Disability Business News
You Need to Know
February 2022
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World’s First Triple Patented, 4D Experience,
Surreal Sound, Bone Conduction Headphone
Dome Audio's Mission
Dome Audio is the IP developer of a multi-patented, disruptive headphone technology that delivers a unique listening experience through one headphone (OneSound) to a broad spectrum of people including those who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Dome has created inclusivity for all music lovers and an unprecedented connection that other headphone brands have not ventured, or much less achieved.
Dome has a campaign-based business model and has dedicated the “OneSound” experience explicitly engaging individuals who are
part of the deaf and hard of hearing community, enabling them to
partake in a technology that is breaking down barriers and bridging a
gap between the worlds of those who can hear and those on the spectrum of deaf and hard of hearing.
- Nearly half a billion people globally who are deaf and hard of hearing.
- Bone Conduction is a disruptive technology that provides meaningful fidelity for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
- Dome Audio provides practical functionality and a sense of emotional & societal inclusion.
- Dome’s hardware and software provide full-fidelity sound for music, phone calls, learning, therapy, and more.
February 24 Event in DC
Join Dome Audio for an exclusive invite-only "OneSound" listening experience, by becoming a sponsor for the February 24th event at KitchenCray, 1301 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002 from 6 to 10 pm.
Contact Information
Chief Strategic Officer
732.859.6371
Impact Features
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Disability:IN DC Metro has a WOW for you!
(Wealth of Webinars)
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Check out our 2022 offerings by signing up at PATHLMS here.
Once you have signed up, you will have access to all the webinars as they are posted. Sign in at any time to view new courses during the year!
Join us for
Federal Updates (EEOC, OFCCP, ODEP) on Feb 15
Our March Assistive Technology Series March 2, 23, 30
April 5: Autism Acceptance Month:
Perspectives on Neurodiversity and DEIA
(Disability Equality Inclusion & Accessibility)
April 13: Online Recruitment of and Outreach to People with Disabilities
May 11: The Power of Storytelling
June 9: The Importance of Chief Accessibility Officers in the Public and Private Sectors
Allowlist:
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Our Mission
“Building the Business Network for Disability Inclusion.”
Our Vision
“Cultivate workforces and workplaces where talent with disabilities are recruited, included, promoted, retained and valued as both internal talent and innovative vendors.”
"In This Together" Campaign Continues
Please Donate!
Shop Amazon Smile!
In these ongoing unprecedented times, non-profits face the situation of limited funding. The DC Metro Chapter is no different. As we continue to provide education and resources with the newsletters and free virtual programming, your support is needed now more than ever. Please consider a donation to support our mission in support of our monthly efforts! As most of us are shopping virtually these, days, please shop on Amazon Smile!
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2022 Disability:IN Annual Conference & Expo
July 18-21 in Dallas
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100 CEOs Now On Board to
Advance Disability Inclusion
CEOs of The Boeing Company, Hilton, Micron Technology, Tripadvisor and The Estée Lauder Companies are latest to sign the CEO Letter on Disability Inclusion
100 corporate leaders have pledged to take action to build stronger, more sustainable companies through the Disability Equality Index (DEI), the only global tool for analyzing and measuring disability progress across the enterprise.
“Companies are increasingly competing in a marketplace that values leadership on social issues.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are the keys to creating sustainable companies. These signatories are joining 'IN' to make disability inclusion a business priority, which will positively transform lives and create long-term financial and social impact."
—Jill Houghton, Disability:IN President and CEO
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Companies can still register for the 2022 DEI
Deadline Extended: February 11, 2022
The DEI is a comprehensive benchmarking tool that builds a roadmap of measurable, tangible actions for disability inclusion and equality.
Scores below 80 remain confidential.
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Open Positions
Director of Policy and Government Affairs
The Director of Policy and Government Affairs is responsible for helping to elevate and implement Disability:IN’s policy agenda and communicating with key policymakers, stakeholders, the public, and the media about the organization’s work.
Senior Manager, NextGen Initiatives
The Senior Manager, NextGen Initiatives is responsible for overseeing all efforts related to Disability:IN’s NextGen Initiatives and continuing to grow and expand the program both inside and outside the U.S. Experience with accessibility, accommodations, and disability matters is a plus.
Supplier Diversity Coordinator
The Supplier Diversity Coordinator is primarily responsible for administering the Disability:IN supplier certification process, including sourcing and attracting qualified supplier diversity applicants.
