Accessible Workplaces with Connor Duignan

Welcome to Episode 144 of the Think UDL podcast: Accessible Workplaces with Connor Duignan. Connor Duignan is a Technical Software Developer at Innopharma Education. I met Connor at the AHEAD (Association On Higher Education and Disability) conference in Dublin, Ireland. His talk “Tertiary Education as Accessible Workplaces” beautifully summarized what accommodations and structures we have in higher education could also be transferred to the workplace to make a better working environment for all involved. In our conversation, we discuss principles that should be in place to make the workplace more flexible and accessible. This episode hits on the major ideas of Connor’s thesis with some excellent talking points for employers and employees to follow. Additionally, we had a wonderful time talking about the Irish language and its renaissance in Ireland, and why language itself is so important to a people and a culture. This is important to identity, culture, and individuality which is also linked to learner variability, and why we need to have places where everyone can bring their best selves in any environment, from higher ed to the workplace and everywhere else.