Eye Level creates organizational cultures that center and elevate the voices of people living with disabilities and chronic illnesses. As a strategic thought partner and talent development provider, we collaborate to grow equitable, inclusive workplaces that welcome every body and mind so you can increase retention, morale, productivity, and performance.
One of the things that Eye Level does best is work with leaders, teams, and employees through our robust, experiential, highly practical workplace training.
Eye Level Signature Training Experiences
Disability Inclusive Leadership
This two-day experience is designed for management, departmental, and cross-functional teams, talent acquisition, development, and retention professionals, and executive and C-suite leaders who want to expand their knowledge of disability and cultivate leadership skills that ensure all of the voices in their organization are heard, and the marginalized voices are amplified. Through relevant data, research-backed exercises, powerful anecdotes, and meaningful interactions, participants will gain a new understanding of labels and categorizations, identity and intersectionality, and power and privilege. They will also learn how to identify and create strategic opportunities for “leadership of the most impacted” and define best practices for employing this methodology within their organization.
Day 1: Disability Terminology, Identity, and Impact
Individuals living with disabilities are often identified solely by their disability. And those who possess less visible or hidden disabilities are frequently not seen as part of the disability community at all.
In this integral first day, participants will:
Learn what it means to be disabled
Recognize how disability intersects with other identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation
Explore how power and privilege can harm people with disabilities, causing challenges and inequities at work
Day 2: Centering and Elevating Disabled Voices
During the second day, which picks up where Day 1 ends, participants will:
Learn how to center “leadership of the most impacted” by viewing lived experience as expertise
Recognize and call in voices that aren’t being heard
Amplify the voices of people with disabilities through various channels and opportunities, such as allocating seats for people with disabilities at decision-making tables, providing mentoring and coaching opportunities that address the specific needs of employees with disabilities, and creating pathways for people with disabilities to move into leadership positions
Disability Justice: From Framework to Innovation
In this two-day experience, recommended for cross-functional teams, participants will name and recognize the Ten Pillars of Disability Justice and explore how to bring these Pillars from concept to life. This first-of-its-kind innovation sprint is designed to empower employees with different roles, backgrounds, and expertise to identify a workplace problem for employees with disabilities and rapidly prototype a meaningful solution. Participants will walk away amplifying their disability allyship, flexing their creativity and innovation muscles, and will have had the opportunity to pitch their program or service to fellow participants and leadership.
By the end of this two-day experience, participants will:
Uncover how the Ten Pillars of Disability Justice can become a framework for equitable, inclusive workplaces
Translate disability justice into action
Flex their creative problem-solving skills to devise real solutions to struggles people with disabilities encounter
Build relationships by working with a cross-functional team
Heighten public speaking and presentation skills
Explore meaningful ways to improve the workplace for people with disabilities
Eye Level Half and Full-Day Training Solutions
Eye Level has a variety of programs that can be led as half-day or full-day experiential training or paired with other offerings for a customized, multi-day training experience.
Disability and the Disability Community
Interpreting the nuances of disability and the disability community can be challenging. This training provides participants with a fundamental understanding of disability and a foundational comprehension of the disability community, including its membership and proximity. Participants will expand their knowledge of disability, including types, categories, and models, and learn best practices for etiquette, inclusion, and accessibility, along with their importance in personal and professional spaces.
The Misunderstood and Important Connection Between Mental and Physical Health
Mental and physical health are intrinsically connected, but for members of the disability community, this link is often overlooked. During this training, participants will broaden their knowledge of mental health disabilities and gain a better understanding of how mental and physical disabilities are interrelated. After completing this training, participants will be able to articulate the connection between the two aspects and explain how it impacts the overall well-being of an individual.
Disability Across Generations and Cultures
Over time, our approach to disability has evolved, influencing how we view, discuss, and deal with it across generations and cultures. In this training, participants will explore how disability and aging intersect as identities and examine how disability shows up across different generations. They'll also look at the connections between disability and culture to understand how it is perceived and handled in the United States and internationally.
Identify and Remove Barriers to Increase Participation of People with Disabilities
Did you know that people with disabilities often encounter seven common barriers in their lives, work, and society? This training will guide participants in understanding and recognizing these barriers in personal and professional settings. Additionally, they'll learn to create and apply creative solutions to effectively eliminate these obstacles, promoting fair access for everyone.
Establish and Maintain a Culture of Disability Inclusion
Building an inclusive culture for people with disabilities involves letting go of outdated practices and adopting effective new ones. In this training, participants will discover how to establish a culture that includes and accommodates people with disabilities. They'll also learn best practices for recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and retaining talent with disabilities. The training covers the basics of inclusive leadership, teaching participants how to integrate inclusive behaviors and actions into their leadership style to better serve employees, partners, and clients with disabilities.
Create Inclusive, Accessible Marketing and Communications
A significant part of our brand communication relies on our messaging, indicating our level of inclusivity as a business or organization. In this training, participants will discover plain language resources and acquire best practices for writing so that organizational communication is understandable to all. Additionally, they will learn to craft content that is inclusive and accessible for the major social media platforms.
Design Flexible, Anti-Ableist Workspaces
For far too long, organizations have created spaces and schedules without input from people living with disabilities. Now is the time to change that. During this training, participants will learn what ableism is and how it presents itself in personal and professional spaces, including how normative time frames and schedules affect disabled bodies and minds. They will also learn to use the Patchwork Principle to make the most of work time, creating a sense of relevance, control, and fairness for all employees.
Embed Accessibility into Systems and Structures
When accessibility is embedded into systems and structures, everyone benefits. In this training, participants will learn how to identify inaccessible systems and structures and pinpoint specific areas for improvement. Through a team brainstorming exercise, they will create specific interventions that address pain points and create a more inclusive and accessible workplace. Participants will also gain a general understanding of Universal Design and the knowledge to articulate its impact. They will return to their roles with the competence to introduce Universal Design concepts to their managers and teams.
The Threats and Benefits of AI to People with Disabilities
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be both risky and beneficial for people with disabilities. In this training, participants discover the upsides and downsides, like AI devices such as speech recognition software and smart home gadgets that can greatly assist those with mobility or speech challenges. Participants will also explore how to minimize potential risks to people with disabilities by developing and using AI responsibly.
The Transformative Power of Allies, Advocates, and Activists
The landscape of language and words changes rapidly, posing a challenge to staying abreast of the subtle shifts. After this training, participants will be able to clearly define the similarities and differences between speaking up as an ally, advocate, and activist and recognize key distinctions in their roles and responsibilities. Additionally, they will gain an understanding of how personal awareness connects to social impact work and why allies, advocates, and activists matter in today's disability rights movement.