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Open Positions
Creating an inclusive digital world
Join the team that’s transforming the digital accessibility industry! We support global Enterprise hallmark brands such as Merck, Estée Lauder, Samsung, Macy’s, Marriott & Hertz to deliver inclusive and accessible web, mobile, and product experiences through accessibility testing, evaluation and remediation — allowing organizations to enhance the digital experience for people with disabilities, ensuring each digital asset they create complies with accessibility standards, and projects an inclusive and disability-friendly presence.
Our Values are Unity, Accountability and Resolve. We look for candidates who exemplify these values and will contribute to our culture of inclusivity with their unique perspectives
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COVID-19 Resources
NOW ON OUR WEBSITE!
As the leading regional business on disability inclusion, it seems critical to provide our employers with important information on COVID 19. Check out the listings on our website. Contact us if you have others to add!
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IN THE NEWS - ARTICLES OF INTEREST |
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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in Artificial Intelligence
The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology posted an episode of its Future of Work podcast on “DEIA Driven by AI.” In this podcast, Jeffrey Brown, Diversity and Inclusion Research Fellow at the Partnership on AI, discusses strategies for using AI-enabled recruiting technologies in ways that enhance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility priorities.
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PepsiCo’s Disability-Inclusive Pandemic Response
EARN’s new video case study series spotlights PepsiCo’s efforts to create more diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible workplaces. The videos illustrate the emphasis PepsiCo has put on employee mental health and workplace safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional topics addressed in the videos include the important role employee resource groups (ERGs) play in workforce inclusion and how virtual training can help ensure effective recruiting and hiring of people with disabilities.
The Value of ERGs During COVID (Audio Described)
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Covid-19 Home Tests Pose Accessibility Problems for People With Disabilities |
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By Ann-Marie Alcántara
When Chancey Fleet, a blind technology educator, opened an at-home Covid-19 testing kit earlier this winter, she realized it would require vision to use the product correctly.
Ms. Fleet completed the test with the help of her husband, who is sighted, and said she initially brushed off the experience as a personal inconvenience. But she changed her thinking when she thought of the many people who are blind and lack access to a sighted person who can help them. Her critique of Covid-19 tests’ accessibility on Twitter went viral.
“We need to look at the Covid testing process, break it down into component parts of the process and figure out how to make those more inclusively designed,” Ms. Fleet said in an interview. That can range from examining test prices to gauging the legibility of their instructions, she added.
At-home Covid-19 tests have been in high demand since December, as infections rose and people sought them ahead of holiday gatherings. Home test kits are particularly important for people who cannot stand in long lines for public testing sites or cannot reach them, accessibility advocates say.
For people with disabilities, securing at-home tests is only part of the challenge: Many of the kits are difficult or impossible for them to use on their own. Some use colors to convey information, making it difficult for users who are colorblind to conduct the test correctly; lack online audio or video supplements to their written instructions; or require physical precision and dexterity to administer.
The problems are reminiscent of the situation with Covid-19 vaccine booking systems early last year, when people with disabilities found themselves at a disadvantage as they tried to find appointments.
The popular BinaxNow Covid-19 home test kit manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, for example, asks users to check whether a control line changes from blue to a pink-purple to confirm that the test worked properly.
Those colors have limited contrast from each other and from the test’s white background, said Kathryn Albany-Ward, founder and chief executive of Colour Blind Awareness, an advocacy group.
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The Justice Department has announced that it has secured a settlement agreement with The Kroger Co. that will help people with disabilities get information about COVID-19 vaccinations and book their vaccination appointments online.
The agreement, which requires Kroger to conform its COVID-19 vaccine content to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.1, will help ensure that individuals with disabilities who use screen readers can privately and independently book their potentially life-saving vaccination appointments online. Today’s resolution is the department’s third agreement on the critical issue of COVID-19 vaccination website accessibility, following a November 2021 announcement of its settlement with Rite Aid Corporation and a December 2021 settlement with Hy-Vee, Inc. To find out more about this agreement or the ADA, visit ada.gov or call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA information line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-514-0383 (TDD).
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State Policies on Workers’ Mental Health Needs and the Pandemic
In collaboration with the State Exchange on Employment & Disability, the Council of State Governments published a report on “Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Workers Throughout and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The report was informed by SEED’s COVID-19 Policy Collaborative for an Inclusive Recovery. It provides a range of policy and program options for states to consider as they enhance workers’ mental health supports and address the negative impacts of mental health conditions on the workforce.
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Register Now for the 2022 Award!
Creating an account now and having your most up-to-date information included means that you’ll be ready to quickly apply when the application window opens on Jan. 31.
The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is a great way to show your continued commitment to recruiting, employing and retaining America’s veterans. The award is based on a number of criteria, ranging from veteran hiring and retention to providing veteran-specific resources — with requirements varying for large, medium and small employers.
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Processing Vaccination Accommodation Requests under The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
From the desk of Linda Carter Batiste, J.D., Principal Consultant/Legislative Specialist Job Accommodation Network
The following is a sample process for determining whether a vaccination exception or delay must be granted as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA when employees are subject to a federal or state-imposed vaccination mandate or an employer policy. When an employee requests an accommodation and the disability and need for the accommodation are not obvious or already documented, the employer can require reasonable medical documentation. There is no required ADA medical documentation request form, but the Safer Federal Workforce provides a template for federal employers that can be modified by other employers as needed.
Is the employee unable to be vaccinated for COVID-19 because of a disability?
No: Deny the request under the ADA, apply other laws if appropriate, or follow usual policies.
Yes: Can the employee safely work while unvaccinated in the current job and work environment?
Yes: Allow the vaccination exception or delay.
No: Can accommodations be provided to eliminate or reduce exposure risk to an acceptable level, absent undue hardship?
Yes: Grant the vaccination exception or delay and provide the accommodations.
No: Deny the request under the ADA, apply other laws if appropriate, or follow usual policies.
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Vaccine Requirement for Federal Workers Blocked
Another Biden administration requirement that employees get vaccinated against COVID-19—this time for federal workers—was blocked by a federal district court in Texas on Jan. 21. The directive is now on hold pending a Justice Department appeal of the ruling.
The president does not have broad enough authority to require all federal employees to consent to vaccination against COVID-19 or lose their jobs, according to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
'A Bridge Too Far'
"The court notes at the outset that this case is not about whether folks should get vaccinated against COVID-19—the court believes they should," the court stated. The case "is not even about the federal government's power, exercised properly to mandate vaccination of its employees. It is instead about whether the president can, with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far."
Federal employees had until Nov. 22, 2021, to be fully vaccinated. But Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus coordinator, said he expected federal agencies and contractors "will follow their standard HR processes and that for any of the probably relatively small percent of employees that are not in compliance, they'll go through education, counseling, accommodations and then enforcement," Reuters reported. He added, "We're creating flexibility within the system. … There is not a cliff here."
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The Importance of Mentoring
In honor of Mentoring Month, Lynne Fetter, a youth policy advisor in the Office of Disability Employment Policy, posted a blog on “The Importance of Mentoring: Experience, Practice and Policy.” In the blog, Fetter reflected on the impact of mentoring on youth with disabilities. “I have seen the benefits of mentorship as both mentor and mentee, and I am thankful for the many mentors who have helped me understand my strengths, skills and contributions to the workforce,” said Fetter.
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Events In The DC Metro Area and Beyond |
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ADA and Accommodation Lessons Learned: Stay at Work/Return to Work Edition
Thursday, February 10, 2022 | 2 pm to 3 pm EST
Description:
Stay at Work/Return to Work (SAW/RTW) initiatives are designed to retain valued employees and enhance productivity. These initiatives can include temporary or permanent job accommodations such as modified scheduling, job restructuring, transitional work, and reassignment. Various employment laws can interplay when navigating SAW/RTW situations, making it challenging for employers to know best business practices. Join JAN Consultants for a discussion about lessons learned and practical Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidance related to various RTW/SAW issues.
