Improving disability inclusion in your workplace can add unique perspectives and a sense of belonging to your team, increase innovation, and enhance the products and services you deliver. This Candid Conversation will focus on what organizations can do to create an inclusive and equitable workplace for disabled employees, address the legal requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and provide resources for types of accommodations that should be considered.
- What is a disability?
- What challenges do people with disabilities face?
- How do we design and build an inclusive and comfortable space?
- How can we make our workplaces more accessible and universal?
- How can we recruit, hire, onboard, and advance employees with disabilities?
Join us on May 3rd for another Candid Conversation to learn answers to these questions and more from a dynamic panel of speakers. We encourage you to come with additional questions for our panelists.
EVENT DETAILS
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Check-In & Refreshments
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Program
555 California Street Auditorium, San Francisco
Complimentary Registration
PANELISTS
Lucy Greco | Web Accessibility Evangelist at UC Berkeley
Lucy Greco has been blind since birth. She first started using computers in 1985. Lucy has always felt that computers gave her an advantage while in college that many blind people did not have before that. Having a computer throughout college meant that she never had to get an extension on a paper or have somebody else re-write the paper so her professor could read it.
Using various forms of assistive technology (such as a scanner using optical character recognition), Lucy realized the potential for technology to include people with disabilities in everyday activities. Upon graduating from college, instead of continuing her interest in literature and physical therapy, Lucy became an accessible technology specialist. Since then, people have come to Lucy asking questions, such as:
How can I experience email as a blind person?
How can I experience using a word processor as a person who can't use his/her hands?
Lucy’s passion drove her to find the answers to these questions and more.
Katy Hawkins, RA, LEED AP | Associate Architect at Mark Cavagnero Associates
Katy Hawkins has been working in the A-E field for over 20 years, including 4 years as a structural engineer earlier in her career prior to becoming an architect. Katy is highly skilled at managing the design of complex projects and frequently draws on her engineering background to solve design challenges. At MCA, she has worked as a project manager for tenant improvement and new construction projects for nonprofit organizations such as the LightHouse for the Blind, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Jerry Kuns | Mobility and Wayfinding Consultant
Jerry Kuns has been involved in employment development and placement of blind people since the mid 1960's, as a rehabilitation counselor and supervisor with the California Department of Rehabilitation from 1966-1975 and as an employment development specialist and project manager with sensory access foundation through 1986. He has worked with information access issues since the mid 1970's. He was employed by Humanware Inc from the late 1980's through the early 2000's and spent his remaining years as an adaptive technology specialist with the California Department of Education, retiring in 2014. He continues to work tirelessly to promote braille literacy and the use of information access tools in education and employment.
Cecily Ng, Architect | AIA at Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects (LMSA)
Cecily Ng is an Architect at LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects. A Bay Area native, Cecily has brought her design expertise and passion for her local community to projects ranging from affordable housing to public parks and recreation facilities. Her current project is a major renovation on the UC Berkeley campus, which will serve as the new home for the University’s Disabled Students’ Program. She is grateful to be able to work on projects with far-reaching positive impacts in the region where she grew up.
MODERATED BY
DEI Committee Chair, Ebony Horace | Cushman & Wakefield
