One in six people around the world have some kind of disability. The impact on their lives is considerable. In the US and the UK, employment among people with disabilities is 30% lower than for the rest of the population.
Interview with Simon Holt
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Publishing has long approached visual disabilities as an opportunity, at least for its products. Over many decades, publishers have created special editions of books and other texts in Braille and in large print. The proliferation of audio books, too, means even greater access to information and entertainment for the visually impaired.
Access to jobs in publishing for the disabled, though, is another matter. While publishing has made strides in opening its ranks to greater diversity, the industry still struggles with inclusion for people with disabilities. At Elsevier, Simon Holt, a senior acquisitions editor, is chair of Elsevier Enabled, a company-wide initiative to promote an accessible workplace and to highlight best practices for creating an inclusive professional culture.
“As publishers, we have a responsibility to our customers,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “If we aren’t a diverse set of people, we’re not going to be able to publish diverse perspectives, and we’re not going to be aware of the challenges that face our readers, including, of course, accessibility.”
December 3rd is observed as International Day of Persons with Disabilities, an occasion first proclaimed by the United Nations in 1992. For Holt, who is visually impaired, the occasion is an opportunity to remind people that physical challenges often give individuals special strengths.
“Obviously through childhood, like a lot of people, books were very important to me, and access to books in large print and audio were also very important to me. The education sector is quite good at making provision for differently-abled people,” he explains.
“When I got into the world of work, I realized that it was different. I found the publishing industry to be a place where people were super wanting to help but not really knowing how to help. I’d go to interviews and I’d get some inappropriate questions. I thought, well, if I ever get to a position where I can change things, then I’m going to try and do that, so in the future when people come for an interview the manager will see somebody who’s resilient, resourceful, and good at problem solving and good at building relationships, etc., as a result of having a disability, as opposed to just seeing limitations and problems.”
