Imagine being at work or school, and watching a presentation on a crucial policy change that directly affects you. The speaker is on screen, uncaptioned, but the volume is too low. You strain your ears to catch their words but fail, walking away frustrated. This is how Ikumi Kawamata, a former intern at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), felt when sign language interpreters were too small or difficult to view on the screen.
As a deaf person, her impairment is not always visible, Kawamata explained. Currently responsible for the Nippon Foundation’s initiatives related to the deaf community, she reflects on her time at ESCAP not just as a learning experience, but also as an opportunity to teach: "I think it could be easy to think of disability as one category when really disability is a really broad category that's really diverse, and people with disabilities are all very different."
In separate conversations, her thoughts were echoed by Parkhat Yussupjanov and Adina Faye Karten, former interns with disabilities whose work at ESCAP offered a strong case for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
From intern to changemaker: Advocacy from within
Even as organizations strive to create more inclusive spaces, representation is critical to bringing about change as these bustling soundscapes also present unique challenges for persons with disabilities. Impactful changes cannot be implemented without their presence as stakeholders, and Kawamata, Yussupjanov and Karten’s stories demonstrate that.
Yussupjanov, who is visually impaired, shared how his colleagues at ESCAP were very friendly and went out of their way to get to know him and help even when there were accessibility concerns. However, as people who did not share his unique lived experiences, some of his challenges went unnoticed, especially when it came to navigating unfamiliar spaces.
"I found that many people at ESCAP would walk up and say hello to me without introducing themselves, and sometimes I could not recognize who they were," he said. He figured that it was not out of malicious intent but different lived experiences, and took the initiative to talk to his supervisor about it. This led to a gentle reminder being issued to colleagues about identifying themselves when approaching someone with a visual impairment. In the coming days, he was able to notice a change in the way people communicated with him, being more mindful when introducing themselves.
Reminiscing about his time at ESCAP over a decade ago, Yussupjanov highlighted the lack of attitudinal barriers as crucial to building a diverse workplace: "Although the infrastructure was not that inclusive for me at the time, people actually made it better by their attentive behavior and by their kindness and openness to be inclusive."
A leap of faith: Embracing diverse abilities
The workplace is evolving rapidly, with remote work offering new opportunities for the inclusion of diverse ideas. Karten is a spine surgery survivor and service dog user with migraines. Her remote internship during the COVID-19 pandemic offered a good case for this phenomenon. However, changing systems also means mutating challenges. Her key takeaway was managing expectations through open and honest communication.
"Being direct and confident about what your needs are helps everybody on the team because it's not just disabled people who have needs," she explains. "Everybody has needs and the UN has been working with cross-cultural needs for a very long time. Perhaps we’re a couple of decades further behind on disabled needs. But that doesn't mean that we're not learning."
Similarly, Kawamata explained that new challenges also offer new opportunities for innovative thinking. Recognizing the limitations of solely relying on sign language interpreters, she champions the use of technology to bridge communication gaps, using Zoom's built-in captioning feature as an example. To ensure effective communication, a combination of approaches is important, she noted.
A launching pad for dreams: The ripple effect
Building a sense of community at the workplace transformed the experience of the former interns at ESCAP. A highlight for Kawamata was how motivated her colleagues were to communicate with her: "They weren't afraid to make mistakes. They weren't afraid to look silly. They all tried different, creative ways to communicate with me, and I felt so welcomed by that and included and able to enjoy my internship. It's something that I'll always remember."
In the years since Kawamata, Yussupjanov and Karten worked at ESCAP, the organization is striving for more tangible change. However, this is dependent on representation, which can only be facilitated when persons with disabilities are not just being assigned to departments in-charge of disability inclusion, but also across all sections of an organization.
“As human resources practitioners, we know that diversity is a strength. ESCAP is dedicated to fostering an environment of inclusion and accessibility for all. Our diversity efforts, such as organizing a discovery series featuring personal stories from persons with disabilities, aim to showcase positive experiences and promote inclusivity. These initiatives help ensure that persons with disabilities have equal access to opportunities and can fully participate in our community,” shared Nicole Eggers-Westermann, Chief of Human Resources Management at ESCAP.
Progress is not linear, especially when it comes to creating transformative spaces, where professional development can walk in tandem with shattering preconceived notions about disability inclusion in the workplace. Stories such as these paint a compelling picture of people and an organization that is striving to bridge the gap between intent and action.
For more information on career opportunities at ESCAP: https://www.unescap.org/jobs
Note: Interviews for this piece were conducted by Kavita Sukanandan and Veronika Verner of ESCAP’s Communications and Knowledge Management Section, with the support of Junichi Natsume (Human Resources Management Section) and Aiko Akiyama (Social Development Division).
