEA | Jodi Kovitz. Retrieved December 10, 2025 from https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7395637123187601408/

[2] For more information about CNIB’s Come to Work Program, please visit https://cometowork.ca/

Download PDF: Workplace Accommodation is More Than a Checkbox