‘The Me With A Disability’
Dailycsr.com – 30 December 2018 - Carrie Farber is the principal product manager at Walmart eCommerce, who wrote:
“I began as a product copywriter, responsible for writing thousands of item descriptions. I progressed to become a senior manager on our site merchandising and customer experience team”.
When Farber was concentrating in expanding on “customer experience”, she began to lose her eyesight. By the year of 2015, her vision loss became a major issue. However, she didn’t allow others to witness her inner battles, as she was daily present at work and did not take help of any pet or a walking cane to find her way around. She said:
“I was afraid of what people would think if they knew I had a disability. Would their perceptions of my abilities change? Would this impact my career growth?”
Soon she turned to “assistive technology” that helped her function normally in a digital setup. It is during this time that Farber realised that Walmart website was “not accessible for screen readers”, as she no longer managed to shop the same. Her immediate thought embraced the struggle of over twenty percent population in the U.S. dealing with disabilities who failed to shop from Walmart website. She added:
“I suddenly realized that I had an opportunity to make a difference on inclusion for our associates and accessibility for our customers. It was time to take what I perceived as a liability and turn it into an asset. As I began to share my situation with a trusted HR partner, she introduced me to a colleague, and now dear friend, Russell Shaffer, who has the same degenerative retinal disease as me. Russell’s passion for inclusion and his invaluable support (along with my first guide dog) gave me just the dose of courage I needed to be able to bring my true self to work”.
It has been almost three years since then and Farber now tells that stepping out of her comfort zone made her step into “the most challenging, yet rewarding, job” of her career. She expresses her pride in her work by saying:
“Today, I am proud to lead accessibility for Walmart eCommerce, proud to co-chair our internal group for associates with disabilities and proud to be part of a company that continues to promote the importance of diverse thought leadership as part of its overall commitment to diversity and inclusion”.
“Thanks to the culture of trust within Walmart, I am really proud to be me. The me with a disability. The me that is so honored to be part of a team of associates who have leaned in and learned how to truly make a difference in so many people’s lives”.
References:
3blmedia.com
“I began as a product copywriter, responsible for writing thousands of item descriptions. I progressed to become a senior manager on our site merchandising and customer experience team”.
When Farber was concentrating in expanding on “customer experience”, she began to lose her eyesight. By the year of 2015, her vision loss became a major issue. However, she didn’t allow others to witness her inner battles, as she was daily present at work and did not take help of any pet or a walking cane to find her way around. She said:
“I was afraid of what people would think if they knew I had a disability. Would their perceptions of my abilities change? Would this impact my career growth?”
Soon she turned to “assistive technology” that helped her function normally in a digital setup. It is during this time that Farber realised that Walmart website was “not accessible for screen readers”, as she no longer managed to shop the same. Her immediate thought embraced the struggle of over twenty percent population in the U.S. dealing with disabilities who failed to shop from Walmart website. She added:
“I suddenly realized that I had an opportunity to make a difference on inclusion for our associates and accessibility for our customers. It was time to take what I perceived as a liability and turn it into an asset. As I began to share my situation with a trusted HR partner, she introduced me to a colleague, and now dear friend, Russell Shaffer, who has the same degenerative retinal disease as me. Russell’s passion for inclusion and his invaluable support (along with my first guide dog) gave me just the dose of courage I needed to be able to bring my true self to work”.
It has been almost three years since then and Farber now tells that stepping out of her comfort zone made her step into “the most challenging, yet rewarding, job” of her career. She expresses her pride in her work by saying:
“Today, I am proud to lead accessibility for Walmart eCommerce, proud to co-chair our internal group for associates with disabilities and proud to be part of a company that continues to promote the importance of diverse thought leadership as part of its overall commitment to diversity and inclusion”.
“Thanks to the culture of trust within Walmart, I am really proud to be me. The me with a disability. The me that is so honored to be part of a team of associates who have leaned in and learned how to truly make a difference in so many people’s lives”.
References:
3blmedia.com
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