Feature Story: Disability Inclusion In The Workplace: Jennifer Ringler Of ReadHealthy On How Businesses Make Accommodations For Customers and Employees Who Have a Disability
Businesses should consider the needs and abilities of both staff members and the populations they work with. It’s important because everyone comes to the workplace from a different background — different thoughts, perspectives, education, upbringing, religion, values, abilities, and so on. To get the most out of your employees and allow them to fully bring the breadth and depth of their experience to work with them — and to truly benefit from that diversity through the new ideas and creativity it will bring — the ‘status quo’ should not be built around the idea that white, straight, cisgender, able-bodied, neurotypical people are the baseline.
July was Disability Awareness Month, and our founder & CEO Jennifer Ringler shared her experiences as a visually impaired business owner in this feature in Authority Magazine.
News Article: Livingston Entrepreneur Founds Company While Managing Rare Vision Disorder
Jennifer Ringler, a Livingston resident and founder of ReadHealthy Communications, LLC, launched a healthcare communications company while managing a rare vision disorder she has had since birth. It is called optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH), characterized as the under-development of the optic nerve.
“In my case, I was born completely blind in my left eye, with limited vision in my right eye that is corrected with glasses to 20/40,” Ringler explained.
She said that the visual impairment has had significant impacts throughout her life, including the lact of a driver’s license.
Living without a license impacts decisions from where I can live, to where I can work, to how often I can get together for dinner with friends,” she said. “Often times, it is not a person’s disability that limits what they can achieve or how they can interact with the world, but rather, the lack of accessibility and the inherent societal biases, attitudes, and inability or unwillingness to offer accommodations.”
Press Release: ReadHealthy Communications to Sponsor 2024 BIO CEO & Investor Conference
February 19, 2024
Livingston, NJ – ReadHealthy Communications, LLC, a public relations and corporate communications firm that helps life sciences companies identify, solidify, and amplify their stories, announced today that it will sponsor the upcoming 2024 BIO CEO & Investor Conference, to be held February 26 - 27 in New York City. The annual conference, hosted by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), focuses on emerging biotech companies—both private and public—that will drive the next generation of biotech breakthroughs.
In addition to sponsorship, ReadHealthy Communications' founder and CEO Jennifer Ringler will be attending the event and accepting meetings with pharma/biotech, med tech, and digital health companies to discuss strategies and opportunities for those companies to increase brand awareness and credibility through marketing and public relations.
"I'm so thrilled to be attending and sponsoring the BIO CEO & Investor event," says Ringler. "As ReadHealthy Communications approaches its one-year anniversary on March 1, being part of such a successful industry event feels like the culmination of everything we've worked for and achieved in our first year. We're incredibly excited for year two."
Media Interview: Top Tips: Evaluating Social Media Platforms (Like Threads) for Accessibility
June 20, 2023
While Twitter may be decelerating as the top conversation-based social media app, numerous replacements seem to be popping up to take its place.
Platforms such as Mastodon, Post, Spill, Bluesky and now Threads emerge almost weekly to varied fanfare.
Threads launched the current greatest threat to Twitter, amassing over 100 million users in less than a week (thanks to a nice built-in convertible user experience from Instagram). While traffic has slowed a bit since launch, it’s remaining one of the most talked about and utilized platforms in the social media sphere.
However, new social media platforms are not without their share of problems. One of the biggest issues with the Threads platform is its failure to prioritize accessibility and provide all users with a seamless experience.
Press Release: Life Sciences Communications Firm ReadHealthy Communications Launches Workshop Offering Focused on Engaging with People with Disabilities
July 5, 2023
Livingston, NJ – ReadHealthy Communications, LLC (ReadHealthy) a public relations and corporate communications firm that helps life sciences companies identify, solidify, and amplify their stories, announced today that it is offering workshops to pharma and biotech organizations, PR/communications agencies, hospitals, advocacy organizations, and other companies in the healthcare industry to highlight how employees can interact with colleagues, patients, and others with disabilities with empathy and respect.
This 45-minute, in-person or virtual workshop, “Words Matter: Speaking to and About People with Disabilities with Empathy and Respect,” will address issues including:
-
How can organizations communicate about innovations and therapies that meet unmet need and offer hope to people with illnesses and disabilities without inferring that these patients’ lives are “hopeless”?
-
How can employees and leaders be more conscious of ableist language and foster a professional environment that prioritizes inclusivity?
-
What are some best-practices, do’s, and don’ts for communicating with patients and/or colleagues with disabilities?
-
How can organizations ensure that virtual meetings, in-person networking events, and other professional collaboration opportunities are inclusive and accessible?
Byline: Making Your Professional Events More Inclusive
and Accessible
June 28, 2023
By Jennifer Ringler, MS
As a teen and young adult, I was extremely self-conscious about my disability. I felt like I was different, and everyone knew it – like, despite my best efforts to “pass” as able-bodied, I had a neon sign above my head that everyone but me could see that said, “BLIND GIRL.”
I spent the first 30 years of my life wishing that sign would go away and I could just be “like everybody else.”
Now, with a little over 40 years on this planet, all of which I’ve spent blind in one eye, 13 of which I’ve spent working in healthcare and life sciences communications, marketing and public relations, and four months of which I’ve spent launching and growing my own healthcare PR agency—I kind of wish I actually had that sign.
Because it might help people at networking and business events understand my seemingly awkward behavior. It might help staff and strangers in airports be more willing to offer me assistance or grace while I navigate a new space. It might help other professionals be mindful of how professional spaces are experienced by people with disabilities.
It might remind people that we exist. We are part of the professional community. We are here.
Announcement: ReadHealthy Communications Co-Sponsors HITLAB Innovators Summit Cocktail Reception
June 23, 2023
ReadHealthy Communications, LLC, a public relations and corporate communications firm that helps pharma, biotech, med tech, and others in the healthcare industry identify, solidify, and amplify their stories, co-sponsored a cocktail reception on June 28, 2023, as part of the HITLAB Innovators Summit at Columbia University in New York City.
The HITLAB Innovators Summit is a bi-annual, three-day event that brings together digital health and life sciences stakeholders for panel discussions, presentations, networking opportunities, startup pitches, and exhibitors highlighting the leading disruptive digital solutions in the healthcare ecosystem.
"As a communications firm focused solely on life sciences and healthcare, we're honored to support and attend this influential industry event," said Jennifer Ringler, MS, Founder and CEO of ReadHealthy Communications. "Digital health has rapidly shifted from a niche area to mission-critical in advances in innovation, diagnostics, treatments, and patient outcomes. The networking and learning opportunities provided by the HITLAB Innovators Summit are invaluable."
ReadHealthy Communications is a woman-owned, disability-owned firm founded by Jennifer Ringler, MS, a life sciences communication veteran with more than 13 years' experience in healthcare journalism, public relations, marketing, and scientific content expertise at nonprofits, trade publications, biotech companies, and PR agencies.
