Strategies for Reducing Disability Stigma

July is Disability Pride Month, and we’re spotlighting strategies for reducing disability stigma—negative attitudes or beliefs about people with disabilities.

People with disabilities are often stigmatized in many ways, including social avoidance, stereotyping, and condescension. If someone has a disability, they may be labeled as helpless or incapable of exercising autonomy, and people may pity them. They may be excluded from social events, and people may avoid eye contact and talking with them if they have a visible disability.

Together, we can help reduce disability stigma by:

  • Learning from others about disabilities. People with disabilities have a wide-range of experiences, and we can broaden our understanding when we listen to their stories.
  • Avoiding assumptions about what someone with a disability can or cannot do. People are affected by disabilities in different ways, and not every person’s experience with a disability is the same.
  • Using person-first language to emphasize that a person is not a disability (e.g., “person who is deaf”). However, some people may prefer identity-first language (e.g., “deaf person”). If you’re unsure, a good rule is to use people-first language.
  • Avoiding negative words — like “punishment”, “sad”, and “tragedy” — when discussing disability.
  • Using age-appropriate language and making eye contact when talking to people with visible disabilities, even if a companion or interpreter is present.

References

“Common Barriers to Participation Experienced by People With Disabilities.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Sept. 2020, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability-barriers.html. Accessed 5 June 2023.

Fitzroy, Jenna. “The Stigma on People With Disabilities: What You Can Do to Reduce It.” Women’s Health Blog, Apr. 2019, www.womenshealthblog.org/the-stigma-on-people-with-disabilities-what-you-can-do-to-reduce-it.

“Guidelines for Writing About People With Disabilities.” ADA National Network, adata.org/factsheet/ADANN-writing. Accessed 5 June 2023.

NCALL Staff. “Destigmatizing Disability.” The National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life, 19 July 2021, www.ncall.us/2021/07/19/destigmatizing-disability. Accessed 5 June 2023.

University of Washington. (2016). Disability Stigma and Your Patients [Factsheet]. Aging Well with a Physical Disability Factsheet Series. Healthy Aging & Physical Disability RRTC, http://agerrtc.washington.edu.

Jul 18 2023
By Life@Leggett

Doors Internship Program: Unlocking Paths to Success

This summer, 19 interns from college campuses across the United States are participating in Leggett’s Doors Internship Program. The Doors Program is a virtual professional development series that allows students to gain real-life experience in their field of study through immersive leadership workshops.

“The Doors Program offers a comprehensive and well-rounded internship experience that combines professional development, networking, skill enhancement, and a broader understanding of Leggett & Platt,” said Danielle Sattler, Talent Advisor and Ambassador of the Doors Program. “It serves as an excellent opportunity for interns to grow personally and professionally, laying a solid foundation for their future careers.”

Jul 17 2023
By Life@Leggett

L&P’s Support Sends Ukraine Teams to Global Finals

For the second year, Leggett & Platt has partnered with Destination Imagination (DI), a global community of 28 countries on six continents, whose focus is to inspire and equip today’s youth to find their creative self-expression by providing challenges rooted in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).

Through DI, youth from schools worldwide compete in regional STEAM challenges and tournaments with the hopes of advancing to the Global Finals, the culminating challenge experience.

Thanks to the support of L&P, DI sent multiple teams from around the world, including two teams from Ukraine, to compete at the Global Finals held in May in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Your support of the Ukraine and Ukrainian children not only helped them to participate in the Global Finals, but it helps to develop their creativity and curiosity as well as advance DI in Ukraine,” said Vasyl Dunets, Ukraine Team Leader.

The Ukraine teams receive their L&P pins at Global Finals.

A popular activity at Global Finals is pin trading. Teams can make pins or bring pins from their affiliates and trade them with teams worldwide. Leggett presented the Ukrainian teams with L&P pins.

“The children enjoyed sharing pins during the Global Finals, and after returning home, we also sent the pins to teams who could not visit the U.S.,” said Vasyl. “Thank you to our friends at Leggett & Platt, who supported our Ukrainian teams.”

Jul 14 2023
By Life@Leggett

L&P Celebrates Belonging at Joplin’s Third Thursday

L&P recently supported Third Thursday, a family-friendly event where the Joplin, Missouri, and surrounding communities get together to enjoy local food, artists, entertainment, and vendors. The theme for June was “You Belong in Joplin,” celebrating the June 2020 proclamation from the city recognizing inclusion, diversity, and equity efforts.

At the event, L&P employees hosted a booth where community members – kids and adults alike – could play games to learn about Leggett and win L&P swag and treats. Contests included U.S. and world puzzle maps representing states and countries where L&P has locations, a “guess the phrase and its meaning” game in various languages that L&P employees speak, and L&P trivia.

