Cultural Cookbook Volume 10 - Changing Views on Disability

I’m Mark and I’m the Customer Accessibility Lead at AXA UK. I’ve been running a series of virtual and in-person experiences at AXA called Empathy Labs where colleagues complete a series of tasks while simulating a disability or neurodivergence that could affect cognition, vision, hearing, or motor skills.  

The goal is to make people more aware of the experience of our colleagues and customers with different access needs. So, here's my recipe for creating a culture of understanding and support, both in and out of AXA. 

Ingredients  

• Empathy and understanding – help colleagues understand the experience of people with different needs to their own  

• Supportive environment – provide employee networks for colleagues to come together to learn and support each other 

• Continual improvement – keep addressing inequalities until society is accessible to everyone 

Method  

Step 1: Build empathy and understanding 

The Empathy Labs are designed to put people in the shoes of their colleagues and customers who have different accessibility needs. However, lots of colleagues also used the Empathy Labs to learn more about the experience of a family member or friend. It’s very human and very touching. It shows just how important this work is, not just inside AXA for our colleagues and customers, but outside of AXA too.  

Over the last year we’ve had around 500 visitors across 20 countries who have given overwhelmingly positive feedback. It’s also helped us to find and fix several accessibility issues in our own products. 

Step 2: Create safe spaces for colleagues 

One of our Employee Networks, Able, aims to raise awareness about disability, neurodiversity and mental health in the workplace. It’s easy to feel isolated when you have a characteristic that sets you apart from the average person. Able brings people together for peer-to-peer support, encouragement, education and action for people with a disability, neurodiversity or mental health issue. It’s also a great place for support and education for colleagues who have family or friends with these conditions. 

Step 3:  Keep pushing for improvement 

It’s important to mark days like International Day of Persons with Disabilities. There are still legacy attitudes towards people with disabilities that need to be addressed and corrected for the sake of the future of our society.     

I hope to see a world where people with disabilities have equitable experiences when using public and private services, consuming media and purchasing products. In that future, disabled people never have to think about accessibility at these times, they can just do what they need to do.     

Bon appétit!