Eve Hill, partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy, sat down with Olark Accessible AI Chatbots CEO, Ben Congleton, to discuss the need for ADA-compliant technology in the workplace that all individuals can use and access equitably, in recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
During the conversation, Eve noted that some of the biggest issues people with disabilities face in the workforce today are the lack of accessible technology in the employment space.
“Lots and lots of employers are using inaccessible technology, and they’re either then not hiring people with disabilities because they’re afraid the technology won’t be usable, or they’re hiring people and then those people are not able to do their jobs, or not able to do them at the level that they could if the stuff worked,” Eve said.
According to Eve, many employers didn’t consider accessibility when they decided to use these technologies. While there are alternatives or ways you can push back against the vendors to make them more accessible, employers haven’t been paying attention to it.
“It’s really excluding or keeping down the success and the performance of people with disabilities across the country,” she said.
Eve noted that some of these cases in which employers are not using accessible technologies are now working their way through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission process, so they will be public soon.
“Hopefully that will raise awareness among employers that they’ve got to pay attention to this when they decide what technology to use,” Eve said.
To listen to the entire podcast from Olark, in which Eve further discusses the importance of good jobs for all, and how accessibility compliance, artificial intelligence, and remote work play a role in the landscape of the workforce for people with disabilities, click here.
ABOUT EVE HILL
Eve is one of the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers, known especially for her commitment to disability rights across many sectors. Her wide-ranging experience complements Brown, Goldstein & Levy’s decades of dedication to high-impact disability rights cases and its advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities and their families. Eve is also committed to promoting the education, engagement and employment of people with disabilities, working with organizations through BGL’s Strategic Consulting Group, Inclusivity.
Through her work with individual clients and her work guiding the inclusive vision of organizations, Eve works hard to achieve the real inclusion of people with disabilities in their workforces and communities. Learn more about Eve and BGL’s commitment to disability rights and disability consulting.
ABOUT BROWN, GOLDSTEIN & LEVY
Founded in 1982, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, DC. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.
