Episode 378: Trust and Understanding in the Disability Disclosure Conversation With Albert Kim

When employees come to you and try to ask for accommodations. They have gone through so much thoughts already that when you are trying, when you kind of question it or ask for more details, then now the employee feel that, oh, next time I need to have more details, I need to justify my accommodations. And that’s the worst, because when you have, when you keep feeling like you have to justify, it doesn’t feel like it’s being inclusive environment, but it feels you’re kind of being forced to disclose your disability and more information. Episode 378: Trust and Understanding in the Disability Disclosure Conversation With Albert Kim   Welcome to the Workology Podcast, a podcast for the disruptive workplace leader. Join host Jessica Miller-Merrell, founder of Workology.com as she sits down and gets to the bottom of trends, tools, and case studies for the business leader, HR, and recruiting professional who is tired of the status quo. Now here’s Jessica with this episode of Workology. Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:01:08.78] This episode of the Workology Podcast is part of our Future of Work series, powered by PEAT, the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology. PEAT works to start conversations around how emerging workplace technology trends are impacting people with disabilities. This podcast is powered by Ace the HR Exam and Upskill HR. These are two of the courses that I offer for certification prep and recertification for HR leaders. Before I introduce our guest, I want to hear from you. Text the word “PODCAST” to 512-548-3005 to ask questions, leave comments and make suggestions for future guests. This is my community text number and I want to hear from you. Today I’m joined by Albert Kim, Accessibility Consultant, Trainer and Founder of Accessibility Next Gen. Albert worked as a UX accessibility lead at Korn Ferry and as an accessibility subject matter expert at ServiceNow Design System Team to achieve digital accessibility beyond the legal compliance. He’s also an active public speaker advocating for neurodiversity and mental health inclusion in digital accessibility work. Albert, welcome to the Workology Podcast. Albert Kim: [00:02:37.58] Thank you for having me. It’s good to be here. Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:02:41.99] It is. I’m so excited for you to talk to us about this topic. But first, before we chat more, Talk to us a little bit about your background and how it led to the work that you’re doing now. Albert Kim: [00:02:54.38] I work as a digital accessibility subject matter expert and UX design consultant and trainer. I’m also a public speaker and coach, raising mental health awareness in the community. I founded a community called Accessibility Connection to help people who are trying to learn more about accessibility. I was also a disability Next Gen leader. Currently I’m serving as an invited expert at the W3C World Wide Web Consortium with their Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Task Force Team and Mental Health subgroup. So the way I got into my work is I, I myself identify as someone with disability. I’m neurodivergent. I also have mental health conditions and it comes from my environmental background. I was born in a family with domestic violence and my parents have never gotten any formal education. Being first generation to live in America, Asian, being an Asian, coming from Asian culture. I’m also a military veteran. So having said that, all those environmental factors kind of contributed,