Lynn Werner, a member of L&P’s ID&E Team and a volunteer at the event, shared, “My favorite part of the event was playing L&P trivia with a few L&P retirees who came to the booth. They shared stories of their work at L&P and were so proud that Leggett was present at the event.”

Jul 13 2023
By Life@Leggett

Pullmaflex’s Behavioral Approach to Safety

The Pullmaflex Automotive team in Ammanford, UK, takes a behavioral approach to safety. They understand that risk is a part of everyday life, and while they cannot eliminate risk, they can work to mitigate the impact of those risks.

“Most safety-related incidents occur when an individual is looking for the most direct, time efficient, or effective way to perform a task,” says Clare Rees, HR Business Partner at Pullmaflex. “By observing those routine tasks and understanding the natural path of an activity, we can find solutions that reduce risk by appealing to natural instincts.”

The team drives change in behavior by understanding the actions that cause the safety risks and simplifying those actions to make them more aligned with natural impulses.

“By understanding the true root cause of an action, we can manage the risk of reoccurrence by driving change in the behavior.”

The team drives this change by following guidelines like these:

  • Collaborate, communicate, listen, and understand
  • Celebrate safe behaviors
  • Identify risk and support change with positive reinforcement 
  • Always ask why and avoid blame
  • Support managers to reassess their environments with fresh eyes

Thank you to the Ammanford team for upholding our value of putting people first!

Jul 11 2023
By Life@Leggett

Expungement Clinic Helps Give Kansas Residents a Second Chance

Recently, Leggett & Platt partnered with Kansas Legal Services and co-hosted an expungement clinic in Pittsburg, Kansas. The expungement clinic helped residents who were arrested or convicted of some types of past crimes get a second chance by getting their records expunged.

Expungement is the legal process of removing or sealing a criminal record from a person’s public record. Criminal convictions and other offenses can stay on a person’s record for years and become a barrier to obtaining employment, housing, and education. When a person’s record is expunged, no information related to the arrest or the conviction can be disclosed to the public, offering individuals a second chance. 

Volunteers from Kansas Legal Services and L&P help residents during the expungement clinic.

Having a criminal record, even just an arrest, can stop a person from qualifying for many types of jobs and benefits. During the free clinic, residents with eligible cases met with volunteers from L&P and Kansas Legal Services, who reviewed their cases and helped draft the necessary paperwork. 

“It was rewarding to be a part of such a worthy cause. Each person we helped was so thankful and appreciative,” said Alex Aguilera, Assistant General Counsel – Litigation & Compliance, who volunteered and helped coordinate the event. “You could tell that they were excited to move on with their lives and put their prior mistakes behind them.”

Jul 10 2023
By Life@Leggett

L&P Supports Carthage Annual Day of Caring

Leggett volunteers and community members from local businesses and schools recently participated in the Carthage Annual Day of Caring, supported by the Carthage Area United Way. The Carthage Annual Day of Caring assists ten local non-profit agencies with various projects, including painting, cleaning and upkeep, landscaping, and minor repairs.

Our Leggett team assisted Jasper County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri. At CASA, our L&P team cleaned the outside patio and playground equipment, provided general housekeeping, and sanitized all toys and equipment.

In addition, L&P recently held a donation drive for hygiene products. Through those donations, the team donated 200 hygiene kits containing soap, shampoo, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and other essential items to those in need at CASA.

“Our diverse group of employee volunteers learned a lot about what CASA does and who they serve, and even raised their hands for future events with CASA to show continued support,” said Sarah Peterson, Fraud/Due Diligence Supervisor at L&P. “It was really great to see everyone get their hands dirty and break a sweat for the good of others.”

Click the links to learn more about Jasper County CASA and Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri.

Thank you to our L&P volunteers and the Carthage United Way for giving back to our community!

Jul 07 2023
By Life@Leggett

July Is Disability Pride Month

In July of 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act—important legislation aimed at protecting people with disabilities from discrimination. In 2015, Disability Pride Month was officially celebrated, becoming a time to recognize that disabilities are a part of who we are and our diversity.

So, what exactly is a disability? The Centers for Disease Control defines disability as “any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them.” According to the World Health Organization, 1 billion people worldwide — that’s 1 in 8 people — live with disabilities, making people with disabilities the world’s largest minority.

At L&P, we believe that disabilities are a part of the diverse human experience, and everyone should feel empowered to be their full selves. We celebrate our employees for who they are and what they bring to L&P.

If you’d like to learn more about disability pride and the experiences within the disability community, check out the resources and information in the sections below.

The Disability Pride Flag

Created by Ann Magill in 2021, the disability pride flag has five stripes — red, yellow, white, blue, and green — on a faded black background. Each color represents a facet of the disability community’s experiences:

  • Sensory disabilities are represented by the color green.
  • Psychiatric disabilities are represented by the color blue.
  • White represents undiagnosed and invisible disabilities.
  • Gold stands for neurodiversity.
  • Physical disabilities are represented by the color red.
  • Grief and anger over society’s negative attitudes and actions towards the disability community are represented by the black background.

Resources

Interested in learning more about the voices and experiences within the disability community? check out these resources:

References

Ballard, Jamie. “Everything to Know About the Disability Pride Flag and Disability Pride Month.” Woman’s Day, 23 May 2023, www.womansday.com/life/a43964487/disability-pride-flag. Accessed 5 June 2023.

“Disability and Health Overview.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2020, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability.html. Accessed 5 June 2023.

“Factsheet on Persons With Disabilities.” United Nations, www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/resources/factsheet-on-persons-with-disabilities.html. Accessed 5 June 2023.

Miranda, Gabriela. “A chance to ‘amplify one another’: What Is Disability Pride Month?” USA TODAY, 4 July 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/02/how-disability-pride-month-started-and-what-means/7840560002. Accessed 5 June 2023.

Jul 06 2023
By Life@Leggett

Reducing Our Carbon Footprint: Energy Treasure Hunts

At Leggett & Platt, we are committed to being good stewards of the environment. One of the ways we are working toward that goal is by reducing our carbon footprint and energy use. In 2018, we partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Plants program. The program is a national initiative to improve energy efficiency across U.S. industries, including manufacturing.

Since joining the program, three of our facilities have identified energy-saving projects through on-site trainings. We talked with Tamara Cook, Sustainability Director, about our partnership goals with the DOE Better Plants Program and the energy-saving projects across L&P.

Team Members participating in the energy Treasure Hunt at Carthage Spring.

What is our goal in partnering with the DOE Better Plants Program?

We voluntarily committed to this program in 2018 and set a goal to reduce our energy usage in our U.S. facilities by 25% in 10 years. As part of the program, the DOE provides free technical assistance to analyze energy usage in our U.S. facilities. Among other trainings, they offer Energy Treasure Hunts to help train a manufacturing facility to identify and quantify energy-saving opportunities.

What kind of energy savings did you find at the Carthage Spring Treasure Hunt?

In May, we conducted an Energy Treasure Hunt at Branch One (Carthage Spring) in Carthage, Missouri. Carthage Spring has an annual energy cost of about $1.2 million for electricity and natural gas. Through the training, four teams of employees from Branch One and other U.S. Spring locations identified multiple energy-saving projects, resulting in savings of approximately 10% of the overall energy bill—over $100,000! All projects would have a payback period of less than a year and could be implemented by employees at Carthage Spring.

In addition, Branch One is considering installing solar panels on one of its buildings. Solar panels would result in additional electricity cost savings and generate zero-emissions on-site electricity, reducing the Branch’s energy use and carbon footprint if implemented.

What are the next steps for Carthage Spring?

The next steps will include taking action and implementing the identified project opportunities. The Branch may need to modify policies, update preventative maintenance plans, and install or optimize equipment to sustain the projects and eventually see year-over-year savings at the branch.

Additional energy-saving projects and equipment optimization opportunities may still be identified through additional information gathered from data loggers installed on equipment. The DOE will provide a final report that summarizes all potential options for Carthage Spring in the coming weeks.

Are there plans to have Energy Treasure Hunts at other L&P locations? 

Teams from several U.S. Spring branches participated in the Branch One Treasure Hunt. By participating, they learned how to conduct an energy treasure hunt. These teams can now return to their locations and share their knowledge and best practices to implement trainings and find their own energy-saving projects.

The DOE has regular application processes for the free Energy Treasure Hunts. Branches can also conduct a hunt independently, and the DOE’s website provides instructions on hosting an Energy Treasure Hunt. If your U.S. or international branch is interested in learning how to conduct a Treasure Hunt, please contact the Sustainability team, and we can provide you with these online resources and assist in coordinating an event.

Congratulations to the Carthage Spring Team and Branch Manager, Kile Lesmeister, for doing their part to be good stewards of the environment and working together to better our culture of sustainability!

Jul 05 2023
By Life@Leggett

Happy Independence Day!

We wish all who are celebrating a very safe and happy holiday!

Jul 04 2023
By Life@Leggett
← Older posts
Newer posts →