Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Alvaro Silberstein Of Wheel the World On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have a Disability
An Interview With Eric Pines
Be straight forward and confident when acknowledging any accessibility accommodations you may need to perform your duties in your role. Having the proper tools you need will only enhance your work.
As we all know, over the past several years there has been a great deal of discussion about inclusion and diversity in the workplace. One aspect of inclusion that is not discussed enough, is how businesses can be inclusive of people with disabilities. We know that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. What exactly does this look like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Are Disabled “.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Alvaro Silberstein.
An entrepreneur, public speaker and passionate disability advocate, Alvaro Silberstein co-founded Wheel the World in 2018 to inspire millions of people to explore the world without limits. With a background in management consulting for leading Latin American companies, Silberstein works closely with businesses to offer fully accessible travel experiences, making it possible for people with disabilities to enjoy destinations such as Machu Picchu, Easter Island and Patagonia. Silberstein has also served as an advisor to the Chilean government for the development of the national strategy for the social inclusion of people with disabilities in Chile.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are?
I live in Chile and am in my mid-thirties. I have used a wheelchair since I was 18 years old. I was in a car accident and suffered a spinal injury that left me paralyzed from the waist down. Alongside my lifelong friend Camilo Navarro, I am the co-founder of Wheel the World, an online marketplace for people with disabilities and seniors to book accessible trips. Our startup was inspired by a 2016 trip to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. With the support of Camilo and our other friends, I became the first to complete the rugged Patagonia trek by wheelchair. While graduate students at UC Berkeley, we partnered to launch our startup, Wheel the World, and have grown it to offer accessible travel experiences in more than 160 destinations around the world.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
Wheel the World has many exciting initiatives underway. We are leading the charge in accessible experiences and trips in the travel industry, so there is a lot of ground to cover when it comes to discovering existing or creating new, inclusive travel experiences, then getting the word out to travelers looking for the accessible opportunities we offer.
In October 2022, we launched Wheel the World’s first accessible cruise itinerary. Travelers can now book cruises to Alaska aboard Holland America using our accessibility-centric booking platform. Earlier this year, we launched a first-of-its-kind industry affiliate program in which we invited travel agents to join forces with Wheel the World via various partnership models, giving them the opportunity to offer Wheel the World’s certified accessible travel experiences, including accommodations, transportation and activities, to better serve their clients with disabilities.
Launched January 2022, Wheel the World’s group tours offer conveniently packaged itineraries including accessible accommodations, activities, bathroom stops, ground transportation, in-destination trained guides and other necessary logistics for travelers with disabilities. Wheel the World currently offers seven multi-day group tours to destinations such as Costa Rica, Morocco, Portugal, Alaska and South Africa.
Important to all of our endeavors, our Accessibility Mapping System (AMS), is an innovative technology solution that crowdsources and aggregates accessible travel experiences, destinations and accommodations. Through Wheel the World’s user-friendly interface, AMS matches travel experiences compatible with users’ unique travel aspirations and accessibility needs. We constantly update AMS, adding to our roster of fully accessible travel experiences.
Fantastic. Let’s now shift to our discussion about inclusion. Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?
This question is very important because being diverse and inclusive means choosing proactive behaviors that reinforce those ideals. Wheel the World has made efforts to promote these two concepts in our daily business operations.
One great example is our Mapper Program. Mappers are gig workers that help us gather real-time accessibility information all over the world. We are always recruiting people who will help us collect this information and provide meaningful insights within destinations around the world.
This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have an inclusive work culture?
The first thing to clarify is that there are no fully diverse and inclusive companies because of human biases and the design of the modern world. So, offering products and services for people with disabilities and seniors doesn’t make you a diverse and inclusive company by default. However, it does make your employees very aware of these concepts. In our case, our team is wholly dedicated to changing the travel experience for people with disabilities.
Having a work culture that preserves those key concepts makes a more productive environment and encourages high performance. It encourages team members to approach their work in a way that positively impacts others.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what this looks like in practice? What exactly are reasonable accommodations? Can you please share a few examples?
