Disabled professionals in scholarly publishing navigate workplaces often designed without them in mind. Despite legal requirements and DEIA commitments, disabled workers face persistent barriers: inaccessible tools and platforms, exclusionary meetings, career advancement limited by ableist assumptions, and the exhausting labor of repeatedly explaining their needs.
Creating an accessibility mindset means moving beyond reactive accommodations to proactively designing products, workflows, and systems with disabled users in mind—whether customers interacting with publications or colleagues using internal tools. Truly inclusive workplaces aren't built through accommodations alone—they're built when non-disabled colleagues understand what disabled workers experience, what they need to thrive, and what systemic changes matter most.
This panel centers disabled professionals in scholarly publishing who will share what they want colleagues, managers, and leaders to know. Through honest conversation, panelists discuss navigating inaccessible workplaces, the gap between policy and practice, invisible labor of self-advocacy, and what genuine inclusion looks like beyond accommodations.
