Intersectionality Awareness Month
Inclusion fails when it’s built for one story at a time.
Real people live at intersections. Race, gender, disability, class, identity, all at once. And yet, most systems are built to see just one.
Disability is everywhere. It cuts across every community, every culture, every conversation about equity. But too often, it’s left out or treated as a single-issue checkbox.
August is Intersectionality Awareness Month. This is the time to shift that frame.
Being blind, a woman, and or from a racially or ethnically marginalized background is not three stories. It is one experience, lived within systems that rarely account for the whole.
In my doctoral research, I saw how that plays out. Legally blind white men with some usable vision earn the most. Totally blind Black women earn the least. Same disability. Vastly different outcomes.
That is not a coincidence. It is a design flaw. And design flaws can be fixed.
Intersectionality is a Strategy
This is not about feeling bad. It is about doing better.
When we account for layered identities, we stop building systems that overlook people. We start creating ones that actually work.
Take employment. Roughly 35 percent of blind Americans are in the workforce. Over 70 percent of working-age adults overall are employed. That gap is not abstract. It is telling us something specific.
It is telling us where to pay attention.
Five Moves that Actually Matter
- Start With Disability
Put it in every DEI conversation. Not later. Right away. - Break Your Data Wide Open
Track outcomes, not just headcounts. Find the patterns and act on them. - Let People Be Whole
No one should have to split themselves to be included. - Make Accommodations Standard
Ask everyone what they need to thrive. Build it in. - Build Leadership Pipelines That Reflect The Real World
Invest in talent that lives at the intersections not just those who fit the mold.
The Future Is Already Intersectional
Inclusion is not about adding categories. It is about shifting the center.
It is about designing for reality instead of ideals.
When we do that, we do not just support more people. We unlock more value.
We widen the path forward. We build systems that see all of us.
Disability is not one thing.
Neither are we.
It is the organizations that understand this that will lead the next era.
” 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
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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