Society tends to create more limits for people with disabilities than their disabilities do, says Wendy Strobel Gower, the Thomas P. Golden Executive Director of the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability at the ILR School.

Before coming to Cornell, she saw firsthand how people with disabilities are limited by the assumptions and misperceptions of others. Strobel Gower now leads research and outreach efforts to identify and communicate best practices for fully including people with disabilities in the workplace. 

“My career is based on the idea that it’s not possible to determine what somebody can achieve based on some disability or diversity characteristic that they have. Everyone has a right to participate in society to the best of their ability,” Strobel Gower said.

The Yang-Tan Institute’s mission is to advance the inclusion and full participation of people with disabilities in the workplace and community. As part of her work at the institute, Strobel Gower directs the Northeast ADA Center and is co-principal investigator for the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion.

Read the full story on the ILR School website. 

Tonya Engst is the digital content editor at the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability.