The Disability Tax
Channel: Stephanie Cawthon
Date: 13/03/2023

Dr. Stephanie Cawthon breaks down THE DISABILITY TAX — the topic of her most popular post ever on LinkedIn — about the higher price disabled people "pay" to participate in all aspects of life.

ACCCESSIBILITY 
ASL: Dr. Stephanie Cawthon 
ASL Interpreter: Amanda Katz 
Full Transcript and Image Description: Below 

ABOUT DR. STEPHANIE W. CAWTHON 
Dr. Cawthon is a deaf author, speaker, consultant, and professor at The University of Texas at Austin. She is an internationally-renowned expert on disability, accessibility, and the many ways that disabled people can succeed in their classrooms, at their workplaces, and throughout their lives. 

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IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A white woman with long dark brown hair wears a black shirt and signs in American Sign Language in front of a white background. 

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: 
Disability Tax: What does that mean? This is my most popular post on LinkedIn EVER: Disability Tax.

We commonly think about taxes as money. This is true. Tax is also energy, time, and attention. Disabled people pay a higher price to participate: More money, energy, time, and attention.

How do we reduce this tax? Make engagement accessible. If you host a meeting or event, think ahead. Reduce the burden on the disabled individual to request and follow up about accessibility. If you are facilitating diversity initiatives, remember to include disability identities and intersectionality. 

If you are able to increase flexible time and location requirements for where people work and learn, do it! Disabled people are juggling many scheduling challenges. Make changes where you can. Encourage your leaders too, also!

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