First things first. The ADA stands 3 main topics, let’s bring them to light:
- Ensuring equal opportunity in the application process.
- Enabling qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of a job.
- Making it possible for the employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment.
The first one highlights the topic of not being discriminated against by being a person with a disability. Because this statement is very general, it is important internally to set boundaries and prepare your team for different interview situations.
The second statement is about working accommodations, which means preparing the space and making it functional for every employee. This includes physical changes, accessible and assistive technologies, accessible communication and policy enhancement.
And the third one is not about giving literally the same benefit or standard, but thinking about how to adapt things that are considered “standard” by understanding their impact on each individual and adjusting accordingly.
Reasonable accommodations to consider:
- Physical changes, changing office layouts, providing special chairs or desks, etc.
- Accessible and assistive technologies: software use and maintenance, adapted laptops and monitors, etc.
- Accessible communication: written, voice and interpreted language instances to communicate.
- Policy enhancement and changing the way policies are written, for example, in order to welcome assistance dogs into the office in a workplace that currently has a “no dogs” policy.
Aside from what is legally required, what are some best practices that can make a business place feel more welcoming and inclusive of people with disabilities? If you can, please share a few examples.
There are many policies and practices that are effortless but effective.
My first example would be don’t try to do everything from the start to be the most diverse and inclusive. Start specifying what you can handle and start there. One step at a time. Improving and making it more and more inclusive is a journey, but start with something achievable, and put it into action.
At Wheel the World, we ask candidates to share accommodation requirements and don’t want them to be afraid to ask. We, in turn, are open and specify what we are able to provide as a remote-first company. The experience of the employee is one of the most important things to be considered. We want them to be happy and comfortable in their work.
In working with customers with disabilities, we encourage all of our team members to read our reviews in order to raise their level of awareness of the needs, feelings and thoughts of people with disabilities, and that is translated into how they interact within the company, both with colleagues and customers.
Can you share a few examples of ideas that were implemented at your workplace to help promote disability inclusion? Can you share with us how the work culture was impacted as a result?
Wheel the World encourages its employees to participate in our Wheel the World Impact program, a slew of projects that propose creative accessibility solutions and infrastructure, in keeping with the company’s mission to make the world more accessible. These projects impact the environment and encourage accessibility through meaningful work and activities around the world. These projects give employees of all backgrounds and abilities the opportunity to work together on something that promotes meaningful change in the world, outside of their day-to-day roles.
This is our signature question that we ask in many of our interviews. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started My Career”?
- Don’t be afraid of acknowledging the accessibility accommodations you need to perform as a employee like anyone else.
- Be straight forward and confident when acknowledging any accessibility accommodations you may need to perform your duties in your role. Having the proper tools you need will only enhance your work.
- Drill down on your strengths and become an expert in those areas.
- Have fun and enjoy the process.
- Always stay curious. Learn as much as you can from every person and experience you encounter.
Focus on giving to others but don’t be afraid to ask for what you need as well.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?
There are three things that I have learned through my life experience:
1. Resilience is the greatest super power that a person could have. Life always plays off working hard and not giving up.
2. Take risks. Be smart when taking risks, but take them!
3. See the glass half full. There are always reasons to be grateful.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I believe that making the world accessible is a purpose that I have in life, and as more people are aware of the challenges that people with disabilities face, more people can contribute to this purpose, and we can collectively generate a huge impact. All of us can contribute to making the world more accessible by taking small steps first. Just reflect on the decisions you make at work, how you teach your family, or your posts on social media. You can always contribute to include more people.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can follow our work on our website (https://wheeltheworld.com/) and through our social media.
- Twitter: @wheeltheworld
- Instagram: @wheeltheworld
- Facebook: @gowheeltheworld
- YouTube: Wheel the World
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!
About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.
While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.
Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Alvaro Silberstein Of Wheel the World On How Businesses Make… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.