What organizations can learn about AI from disabled, neurodivergent employees

📺 I was on CHCH TV this week talking about something I think we're missing in the conversation about AI at work:

Disabled and neurodivergent people have been using technology to work around barriers for decades. Organizations should be learning from that expertise.

We hear a lot about AI as a productivity tool. How can we work faster? Automate more? Get more done?

But AI can also be an accessibility tool.

🧠 It can turn a brain dump into an organized plan.

✍ Translate dense information into plain language.

🗣️ Turn speech into written communication.

🗒️ Capture meeting notes so someone can focus on participating.

 🎯 Help someone approach a task in a way that works better for their brain or body.

And this isn't hypothetical.

Microsoft has involved hundreds of employees from its disability community in accessibility work around tools like #Copilot.

BT Group deliberately included members of its employee accessibility network in a Copilot pilot so people experiencing workplace barriers could help identify what worked, what didn't, and what the organization might otherwise miss.

There's a lesson here for organizations adopting AI:

Don't just ask disabled and neurodivergent employees how AI can accommodate them. Ask what they already know about using technology differently.

Include them in pilots.

Include them in testing.

Include them in procurement and policy conversations.

Ask where barriers exist and what technology could make possible.

Disabled people have been adapting systems that weren't designed for them for generations.

That's lived experience as expertise.

And it's expertise organizations need as we figure out what the future of work with AI actually looks like.

 👀 Watch the interview

#Neurodiversity #Accessibility #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #DisabilityInclusion #Leadership