People may find it risky to disclose a disability to an employer, says Ross Barchacky, head of partnerships, Inclusively. But an employee or job seeker self-identifying can result in an employer making accommodations to help that person reach maximum potential.

WorkingNation sat down with Barchacky at the 2023 Disability:IN Conference in Orlando.

For those hiring managers who are not aware of the accommodations they can provide, Barchacky has a suggestion, “Educate yourself. Go out there and do research about accommodations if you don’t feel like you might be a subject matter expert. Let’s face it, if you’re not in HR, in compliance – everyday hiring managers might not have that experience of the accommodations process.”

He continues, “Being able to bring that to the table and understand how your organization operates and how they accommodate their employees and what that process is like, I think is really important.”

Barchacky – who suffered traumatic brain injury and musculoskeletal injuries while serving in the military – says he is seeing progress on the employer-side. “I think you see that in the fact that employers are willing to become a little bit more transparent themselves – talking about what their accommodations process is like, interviewing individuals from their organization and being able to have them share their stories, just standing up in an ERG [employee resource group] or a BRG [business resource group] where they might have a mentorship program, where people can get help through the onboarding process by somebody else with a disability within the organization.”

“I think that they’re starting to embrace the mantra, ‘Nothing about us without us’ and I think that it’s really benefiting organizations as a whole.”

Inclusively works with employers to help them become more inclusive and partners with stakeholders, including veteran service organizations, to assist their job developers match with job seekers.

Learn more about Inclusively.