Disability and Institutional Design
I work on how institutional design shapes disability access, participation, and retention in employment and higher education.
Institutions often approach disability one accommodation at a time. My work looks beyond individual requests to the systems around them: how decisions are made, how work and campus life are organized, how performance is evaluated, and where responsibility for access sits.
I help institutions identify where those systems create barriers, understand why they persist, and determine what redesign would require.
Workplace
I work with employers on two closely connected areas: the ADA interactive process and the workplace policies and practices that determine how often individualized accommodations are needed.
A central question is whether accommodation processes are structured to enable an effective search for accommodations.
Higher Education
Most campuses treat disability primarily as an accommodation and compliance issue—not as a dimension of diversity to be reflected in the policies, practices, and visible cultural life of the institution. Responsibility is concentrated in disability services and HR, while the policies, practices, and routines that structure everyday campus life for disabled faculty and students remain largely unexamined.
I help colleges and universities examine those policies, practices, and routines to improve access, strengthen belonging, and increase retention.
Ways to Engage
Organizations engage my work in several ways, depending on the problem they are addressing and the expertise they need.
Consulting
I work with employers and higher education institutions to identify and address disability-related barriers in policies, processes, practices, and organizational systems.
Consulting engagements may include Leadership Briefings, Audits and Diagnostic Reviews, and Policy, Process, and Systems Redesign.
Subject-Matter Expertise
I contribute disability and institutional-design expertise to projects, initiatives, contracts, and programs involving employment, higher education, accommodation systems, and disability inclusion, including as an advisor or member of a broader project team.
Speaking & Training
I offer invited talks, leadership presentations, and participatory workshops for employers, higher education institutions, professional associations, and other audiences.
Topics include structural ableism, accommodation systems and retention, and disability as diversity and identity.
Selected Speaking Engagements
AHEAD · NASPA · Magna Leadership in Higher Education · Pacific ADA Symposium
About
I spent 24 years as a philosophy professor before founding a practice focused on disability and institutional design.
My work combines systems analysis with lived experience to help institutions understand why disability-related barriers persist and what meaningful change requires.