Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Diane Winiarski Of Allsup Employment Services On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have A Disability
An Interview With Eric Pines
Success does not come overnight. You have to put in a lot of effort, even after hours.
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 Diane Winiarski.
Diane Winiarski has 30 years of experience in medical management, vocational rehabilitation and placement services through a variety of roles in managed care, disability and insurance organizations.
She serves as Director of Allsup Employment Services (AES), a national SSA-authorized Employment Network (EN) and oversees AES experts providing specialized help to people with disabilities who are returning to work through the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work (TTW) program.
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?
My work in career development for those with disabilities continues to motivate me every day. I have 30 years of experience in medical management, vocational rehabilitation, and employment placement and support services, through a variety of roles. Before coming to Allsup Employment Services (AES), I worked with different insurance companies in vocational case management positions.
Throughout my career, I’ve always wanted to help people with disabilities achieve financial independence and professional confidence.
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?
Throughout my career, I always believed these three simple, yet powerful, pieces of advice have been instrumental to my success.
- Always be honest. Work and life become much easier when you are honest with yourself and practice what you preach. Employees will always appreciate honesty and accountability from their employers.
- Think creatively. It’s important to think outside the box once in a while and gain new insights through different ideas — that’s how we grow.
- Follow your intuition. If there’s one thing I learned as a leader, it is to always trust your gut and tap into your intuition in the face of challenges.
Can you share a story about one of your greatest work-related struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?
My greatest work-related struggle is not being able to help every potential client who is interested in the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work Program. We want to help and serve as many people as we can. Many individuals that we work with are motivated and want to return to work, but despite their best efforts, many aren’t able due to their disability.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
The exciting simultaneous projects that I’m working on right now involve establishing more employer partnerships to assist our beneficiaries in their return to work journey. We’re working on identifying appropriate occupations that meet our beneficiaries’ vocational skills and passions. This type of project will help us support beneficiaries as they search for jobs and regain financial and professional empowerment.
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 it comes to helping people with disabilities get back to work, Allsup Employment Services handles many aspects of the process. We act as a resource when it comes to job seeking, employment options, requesting accommodations, and even assisting with job interview preparation.
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?
People with disabilities are often overlooked, but the truth is that these individuals are an untapped source of qualified and highly skilled workers. There are 61 million adults in the U.S. who have a disability of some kind, and many struggle to find work they can perform and to stay at work.
Businesses and organizations should strive to be more inclusive and hire more people with disabilities, whether it’s a physical or invisible disability. These are hard-working individuals who want to return to work and are capable of doing a job as well as individuals without disabilities.
Research tells us that by hiring people with disabilities, companies are reducing turnover because people with disabilities have higher retention rates; they are improving company morale, diversity, and culture; as well as realizing higher profits, since companies that hire people with disabilities are more likely to outperform their competitors. In addition, when other employees or customers see those with disabilities in the workplace — it raises the regard they have for that employer.
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?
Some individuals with disabilities require accommodations to be able to do their jobs. A reasonable accommodation is defined as providing modification or adjustment to a job or work environment. With these accommodations, people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to be successful. The type of accommodations varies depending on the person and most are low-cost options. Accommodating them may be as simple as flexible hours, providing an adjustable computer platform, or allowing them to work from home.
It’s important for the employee to have proper documentation when asking for accommodations and to communicate that the accommodations are needed due to a medical condition rather than general discomfort or preference. Individuals who need accommodations shouldn’t be afraid to ask.
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.
Recruiting, hiring, and retaining employees with disabilities is one of the best ways to build a more welcoming and inclusive workplace. To achieve this, businesses can reach out to agencies and Employment Networks, like AES, to connect them with qualified candidates in their area. Businesses can also communicate in the job description that they are interested in hiring individuals by discussing the availability of accommodations or awareness that candidates may have gaps in their employment, and more importantly explain how they can go about requesting accommodations if needed.
An inclusive workplace is more successful when everyone is on board. As businesses hire more people with disabilities, they should share their inclusion plan and provide training to all employees, and involve their managers and executives to make long-lasting improvements that cultivate an inclusive workplace.
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?
At Allsup Employment Services, our goal is to help individuals return to work and create a more disability-inclusive workplace, both for our customers and for us internally. In any workplace, employers and employees can benefit from collaboration and communication to better understand what candidates with or without disabilities can do on the job. It also helps if you put your words into action by demonstrating a willingness to provide accommodations.
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”?
- Success does not come overnight. You have to put in a lot of effort, even after hours.
- Be passionate about what you do, and trust your instincts.
- Learn your audience, not every question needs a response.
- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable, there is a significant amount of information to learn.
- It’s OK to fail, much success comes from failure.
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 favorite life lesson quote is, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on,” by Robert Frost.
Over my 30-plus years in this industry, I’ve assisted many individuals in their journey back to work by helping them receive the appropriate return-to-work services to make their professional transition. What I’ve learned over these decades is that no matter how bad something may seem at the moment, people are able to overcome their obstacles, even if that obstacle is as challenging as returning to work.
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. 🙂
The movement I would inspire is for people to be more open-minded about what people with disabilities can do. As a society, we need to combat the stigma that people with disabilities can’t do a job as well as someone without a disability. Employers can help combat the stigma by expanding availability of accommodations and incorporating best inclusive practices in their hiring processes.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allsup-llc/ or twitter: https://twitter.com/AllsupESwork. To learn more about Allsup Employment Services, readers can call (866) 540–5105
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: Diane Winiarski Of Allsup Employment Services On How… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.