Dive Brief:

• ATT employees learned sign language to communicate better with a deaf coworker, WSYX reports.
• The station said Kamal Nasser was the only deaf worker at an ATT warehouse in Columbus, OH. His co-workers used to use whiteboards and hand motions to communicate with him.
• One day Nasser responded to coworker, Jason McGonigle, with sign language stating that the whiteboard method was slow, says WSYX. McGonigle got the idea of having employees learn sign language and presented it to the manager. The two started an ASL class for employees.

Dive Insight:

McGonigle should be commended for coming up with a solution that not only allowed Nasser’s coworkers to communicate better with him, but also created a bond – a sign language class – that united them. That is the power of company culture at work.

The laws protecting workers from discrimination in the workplace often become just posters or paragraphs in an employee handbook. The ASL class was a tangible, hands-on way of addressing diversity, tolerance and specifically disability in the workplace. Employees got to know each other in a fun way that also helped support their fellow employee. A win-win all around.