Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
October is presented as a time for school leaders to celebrate disability diversity and recommit to inclusive school culture. The piece highlights both visible and non-apparent disabilities and encourages a month-long focus on belonging, with an emphasis that accessibility is critical to community life.
A central thread is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which the author connects to daily leadership practice. Concrete actions include inclusive hiring, ensuring accessible classrooms with adaptive technology, expanding career readiness and work-based learning for students with disabilities, and educating the whole community through workshops and discussions—all framed through a lens of removing barriers rather than “fixing” people.
The article also spotlights October observances—such as ADHD Awareness Month, World Cerebral Palsy Day, World Sight Day, World Mental Health Day, White Cane Awareness Day, Invisible Disabilities Week, and awareness months for Down syndrome, dyslexia, and spina bifida—to show who is affected and why it matters. For Blind/Low Vision students and staff, for example, accessible learning materials and communication practices—like clear, meaningful ALT text—help prevent common classroom problems.
The closing message is a call for principals and educators to lead by example beyond October: model inclusive language, audit school spaces and systems, and invite student and staff voices to guide change. Community events and celebrations can be planned with intention using practical event accessibility steps so schools become places where more people can fully participate.
Read the Full Article: October Disability Awareness
by: Mishele Barnett
Share or Print with:
