Episode 38

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Are You Ready for Disability?  Is Your Company?

We often plan our lives assuming best-case scenarios:  the fastest commute, the home that will always rise in value, the jump to a new exciting job.  But sometimes we have to deal with things that are not on our wish lists.  One of these is a disability.  Disabilities can be temporary or permanent, hidden or visible, predictable, or a total surprise.  At least 15 percent of the workforce deals with disability.  What can you do to manage this?  And what should your company be doing?  In this episode, we are joined by Michael's business school classmate, Ed Gray, who is Director of Partnering Programs and Accessibility at Avid.  In the past few years, he gradually lost his eyesight and he talks about his journey, what he's learned about living with a disability, and how you can navigate disability – and help your company navigate it as well. Notwithstanding the serious nature of the subject, Ed is as much a character now as he was when Michael met him in the 1990s.  Join us for an informative, heartfelt, serious, and funny conversation. 

Resources:

Ed's FB page – Resident Blind Guy

Twitter handle:  @avidprotools

Department of Labor description of "reasonable accommodations"

Microsoft accessibility tools

Apple accessibility tools

Apple Seeing AI app

Gaulladet University

Lighthouse Foundation for the Blind

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