“ALL” for All: The Inclusive Learning World of myAbility

Everyday life with a disability or chronic illness can be challenging—in a world that often isn’t properly equipped for it. However, more and more employers want to respond to the increased awareness of diversity by fostering a more inclusive corporate culture. This is where myAbility comes in.

The social enterprise was founded in 2009, originally as the job portal “career moves.” The job platform still exists today and has even become the largest for people with disabilities in the German-speaking world. However, the company has grown significantly since then and now also offers training and strategic consulting on inclusion. “Our experts work with companies to develop the right guidelines and checklists to help create an inclusive work environment,” says Lukas Sukal, Innovation Manager at MyAbility. This is particularly successful thanks to “ALL”: the specially developed, barrier-free e-learning tool that conveys the key elements of awareness in the areas of disability and accessibility through videos and coaching.

From Fear to Respect and Dialogue

Behind ALL is not just the beautiful association with inclusion itself—the word stands for “Ability Learning Landscape.” A learning world based on blended learning, combining digital learning modules with live online lessons. The learning modules cover topics such as inclusive language, myths and prejudices in the job market, or accessible recruiting. The workshop leaders themselves have chronic illnesses or disabilities, which allows them to teach authentically. They share real experiences with participants, creating awareness and a holistic view. Through open and respectful dialogue, fears and reservations are also reduced — all questions are welcome!

The learning world is modular, can be integrated into common learning management systems of companies, and even allows for the inclusion of company-specific content. As a result, ALL truly enables everyone to be trained—whether train attendants, furniture store employees, or branch managers in retail. “We are broadly positioned and can provide many people with basic awareness training. On the other hand, we dive deep with strategic consulting, currently leading an exciting project for the inclusion manager training programs at banks,” says Lukas.

Interactive Learning Videos for Greater Understanding

What makes the learning platform special is its exemplary barrier-free design—a best practice example for clients. ALL demonstrates how features such as adjustable contrasts, speed controls, audio descriptions in videos, language options between English and German, hideable animations, and applications or simple language enable consistently inclusive use.

This is also evident in the interactive videos, which are part of the learning modules and deliver true “aha” moments. HR employees, for example, are confronted with very different reactions from applicants: depending on the question they choose, the feedback from the applicants is either more positive or negative. In this way, they learn how communication should ideally be to create an inclusive atmosphere and where more understanding might be needed. Lukas sees enormous growth potential in these exciting learning videos through artificial intelligence for MyAbility.

We asked Lukas:

You mentioned the interactive learning videos related to AI—what’s planned for the future in this area?

The beauty of innovation management is that it never stops! The combination of e-learning and AI offers great opportunities, whether it’s through speech output or our interactive videos: The scenarios we can create are limitless if we train an AI to, for example, stage a three-way conversation with colleagues to teach conflict management. This is going to be a very exciting field for us in the future!

What do you find special about your work?

I have to say, I’m always learning something new through the exchanges with companies. For example, the topic of travel was exciting for me because people often only think of wheelchair users, but it actually affects many people with neurodiversity—for example, people on the autism spectrum or with ADHD. I’ve learned a lot from our experts on this topic.

The topic of diversity seems to be getting more attention, what’s your view on this?

In my opinion, there is indeed a growing importance of diversity and inclusion. This is also reflected in the European Sustainability Goals (note: evaluation of companies in terms of environment, society, and economy). As a result, ESG reporting is now mandatory for larger companies in the EU. In Austria, for example, companies with more than 25 employees must employ people with disabilities or pay a compensatory levy, which goes into a fund to support training and aids for people with disabilities.