Ep. 47: Disability Awareness in the Multigenerational Workplace

In offices and on Zoom, Slack or Teams calls around the world, there are four generations of people working side by side.

And they don’t all talk about disability the same way.

There are baby boomer executives who came up through the ranks before specific disability legislation existed; and when language that’s politically and socially incorrect today, was commonplace. For them, the word “disability” may still carry old weight and stigma.

Then there are the GenXers. They’re often managing a paren’ts health — perhaps a parent who has a disability — and their children’s homework, after work. For them, disability isn’t only a workplace topic.

And then there are the Millennials. They’re the generation born starting at the height of the modern disability rights movement. And for some, their schooling began after the first real disability legislation was passed.

And the GenZers. They talk about disability loudly in workplaces, publicly in person and on social media. They don’t whisper about disability. Because for them, it’s part of their identity.

In the workplace, the combination of multiple generations with different perspectives on disability can create real tension. And that’s what we’re exploring in this episode.

We’ve got three perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic for this episode on disability awareness in the multigenerational workplace: One from Canada, one from the U.S. and one from the U.K.

 

SHOW NOTES