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Disability Inclusion · Foundations
Notice ableism in ordinary assumptions, interrupt exclusion without speaking over anyone, build access into what you already own, and know how to escalate when a barrier is not yours to fix.
45–55 minutes · 4 lessons · Voluntary learning
Learn to recognize ableism where it usually lives: in defaults treated as neutral, requests treated as favors, competence judged from appearance, and stories told for a nondisabled audience.
Practice the short, specific, design-focused interruption, in a meeting, in writing and in a service interaction, and learn what to do afterward so the person affected is supported rather than put on the spot.
Understand what disabled people have asked of allies, take a first step that does not require anyone to disclose, and build access into the things you already own so nobody has to ask.
Know the ladder for an accessibility concern, which office owns which kind of issue, how to keep a record that gets things fixed, and write the thirty-day commitment that closes the Foundations level.
Make one routine task, meeting, document or interaction more accessible in the next thirty days, tell the people it affects what changed, and find out the escalation route in your unit before you need it.
Ableism in a workplace rarely looks like hostility. It looks like a default nobody questioned, a joke nobody objected to, a request treated as a favor, and a disabled colleague who has explained the same barrier three times. This course is about what you do in those moments. You will learn to see the assumption before it becomes a design, to say something short and specific when exclusion happens, to act with disabled people instead of for them or instead of them, and to move a concern to the office that can resolve it. It ends where the Foundations level ends: with one routine you will make more accessible in the next thirty days.
Ask who the default leaves out. Say the sentence. Build it in. Write it down and send it to the person who can change it.
Keep the four moves of this course within reach: see the assumption, interrupt the design, act with rather than for, and escalate with a record.
Make your thirty-day commitment, tell a colleague, and write the escalation routes for your unit where the team can find them.
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
Everyday allyship practices for individuals and organizations.
Definition of disability inclusion and the estimate that about one in four adults in the United States has a disability.
Employment protections, reasonable accommodation, and the prohibition on retaliation for asserting rights.
Practical guidance on accommodation requests and the interactive process for employees and employers.
Plain-language ADA information for staff, supervisors and the public, including how to raise and route concerns.
Resources on inclusive workplaces and disability employment practice.