Julie Sowash
Executive Director
A passionate disability advocate, award-winning business leader, speaker, and podcast host, Julie Sowash is a true innovator in the DEIB and TA/HR field. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Disability Solutions, she and her team have partnered with over 70 companies of every size and industry, including PepsiCo, Synchrony, and Bristol Myers Squibb, who value people with disabilities by helping them implement outcome-based programs and solutions throughout the engagement, hiring and retention process.
She supports the building and deployment of strategic solutions by first assessing current structures, systems, policies, and processes to identify areas for improvement. Julie provides a real-world perspective to her work as both someone living with a disability and a professional having worked in public, private, and vendor environments. She uses this experience to focus on mapping and identifying touch points, barriers, and gaps in the engagement process, including within technology, data, and vendor infrastructure. She then uses these findings to develop targeted strategies that will cater to an organization’s unique needs while focusing on creating greater opportunities for people with disabilities in every aspect of an organization.
Julie regularly speaks at state, national, and international conferences, including the United Nations Day of Persons with Disabilities Celebration and DisruptHR, focusing on topics such as compliance and disability inclusion. She is the Co-Host of the Crazy and the King podcast with Torin Ellis, discussing diversity, equity, and inclusion in everyday life. She leads Ability, Stronger, the DEIB strategy for Ability Beyond. She was also recognized as one of the Top 100 in Talent Acquisition Technology by TA Tech in 2021 and one of the Top 100 DEIB professionals by Untapped in 2022.
Julie has her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Indiana University. She has worked as a disability and employment leader for over fifteen years. Julie lives in Columbus, Indiana, with her husband, three children, and their dogs.
Topics
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DisruptHR
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This is Not Charity, Employment Branding in the Disability Community
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BroadBean
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Leading with Empathy and Knowledge: Managing Talent with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities
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Return to Office Mandates and the Impact on People with Disabilities
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Building a Culture of Trust: Ensure Data Security, Grow Employee Self-ID Numbers
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The Future of Clinical Trials: An Equitable and Accessible Approach
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Reevaluating the Hiring Process: Building Workflows and Data Management Systems for Inclusive Hiring
Podcasts and Features
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The Recruitment Flex
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Podcast Interview: Julie Sowash w/Disability Solutions
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Scaling Impact
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Increasing Efficiency Through Automation
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Amanda Burris
Director of Sales
“Your job, be human. My job, find employers creating a culture for disability and diversity inclusion.”
With 20+ years of business leadership experience, Amanda Burris is a diversity and equity trailblazer. As Director of Sales at Disability Solutions, a leading non-profit in the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), TA, and HR space, she leads a team dedicated to helping companies find, hire, and retain talent with disabilities. As someone with a non-apparent mental health disability, she understands from experience how beneficial it is to raise awareness, provide education and eliminate biases in the workplace. At Disability Solutions, Amanda is doing just that by working with Fortune 1000 companies like Roche and PepsiCo to remove barriers to the hiring process and hire talent with disabilities through strategic outreach and cultural change. Amanda is passionate about speaking to and addressing fears and stigmas around disability, mental health wellness, and the general hiring of disabled talent.
“I am honored to be a part of a company leading the charge to make a change. 61M Americans and 1B Globally people live with a disability. Disability does not discriminate. We are across all races, ethnicities, genders, and economic backgrounds. Disabilities are short-term, long-term, and life-term and we deserve representation in the workplace.”
Topics
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Changing Minds and Changing Lives
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Amanda discusses her role as a leader with a mental health disability and mental health in the workplace, and how she breaks down barriers, reduces stigmas, and creates outcomes, advocating for people with disabilities.
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Mental Health Wellness in the Workplace
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Amanda speaks from her personal experience with mental illness, addressing how best to support mental health wellness in the workplace, reviewing various mental health conditions, and frequently asking questions and stigmas.
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Dispelling Fear and Stigma about Disability
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The disability community is a powerful, untapped resource. There are substantial business cases for adding individuals with disabilities to your workforce.
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Hiring People with Disability
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Amanda addresses reasons why disability hiring is essential to your business; presents foundational disability knowledge and how to avoid accommodation pitfalls.
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Podcasts and Features
Rebecca Langbein
Universal and Inclusive Design Lead
Dr. Rebecca Langbein is Disability Solutions’ Universal and Inclusive Design Subject Matter Expert. Rebecca has a passion for bringing the human perspective into design, which she discovered at Lehigh University while pursuing the school’s first-ever integrated degree in Engineering, Psychology, and Ethics. After working as an assistive technology practitioner in a pediatric outpatient rehabilitation center, she went back to school and completed her doctorate in Occupational Therapy, in order to enhance her understanding of human performance, particularly as it relates to disability.
Dr. Langbein has consulted with architecture firms to explore “going beyond ADA requirements” in an effort to make spaces that truly function well for all and has also pursued certificates in UD from the University of Buffalo, the country’s leading university on the topic.
Rebecca is on the team at The Universal Design Project, a non-profit organization seeking to increase the number of financially and physically accessible homes in the US through collaborative design with architects, medical professions, and people with disabilities. She also has experience in universal product design, having partnered with the Adaptive Design Association in New York City to design and fabricate see-through face masks for use in schools for children who are D(d)eaf or hard of hearing at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through her work at Disability Solutions, Dr. Langbein partners with clients to assess their spaces for inclusivity and accessibility. She uses the findings from evaluations to create company-specific recommendations for improved access and functionality for all employees, with a particular focus on surpassing ADA requirements and designing spaces that promote inclusion and belonging for all people. Though her recommendations include specific considerations for people with disabilities in all major categories (cognitive, physical, mental health, and sensory), she predominantly relies on UD theory in her work, as it more comprehensively addresses all dimensions of diversity including disability status, race, gender, age, sexual, and cultural identity.
Dr. Langbein views her work as an inclusive designer as a constant challenge and opportunity to learn by partnering with diverse teams to create innovative solutions that allow all people to participate in the world around them. Her passion for this work is infectious and hopes to get the chance to pursue UD with you!
Topics
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TEDx speaker
Podcasts and Features
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Rebecca also co-hosts the Good Fit, Poor Fit podcast which explores the interaction between people, design, and activity.