Presenters:
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BILG Q1 2022 Meeting
Tuesday, February 15, 2022 | 9 am to Noon EST
Agenda
9:00-9:30 am Networking/Open Forum
Moderator – BILG Board Members
9:30-9:45 am Welcome, BILG Business and Online Introductions
Beth Ronnenburg, BILG Chair
9:45-11:00 am Making Census of the New EEO Tabulation
Marcelle Clavette, Mgr, Enterprise Solutions, Senior Consultant, DCI Consulting
Religious Accommodations: What Every Employer Needs To Know
Anne-Marie V. Welch, Member, Clark Hill
11:00 -11:05 am Break
11:05-11:30 am OFCCP Update
Brooke Sensenig, District Director – Baltimore, OFCCP
11:30-12:00 pm EEOC Update
Tonya Lennox, Outreach and Education Coordinator, EEOC
Similar to last year, the BILG board will also, as part of this event, be raffling off a ticket to the 2022 National ILG conference! This is a member incentive that was initiated in 2020 and we are excited to provide it again this year. There are two qualifications that must be met to participate and win the raffle: (1) attendee must be associated with a BILG member company; and (2) attendance at the meeting in which the raffle takes place. There will be an option to gift the ticket to a colleague of the member company should someone win and already have purchased a ticket to the National ILG conference.
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nTIDE COVID-19 Updates - 2022
Friday, February 18, 2022
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (ET) | Online | Free
Agenda
• 12:00 pm: Welcome and Purpose of this Special Update
• 12:10 pm: Updated Numbers from the Monthly Current Population Survey
• 12:45 pm: Open Question & Answer period
Presenters:
- Andrew Houtenville, UNH-IOD
- John O'Neill, Kessler Foundation
- Denise Rozell, AUCD
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ADA Advocacy in the Post-ADA World
February 22, 2022, 2:00pm to 3:30pm EST
This webinar chronicles the on-going advocacy efforts of the Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living and North Central Pennsylvania ADAPT as they worked with the City of Williamsport, Pennsylvania to provide access for people with disabilities to the city government's buildings, programs, and services (ADA Title II.)
Presenters:
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Misty Dion, CEO, Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living of North Central Pennsylvania
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Karen Koch, Advocacy Coordinator, Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living of North Central Pennsylvania
- There is no charge to access this session.
- Real-time captions will be available.
- This session will be recorded for later viewing.
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2022 Annual Disability Statistics Conference & State of the Science on Disability Statistics Conference
Thursday and Friday, March 10-11, 2022
11:00 am – 4:30 pm (ET)
Location: Streaming online via Zoom and in-person at the Holiday Inn, 550 C St SW, Washington, DC
Free
Day One: State-of-the-Science Conference on Disability Statistics
Gain insights to new research and methods in disability data collection, analytical techniques, and advanced statistical analyses of key topics.
Day Two: 2020 Annual Disability Statistics Conference
Featuring the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium and related documents, discover the latest disability statistics, including demographic, intersectional, economic, social, and health statistics for people with disabilities with comparisons to people without disabilities.
This in-person and online event is hosted by the University of New Hampshire, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics and Demographics (StatsRRTC). StatsRRTC strives to be inclusive, accessible, and enables everyone to fully engage. Live captioning, CART, and ASL interpretation are available for all attendees. Contact Karen.Volle@unh.edu to request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility.
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Accommodation Solutions for Executive Functioning Deficits
Thursday, March 17, 2022
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm (ET)
Description:
(Rescheduled from 3/10) Executive functions are high-level mental processes or abilities that influence and direct more basic abilities like attention and memory. Join JAN Cognitive/Neurological Team consultants Melanie Whetzel and Alexis Popa for a discussion about accommodation solutions that address limitations affecting attention, time management, memory, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and getting to work on time. This training will be a live question and answer session but will include JAN accommodation examples to prompt thinking about the topics and generate questions about the difficulties you or your employees are experiencing on the job that involve attention, meeting deadlines, productivity standards, and more. Submit your questions during the live event or in advance at Training@AskJAN.org.
Presenters:
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2022 National Conferences |
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Save the Date: May 2-3, 2022!
The AFB Leadership Conference (AFBLC) aims to increase leadership capacity in order to create a world of no limits for people who are blind. We are committed to putting inclusion to work, which will be a major emphasis of our 2022 AFBLC.
The Helen Keller Achievement Awards Dinner, which takes place during the conference, recognizes the notable achievements of individuals and organizations that are leaders in improving the lives of people with disabilities. Past awardees include Amazon, Apple, Google, and JPMorgan Chase, as well as giants from the performing arts, including Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and Patty Duke.
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Harkin International Disability Summit
Belfast International Conference Centre,
Belfast, Northern Ireland
7-8, June 2022
Following the success of the Harkin International Disability Employment Summit in Iowa in 2021, we can’t wait to bring the Summit to Belfast, Northern Ireland, working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department for Communities.
