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SAMany organizations still approach disability through a deficit lens. The focus is on what the individual cannot do. The social model takes a different view. Change the environment and many of the barriers disappear.
Rosie Russell, Director of EHS and Sustainability at MeiraGTx, challenges safety leaders to think about disability this way. Her work sits at the intersection of workplace safety, inclusion, and how organizations design environments where people can actually succeed.
In this clip she gives a simple example. If someone struggles to walk, the solution is not to question their capability. It is to install lifts and access slopes. If someone cannot hear well, add sign language interpreters. The barrier is often the system, not the person.
For safety professionals, that shift in thinking matters. The same logic used to engineer safer physical systems can be applied to how workplaces support different kinds of workers.
This is the type of practical thinking safety leaders will be digging into at Safety Connect 2026.
Register: https://register.safetyconnect365.com/home?utm_campaign=scon26&utm_medium=social&utm_source=safeopedia&utm_content=microcontent
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