Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Antoinette Lee Toscano Of WhitewaterTV On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have a Disability
An Interview With Eric Pines
The people asking the essential questions are the same folks who solve the most significant problems. So, do not be afraid to question anyone about anything. Sometimes your question will get them to look at a problem differently and lead them or you to an innovative solution.
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 Antoinette Lee Toscano.
Former Information Technology CEO, Antoinette Lee Toscano, MBA — is an 11-year United States Army veteran, Contributing Writer at America Outdoors Association, Vibe Tribe Adventures, Paddling Magazine and Culturs, global, multicultural magazine, public speaker — ‘The New Normal Big Life Talk,’ the Producer of WhitewaterTV on the XOTV.me platform and Hisense smart TVs.
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?
The title of my upcoming military memoir — ‘Four Hours to Live — Memoir of a Woman Soldier,’ in the summer of 2023 indicates that I have been through some life-changing events. One is sustaining a broken back and traumatic brain injury while serving in the Army and #MeToo. I developed a permanent disability and persistent health challenges from my injuries as complications. My life as I knew it was over, and I needed to create my new normal.
As I thought of my new life, I wanted it to be significant. So often, friends, family, and even medical professionals attempt to limit how you view your life’s potential after you become disabled. Since recovering from the trauma and complications from my initial injuries, I used adventure sports in my recovery and ongoing health and wellness. I also shifted my career from information technology to the outdoor industry.
Today, I give the ‘New Normal Big Life’ talk to teach anyone dissatisfied with their life how to create unconditional happiness and live the biggest life they can envision. I also write about diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the outdoor industry. And I create digital instruction-based content adventure sports videos, photos, and voiceover content with organic product placement and product reviews for my outdoor industry clients. Lastly, because I am black and multicultural and have lived and worked outside my passport cultures, I write lifestyle content for Adult Cross-Cultural Kids (ACCK), Third Culture Adults (TCA), and others for Culturs Magazine.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three character traits most instrumental in my success are emotional intelligence, a servant’s heart, and bravery.
As a Non-commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army, an IT CEO, a motivational speaker, a freelance writer, and digital content creator, and a philanthropist having high emotional intelligence or Emotion Quotient (EQ) allow me to empathize with others, manage and channel my emotions positively, and communicate effectively regardless the audience and message.
When I was a young woman in Air Assault School with only male candidates, I was in the unusual position of motivating someone bigger, stronger, senior in rank, and older than myself. We were learning how to Australian rappel down a mountain, and nearly everyone looked afraid on their first attempt. A captain contemplated quitting because he did not think he could overcome his fear.
But I looked him in the eye and said, “Sir, I’m scared, and I’m going to do this anyway. I trust the gear and my training enough to step off this mountain. And you can too. I’m going first. Don’t let a girl be braver than you.”
In most circles, this would not be an encouraging talk. But knowing my audience, not only were my words appropriate, but I was also the first person in the class to perform the rappelling technique, and the captain was the third person.
However, a high EQ allows you to read the room quickly and instinctively know the most effective words and gestures to make or when silence is more appropriate.
Next, in information technology, we often push our teams harder and faster to deliver innovation quickly and expertly. And a leader with a servant’s heart understands the value of being together with their team while working tremendously hard at achieving an important goal like on-time and on-budget delivery of critical technology for a governmental agency, for example. A servant-leader would be in the office, bringing coffee to the team, suggesting that a weary-looking programmer take a break and goes for a walk. In one instance, I personally delivered catered meals to the cubicles of those who did not stop working to eat. It is the small things that some leaders might think are beneath them that show employees that you are sacrificing along with them to achieve an important goal. For example, on a project for the U.S. State Department, our development team worked seven days a week to deliver a project on time. When managers reported the level of exhaustion among the group, I stepped in to “serve” my employees lunch and offer encouragement and support. Seeing me take care of them — the development team while they took care of our mission energized the group. And we accomplished our goal with excellence.
Lastly, bravery is not the absence of fear. It is being afraid and acting anyway. I am brave when paddling my kayak into the meat of a rapid. But it requires more bravery to be the first, the only, or the least credentialed person and go against the status quo. Recently, I told a group of highly accredited conservationists that their approach to bringing underrepresented and marginalized groups into the conservation movement fails because they do not understand the people they hope to reach. Then I explained how outdoor recreation intersects conservation, adventure, health, and wellness. And as we help more underrepresented people participate in adventure sports, we see how they have become what I call ‘Conservation Ambassadors’ — people who practice daily conservation and can speak to their peers about conservation. I later created the ‘Conservation Ambassador program’ through my philanthropic work with the free national ‘American Adventure Sports Club.’
Can you share a story about one of your greatest work related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?
In light of the global push for diversity, equity, and inclusion, many organizations are looking for diverse employees and contractors to fill vacant positions and to market to other diverse people. But not every company promotes diversity because it is the right thing to do or because they want everyone to feel visible, welcome, valued, and included. Instead, they are looking to capitalize on this social movement toward an equitable future for everyone. In my work as a writer, business consultant, model, public speaker, philanthropist, and influencer, I have been in a difficult position at times. I could say yes to all companies looking to hire me because freelance work ebbs and flows between too many projects or insufficient work to pay the bills. But instead, I developed a code for my freelance work.
