When inclusion is optional, discrimination follows

Welcome to Lead With Inclusion! This weekly newsletter is a resource for EVERY professional. Whether you’re a manager ready to be a more inclusive leader, or an employee ready to be a DEI champion in your workplace, inclusive actions lead to inclusive outcomes. Leading with inclusion simply means starting with inclusive actions in everything you do. It means identifying the areas where bias is at work, and shifting mindsets to make change. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, start here.

Imagine if your access to vital information—like safety instructions during a natural disaster—was entirely dependent on whether someone felt like being inclusive that day.

Now imagine this happens not at some random company, but from the highest office in the land.

That’s exactly what happened when the Trump administration abruptly stopped providing American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at White House press briefings and public communications during COVID. The same administration that frequently calls Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts "illegal" is now facing lawsuits from disability advocates for violating the rights of Deaf Americans under the First Amendment.

You read that right: the people crying “DEI is dangerous!” are being sued for engaging in actual discrimination.

And this is what hypocrisy looks like.

Be An Inclusive Leader

It’s one thing to say you value inclusion. It’s another thing entirely to practice it when no one’s watching—or when it becomes inconvenient.

Here’s the thing: providing ASL access isn’t about convenience. It isn’t “extra.” It’s not about checking a box or appeasing activists. It’s about fundamental access to information. And if you believe in “freedom of speech” or “the right to be informed,” then that has to apply to everyone—not just the people who can hear.

So what can leaders in the workplace learn from this?

Inclusion is infrastructure, not charity. If you're treating inclusion like an optional “perk,” you’ve already lost the plot. Think of it the way you think about electricity, internet, and ADA-compliant bathrooms. Necessary. Non-negotiable. Required!

If you're scaling back DEI, ask yourself what you're scaling back to. Are you unintentionally (or intentionally) walking away from commitments to accessible meetings, diverse hiring practices, or employee mental health resources? What message does that send to your team?

Understand the law… but lead beyond it. While the ADA protects certain rights, being an inclusive leader is not about staying just above legal minimums. Legal compliance isn’t leadership. That’s just the floor. Inclusive leadership builds the walls, the roof, the ramp, and opens the door.

Lead With Inclusion

What can everyday employees—and aspiring inclusion champions—do to avoid this same hypocrisy in their own work?

Here are a few places to start:

Normalize access. If you’re running a virtual meeting, are captions on by default? Is your slide deck reader-friendly? Have you asked your teammates what accessibility features they need to fully participate? Don’t assume. Ask. And then act.

Challenge ableism when you see it. If someone makes a joke about needing “special treatment” or being “too woke” for accessibility requests, speak up. Silence is complicity. You don’t have to start a debate—but you can draw a line.

Educate yourself on disability rights history. Know what the ADA actually says. Learn about the Section 504 sit-in. Look up Judy Heumann. Disability justice isn’t new—and the people fighting for it have always been powerful leaders.

Push for inclusion in policy, not just in performance. If your company values DEI, great. But do your leave policies account for invisible disabilities? Does your performance review system inadvertently penalize neurodivergent employees who don’t “show up” the same way? Advocacy is policy work, too.

Final thought:

If your organization claims DEI is “too political” or “too expensive,” ask whether discrimination lawsuits and reputation damage are somehow less political… or less expensive.

Because as we’ve just seen, failing to lead with inclusion doesn’t just hurt people—it can also land you in court.

And at that point, the cost of inclusion is the least of your concerns.

About Stacey Gordon:

Stacey Gordon is a Bias Disrupter and an unapologetic evangelist for inclusion. As the Founder of Rework Work, she anchors action using change management principles while facilitating mindset shifts. She is a global keynote speaker, Top Voice on LinkedIn and a popular LinkedIn Learning [IN]structor with nearly two million unique learners enjoying her courses.

Want to work with Stacey live? Considerbooking her for your next keynote, leadership development meeting or consulting engagement.