Harkin Belfast 2022 will provide a platform for individuals and organisations to challenge for change, celebrate and share success, and positively reframe the narrative on how we approach, support and enable persons with disabilities to achieve their career goals and aspirations.
Call for Expressions of Interest
For the first time, we invite leaders and activists at all levels globally, to develop and submit expressions of interest for items they want to deliver as part of this exciting two-day Summit. You bring the content, we will provide the platform.
Under a headline theme of ‘Disability: Shaping, Growing and Driving Economic Change’, we invite creative minds to come forward with content applications in the form of Key Note Speakers, Presentations & Showcases, Panel Discussions, and Workshops under a range of sub-themes:
- Nurturing the next generation of disabled innovators
- Say THE word!: Mainstreaming disability in the diversity and inclusion agenda
- How can the government get it right?
- Innovating through a pandemic: New opportunities
- Still Taboo: Disability in media, communications and corporate Imagery
- Data that drives change.
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RespectAbility Summit 2022
Sunday, July 31 – Tuesday, August 2 on Capitol Hill
You are invited to join RespectAbility for three days of fantastic sessions that prepare people with disabilities and the disability community for a better future.
This event will be fully accessible, with an ASL interpreter and live captions. We currently expect the event to be in-person. We will require that all attendees be vaccinated, unless they have a medical exemption. This event will also be recorded and shared with open captions.
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Save the Dates!
Mid-Atlantic ADA Conference 2022
TransCen and the Mid-Atlantic ADA Center, in collaboration with the Great Plains ADA Center, will host ADAcon, the 29th Annual Mid-Atlantic Conference on the Americans with Disabilities Act!
Tuesday, October 11, Wednesday, October 12, and Thursday, October 13, 2022
- Call for presentation proposals will be issued in early 2022.
- Registration will open late spring, 2022.
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Our focus is on Culture Change!
Our organization, formerly the DC Metro Business Leadership Network, is the largest regional member network of a variety of industry employers advocating for inclusion of individuals with disabilities in today's workforce, marketplace and supply chain. A non-profit business-led network established in 2006, our purpose is to bring the business community together in a dialog through education, training and resources with a focus on removing attitudinal and organizational barriers by exchanging best practices to ensure that the inclusion of individuals with disabilities as smart business.
Our Members and Guests have access to resources, programs and partners to strengthen the disability inclusion efforts and outcomes.
- Thought leadership
- Business to business networking
- Introductions to community partners
- Access to talent
- Hot topic programming led by Subject Matter Experts
- Webinars
Join our
Follow us on
Our Board
Board Members:
- John Annand, Marriott International
- Jennifer Bassett, Secretary, JBG SMITH Companies
- Michelle Crabtree, Town of Vienna
- Ellen de Bremond, Treasurer
- Anjali Desai-Margolin, Gallaudet University
- Tom Downs, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Andrea Hall, Past Chair, General Dynamics Mission Systems
- Sylvia Henri-Wonasue, Lockheed Martin
- Sophie Howard, Chair, General Dynamics IT
- Eduardo Meza-Etienne, eSSENTIAL Accessibility
- Chrisonna Palmer, Vice Chair, EY
- Ryan Walters, Deloitte
- Myra Wilder, BAE Systems
Advisory Board Members:
- Jessica Lee Aiello, iYellow Group
- Meghan Cadigan, KPMG
- Crosby Cromwell, The Valuable 500
- Ron Drach, Drach Consulting, LLC
- Rikki Epstein, The Arc of Northern VA
- Karen Herson, Concepts, Inc.
- Craig Leen, K&L Gates, Former OFCCP Director
- Carrie Martin, Maxar Technologies
- Rick Rodgers, The Resource Network
Our Staff
The Hon. Katherine McCary, President, C5 Consulting, LLC serves as CEO and Executive Director. Katherine served as founding chair of the USBLN (now Disability:IN) for nine years, the founding chair of the VA BLN (Now Virginia Ability) for 13 years and has launched more than 11 chapters. She received the USBLN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
C5 is a global disability inclusion strategy consultancy comprised exclusively of private sector disability leaders, experienced disability from a variety of areas; as individuals, as caregivers, and as parents of individuals with disabilities. With more than 50 years combined expertise and a deep knowledge of culture change developed through customized business strategies. C5 is the pioneer of disability inclusion "for business by business" with just in time training Disability Inclusion IQ designed for enterprise wide learning, now a DC Metro chapter member benefit!
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