Disability Etiquette Guide: Creating an Inclusive Workplace

A free, plain-language resource for leaders, managers, and teams who want to move from good intentions to inclusive action.

I’m Dr. Kirk Adams. I’ve been blind since age 5 and have spent the better part of my career at the intersection of disability and the workplace, first as a blind professional navigating barriers myself, later as President and CEO of The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. and the American Foundation for the Blind. Across thousands of conversations with executives, hiring managers, and disabled colleagues, one pattern keeps surfacing: most people genuinely want to get this right. They just aren’t sure how.

That’s why I wrote this guide.

What You’ll Find Inside

For every team member:

General etiquette principles that work across every workplace interaction.
Specific guidance for working with colleagues who have visual, hearing, cognitive, and hidden disabilities.
Active-listening and clear-communication techniques anyone can put to use today.

For managers and employers:

A practical framework for accommodation conversations.
Inclusive event-planning and digital accessibility essentials.
A short ADA primer.
A curated list of trusted resources, the Job Accommodation Network, EARN, the ADA National Network, Disability:IN.

Why Etiquette Is Strategy

Disability inclusion is too often left to a single training session or buried in a compliance checklist. It deserves better. The everyday moments, how you greet a colleague who uses a cane, how you run a meeting that includes a Deaf participant, how you respond when a teammate discloses a hidden condition, are where culture is actually built.

Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s a strategic advantage: wider talent pools, stronger retention, better products designed for the largest minority group in the world.

Get The Guide, Free

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” Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s a strategic advantage. “

Dr. Kirk Adams, Ph.D.
Advocate, Leader and Keynote Speaker on Disability Inclusion & Leadership
Leading the Way to Accessible Innovation

Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion (ISDI)
Executive Director
Strengthening individual and organizational capability for creating diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces.

Innovative Impact, LLC Consulting
Managing Director
Impactful Workforce Inclusion Starts Here

American Foundation for the Blind
Immediate Past President & CEO
To create a world of no limits for people who are blind or visually impaired.

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