Qualified and ready: How SDES 2026 opens doors for disabled talent
Author:
Starkloff Staff
Reading time:
4 minutes
Date:
September 30, 2026
For too many talented disabled people, that’s how the search ends before it starts.
Two sides of the same problem
A job brings a paycheck, independence, and a place to belong. Yet only 28% of college-educated adults with disabilities have jobs, less than half the rate for their nondisabled peers. The problem isn’t talent. It’s the barriers in hiring and in the workplace.
At Starkloff, we work on both sides. Our career programs prepare disabled job seekers to compete for great jobs. The Summit prepares the employers they’ll meet, so the door is open when they arrive.
Next week, the 12th annual Starkloff Disability Employment Summit (SDES) brings those employers together October 7–8 at World Wide Technology’s Global Headquarters in St. Louis. For two days, HR leaders, executives, and the people who shape workplace culture will learn from disabled professionals how to hire, support, and promote disabled talent.
Two national leaders take the stage
This year’s keynote speakers are two of the most respected voices in disability inclusion.
Claudia L. Gordon, Esq., opens the Summit. She is widely recognized as the first Black Deaf woman attorney in the United States. Over 30 years, she has held leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the White House, and she chaired the National Council on Disability. Today she is senior accessibility strategy partner at T-Mobile.
Her ties to Starkloff run deep. In 2024, she received the Max Starkloff Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council on Independent Living, which Max co-founded. Colleen Starkloff presented the award.
“Max and Colleen Starkloff helped demonstrate what becomes possible when disabled people lead and when society removes the barriers standing in their way,” Gordon said. “It is especially meaningful to join the Starkloff Disability Employment Summit and carry that legacy into today’s workplaces.”
Steve Nelson closes the Summit. As director of culture and belonging at Alaska Airlines, he started the airline industry’s first Disability Office. Earlier in his career, he supported disability inclusion work at the Walt Disney World Resort. His keynote draws on his own experience as a neurodivergent leader with AuDHD, meaning both autism and ADHD.
His advice for employers is simple: “If you come curious, and you let yourself believe what your employees or job candidates tell you, that’s the majority of the journey towards a more inclusive workplace.”
What changes when employers show up
Every session at SDES centers on a barrier employers can remove. Here are a few we’re especially excited about.
- Hiring technology that’s fair to everyone. Artificial intelligence (AI) now helps decide which resumes reach a recruiter and which employees get labeled “high potential.” Felicia Nurmsen of Inclusion Without Illusion shows how these tools can mistake disability for poor fit, and how employers can catch it before it costs someone a job.
- Workplaces built for different ways of thinking. Leaders from UConn’s Wells Fargo Center for Neurodiversity & Inclusive Employment show how designing roles, hiring, and management for neurodivergent people, including autistic people and people with ADHD, helps companies find and keep great talent.
- Workplaces people want to stay in. Georgia Tech researcher Salimah LaForce found that for workers with physical disabilities, an accessible workspace mattered more to job satisfaction than anything else her study tracked.
Disability-led, start to finish
At most workplace conferences, disability is a topic on the agenda. At SDES, disabled people are the experts at the front of the room. Our presenters pair lived experience with deep expertise in business, technology, and accessibility. On day two, a panel of disabled professionals shares, in their own words, what helps and what gets in the way at work.
Being disability-led has guided Starkloff since our founding. It’s what makes this Summit different, and it’s why employers leave ready to act.
Two days, a lasting reach
Over 11 years, the Summit has reached more than 4,700 professionals, and 100% of participating attendees reported greater disability confidence. Each of them goes back to a workplace where they write job postings, approve accommodations, and decide who gets promoted. That’s how two days in St. Louis reach people who never set foot in the room.
When you support Starkloff, you’re part of both sides of that work:
the job seekers building careers and the employers learning to welcome them.
Join us, or pass it on
If you shape your organization’s culture, we’d love to see you there.
You can still help us build disability inclusion whether or not you’re currently a workplace leader. Your personal network includes people who shape workplaces every day. Share this with the business owner in your book club or the young professional you volunteer alongside, and help us reach more people who belong in the room.
