The Darkness famously sang that “Love is only a feeling.”
They were right. And I think it’s time we were just as honest about Belonging.
Almost every workplace engagement survey has a question that goes something like: “Do you feel like you belong here?”
It’s a warm question. It looks great on a slide deck.
And after years of working in disability inclusion, I’ve come to see it for what it often is — a soft shield that protects organisations from a much more uncomfortable conversation.
Because here’s the thing. You can feel like you belong somewhere and still not be able to do your job.
We talk a lot about DEIA. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility.
Most organisations move through the first three with reasonable confidence — representation data, pay gap reporting, culture surveys, belonging scores.
And then we get to the A.
And something shifts.
Sometimes it gets absorbed into Inclusion, as though the two are interchangeable. Sometimes it gets handed to IT or Facilities and disappears into a compliance checklist. And sometimes — more often than I’d like — it just quietly gets skipped.
But here’s what that skip costs, actually.
An employee can feel welcomed by their team. Celebrated at the all-hands. Reflected in the diversity data.
And still be unable to do their job.
Because if your internal software isn’t screen-reader compatible, your standard meeting format assumes everyone processes information the same way, or your recruitment process is a sensory minefield — no amount of Belonging fixes that.
Belonging tells you how someone feels in your workplace. Accessibility determines whether they can function in it.
And the uncomfortable truth? You can score highly on one and fail completely on the other.
Most organisations are doing exactly that right now — and their Belonging scores are giving them a false sense of confidence that everything is fine.
I’ve written before about “The Decider” — the person in a workplace who doesn’t experience the daily friction that comes with a disability, and who evaluates inclusion through a very particular lens.
When a Decider looks at whether a workplace is inclusive, they almost always reach for Subjective Vibes:
“The team culture is so supportive.” “We have an open-door policy for everyone.” “Our staff surveys show high levels of belonging.”
These things may all be true.
And they tell you almost nothing about whether a disabled employee can complete their core tasks without a workaround, navigate your systems independently, or get through a job interview without hitting three unnecessary barriers first.
Think of it like a building.
Belonging is the décor, the lighting, the friendly faces in the lobby. It’s what makes people want to show up.
Accessibility is the plumbing.
You can tell an employee they belong in the building all day long — but if the pipes are blocked, they still can’t get a drink of water. And a kind manager finding them a workaround isn’t inclusion. That’s a lucky individual encounter sitting on top of a broken system.
Here’s what I think we need to sit with.
Belonging shifts with managers, team dynamics, and culture. It’s hard to hold anyone accountable for a feeling.
But Accessibility is a function. It either works or it doesn’t.
And it’s the only element of DEIA that has legal standards attached to it.
Which means when Accessibility fails, it isn’t a culture issue. It’s a broken process. And broken processes can be audited, measured, and fixed.
That’s not a reason to feel defensive. It’s actually the most hopeful thing about it.
So what does auditing the A actually look like?
It doesn’t have to be a six-month project. Start with these four questions.
1. Can your people do their core tasks independently? Not with a workaround. Not because a supportive manager helped them figure it out. Using your standard tools and platforms, as they are right now. If the answer is “it depends,” that’s your starting point.
2. Is accessibility in your procurement checklist? Before you renew a platform, book a venue, or commission a new system — is accessibility a non-negotiable criteria, or something you hope to “revisit in the next phase”? If it’s the latter, you’re building new barriers every time you sign a contract.
3. When did you last test your digital tools with someone who uses assistive technology? Not a theoretical audit. An actual human being, using a screen reader or voice navigation, trying to complete a real task. If you’ve never done this, you don’t actually know what’s accessible and what isn’t.
4. Do you have a reasonable adjustments process that works without heroics? One that doesn’t require the employee to advocate endlessly, educate their manager from scratch, or wait months for a decision. If your process depends on having the right manager, it isn’t a process — it’s luck.
None of these questions requires a consultant or a six-figure budget to ask. They just require the willingness to look at function rather than feeling.
And if the answers make you uncomfortable — good. That discomfort is the gap between your Belonging score and your Accessibility reality. It’s also exactly where the work is.
So here’s my honest question to you.
Look at the DEI metrics your organisation currently tracks.
Are they telling you how people feel — or how the system functions?
When did you last audit the A?
And if you found out tomorrow that your internal systems were technically inaccessible to a segment of your workforce, would your Belonging score still feel like a point of pride? Or would it start to look like a red flag?
Belonging matters. It genuinely does.
But it cannot be used as evidence that inclusion is working.
Let’s stop measuring sentiment and start measuring systems.