I will not work with a company whose products or services I do not use or aspire to use, whose corporate ethics are not aligned with mine, or an organization without an ongoing DEI program.
My “freelancer’s code of ethics” means I sometimes must tell influential companies paying significant money that I do not want to work with them. I handle these uncomfortable conversations face-to-face — over teleconferencing. And I used the interaction as an educational opportunity for the prospective client.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
The absolute most exciting project that I am working on today with the ‘American Adventure Sports Club’ is promoting the adventure sports lifestyle and mindset to underrepresented communities to take advantage of three key benefits:
- The health and social benefits of outdoor recreation.
- Entering the $374 billion outdoor industry economy as employees and entrepreneurs.
- Joining the conservation movement.
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?
When a person is born with a disability or acquires a disability after a traumatic injury or illness thinks about their life, they are often constrained by limits placed on them by society. Some clinicians, family members, friends, and the community tell people with disabilities what they can do. But what is most helpful is asking the person with a disability who they want to be, what they want to do, and figuring out which skills, devices, and networks the disabled person will need to support the life they want to live.
The people who love and support me encouraged me to live a small life. Or they wanted to pretend I was not disabled and did not need additional support from people, agencies, and assistive devices. So, I had to advocate for myself by becoming clear about the life I wanted to live and holding my boundaries with clinicians, my family and friends, and society to establish that I know what is best for me because I live in this disabled body.
If I had listened to almost everyone in my life after my injuries, I never would have become a whitewater kayaker or joined the outdoor industry, where I have a vibrant life inside a nurturing and supportive community. When I showed up to learn how to kayak, I used a walker, a service dog, and a full-time caregiver. Today, I climb mountains, and my service dog and caregiver are semi-retired except when I have a debilitating flare-up of health challenges.
For this reason, my professional and philanthropic work centers on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Because as a member of multiple underrepresented communities (Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), women, Veterans, and the disabled communities), I bring lived experience to my DEI work.
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 most significant benefits of having an inclusive work culture are threefold.
- The valuable lived experience diverse communities bring to the organization helps attract and retain a diverse customer base.
- Diverse employees authentically benefit diverse customers. For example, nearly 50% of an organization’s current and prospective American customers identify as a person of color or multicultural. 7.1% identify as LGBTQIA+. And 61 million adults are disabled.
- An organization where everyone feels welcome, included, visible, and supported creates an environment where work teams can thrive. And customers feel welcome, supported, and understood.
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?
According to the U. Department of Labor, Under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to a job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done during the hiring process.
Some of the work accommodations I have negotiated during the hiring process are:
Working in a private office rather than a noisy cubicle environment. First, brain injury survivors, people on the autism spectrum, and others challenged by focus, noise, or the way our brains process information work more efficiently in quiet spaces. For some, wearing headphones while working in a cubicle can also be helpful.
Flexible use of paid-time-off and working non-traditional hours like weekends and holidays when needed.
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.
The more an organization can accommodate people with what I call “differing abilities,” a positive spin on “disabilities,” and think of accommodations as a “normal” or standard business practice, the better.
Sometimes, when employees without disabilities see employees with disabilities receiving a “benefit” they are not getting, it can cause jealousy and other tensions. For example, practices like special entryways designated for people using wheelchairs and walkers rather than a universally accessible entrance that everyone uses can become a point of stress in the workplace.
Next, training employees and managers without disabilities on some critical concepts about disabilities is crucial to your DEI strategy. Two significant concepts to understand are:
Not all disabilities are visible. For example, I have hidden disabilities; you cannot see the effects of my spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And thanks to coping techniques and assistive devices, most people never learn that I have a disability because it is invisible. Unfortunately, managers and peers find it hard to believe in something they cannot see.
For example, I needed a service dog for a time because there were tasks I could not perform for myself. And because my dog could detect a biochemical change in my body, I could not. My service dog — Phoebe, was trained to smell when a traditional or ocular migraine was coming on. Her early detection gave me thirty minutes to take medication to lessen the migraine and get somewhere safe before losing vision temporarily. But as a CEO, my Chief Technical Officer did not believe me about my disability until he saw me become violently ill and lose vision for himself.
Next, disabilities are on a spectrum from mild to severe, and they can affect someone in multiple ways at different times.
So, for example, I can write a 100-page document today, and two days later, I cannot function at work because of a flare-up of what I call a “bad brain day.” On these days, I struggle with spelling, word recall, or even remembering how to start my car or road rules while driving. But then, I am back to excellent job performance in a day or two. Unfortunately, this can be a typical occurrence for some people with disabilities.
Lastly, sometimes companies enjoy feeling good while doing what is right, and it comes at the expense of the employee with disabilities. The “look at all the special things we have done for Bob, our employee in a wheelchair” mentality can make Bob feel like he is part of a novelty act at the circus. I advise organizations to avoid publicly patting themselves on the back for their DEI work at the expense of diverse employees.
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?
Making some workplace accommodations universally accessible to all employees changed the corporate culture from petty and competitive to supportive and compassionate.
And there was a measurable improvement in production at the last company where I was an IT CEO before joining the gig economy as a freelancer and changing industries.
We allowed any employee to use flex-time when they urgently needed time for self-care during the work week. So, for example, a brain injury survivor with a migraine and an exhausted new parent who was so tired they could not think could take a few hours to sleep late and not have to lie to their manager about being “sick.” And they could make up the time during non-traditional work hours for their position. This practice resulted in highly productive billable hours when invoicing was typically low, for example, during the summer, holidays, and weekends. And from the least to highest-paid employees reported being happier at work and home during a survey.
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”?
The five things I wish someone had told me when I first started my career are:
- My diversity — gender, ethnicity, and disability will often become an obstacle or challenge in the workplace. So, be prepared to handle questions and doubters professionally and from a position of strength. Because if you are unprepared when these situations arise, you might react emotionally and reinforce stereotypical thinking. My strategy has been rather than becoming angry; I use the situation as an opportunity to shift their perspective.
- If you take care of those you lead, they will take care of you through loyalty and excellence. This practice is how military leaders create loyal and disciplined teams and get those they lead to run toward dangerous situations despite the risk.
- Failing” is not a bad thing. However, through our perceived failures, we learn the most significant lessons, make the biggest discoveries, and comprehend the most about ourselves. For example, I “failed at being a CEO” because my persistent health challenges and disability prevented me from staying in this career. But the “failure” led me to a more rewarding and healthier lifestyle and career.
- The people asking the essential questions are the same folks who solve the most significant problems. So, do not be afraid to question anyone about anything. Sometimes your question will get them to look at a problem differently and lead them or you to an innovative solution.
- Trust your intuition, especially when making a difficult decision. Our intuition comes from our “lizard brain” — the limbic system of the brain that is “phylogenetically primitive” and controls our fight, flight, freeze, fear, and other mental and emotional processes. Tapping into my intuition which I often feel as butterflies or a sinking feeling in my gut, allows me to “hear” or feel what a different part of my brain is telling me. The part of my brain that is not impacted by societal training, education, and experience because I already considered this training earlier in my decision-making process.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?
My father, a black man, born in 1921, told me, “You can be anything you’re willing to work hard enough to become.”
This quote from my father became a mantra for me.
And it set me up at an early age to expect to put in the work. So, I am unlike some people raised believing that success “automagically” happens without hard work.
Today, younger people believe you only need to be lucky or connected, and you will succeed.
The “overnight Instagram or Tik Tok famous” mentality is pervasive.
And I think it makes young people feel like imposters when they succeed. “Imposter syndrome” seems rampant among millennials. But I expected life to be full of challenges, “failures,” and that it required hard work, grit, and resiliency. Therefore, when I achieve a goal, opportunity, promotion, or award, I do not feel like an imposter because I know how hard I have worked to be “here.” And I can easily enumerate my education, experience, and other credentials. So, society cannot make you believe you are unworthy when you know who you are. This is my advice for younger people.
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. 🙂
Suppose you live in Chilean Patagonia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mainland China, the UK, or the EU, for example. In that case, you can access low-cost or no-cost outdoor recreation and access a community of adventurers. But if you live in the US, you must figure out how to afford the gear, apparel, instruction, and a community to recreate with on your own.
That is why I developed the free National American Adventure Sports Club powered by Vibe Tribe Adventures, in collaboration with WhitewaterTV and local parks and recreation departments like the City of Loveland, Colorado Parks, and Recreation.
Through this non-profit, for-profit, governmental collaboration, we provide no-cost adventure sports, backcountry, and water safety, wildfire prevention, conservation training, and a supportive community for underrepresented populations to get outside and adventure and join the conservation movement. We opened the first club in Loveland, Colorado, in 2022. And we plan to bring an American Adventure Sports Club to every community in America that wants one. Because some of the same barriers that prevent a black construction worker on the South side of Chicago from accessing outdoor recreation also affect a white kid in a wheelchair in rural West Virginia.
Grassroots movements like the American Adventure Sports Club are how “we the people” can solve complex problems without waiting for a governmental solution. The donations to support the American Adventure Sports Club ranged from $1.00 — to $25,000, and the impact will last for generations.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Websites:
https://antoinettetoscano.com/about-me/
https://cultursmag.com/author/atoscano/
https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/flushed/kayaking-demographics/
Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/whitewatertv_xotv
https://www.instagram.com/antoinetteleetoscano/
https://twitter.com/AntoinettesPen
www.linkedin.com/in/antoinettetoscano
Digital Content Creator/Brand Ambassador:
https://xotv.me/channels/359-whitewatertv
YouTube Video — 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before Becoming a CEO
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.
Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.
Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.
Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Antoinette Lee Toscano Of WhitewaterTV On How Businesses… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.