Neil Barnfather on Why We Can’t Afford to Overlook Leaders with Disabilities
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Welcome back to Curious Constructs, where I seek to understand and challenge the barriers that prevent us from bringing our full, authentic selves forward — whether those barriers are personal or systemic.
Rethink This: Leadership
What does it say about our workplaces when a man who built multiple successful companies can’t get hired — simply because he’s blind?
When he was just 16, Neil Barnfather began working for Nokia in a senior research and development role — and quickly rose through the ranks. Two years later, he left to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions, going on to successfully launch 19 startups.
But when he tried to reenter the corporate world, his success didn’t seem to matter. After applying to more than 3,000 jobs, he received only three interviews. The only feedback he ever heard? That he was “unbelievably inspirational” — but they didn’t believe he could effectively take on a leadership role.
Neil was an established businessman, entrepreneur, and innovator — and he was blind.
His experience underscores a persistent truth: people with disabilities are still deeply undervalued in the workforce.
October marks National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a time to recognize the contributions of people with disabilities in the American workforce. But for me, this month isn’t about celebrating progress — it’s about examining where the gaps remain, and asking:
Why don’t we see more people with disabilities in leadership roles?
The Path We Design for Children with Disabilities
Neil grew up with hereditary cataracts, in a family familiar with disability. Most of his relatives had successful corrective operations — but his was done incorrectly, causing his eyesight to deteriorate throughout his schooling.
While his family encouraged him to dream big, society — and his educators — sent a different message. Career expectations for students with disabilities are often set low and unemployment rates remain disproportionately high.
Neil recalls watching his siblings attend college prep sessions, while he was told to “be realistic.” Around the world, students with disabilities are routinely pulled from math and science tracks and steered toward “safe” or “manageable” careers — regardless of their interests or talents.
When they do enter the workforce, many find that while corporations tout disability inclusion programs, these are often confined to entry-level roles.
We need to move beyond “inclusion for inclusion’s sake.” Instead, we should recognize people with disabilities as strategic assets — especially in leadership positions.
Why We Need People with Disabilities in Leadership
Neil puts it simply: “People with disabilities are inherently entrepreneurial — we have to be entrepreneurial just to go to the bathroom.”
We constantly adapt to our surroundings, which naturally fosters creativity, resilience, and flexible thinking.
We’re also inquisitive. Because Neil can’t see what’s visually obvious to most, he’s always asking how and why. When analyzing data, for instance, he doesn’t just accept what’s presented — he asks why it looks that way. That curiosity, he says, stems directly from his blindness.
Growing up, people with disabilities also tend to interact more with adults than peers — if other kids didn’t want to talk to us, we talked to grown-ups. Because of this, people with disabilities are generally more comfortable talking to people across generations and cultures — and are less judgmental while doing it — traits that are essential to effective leadership.
People with disabilities tend to be curious, detail-oriented, adaptive, and unafraid to challenge convention. Those are the same qualities that define the most successful business leaders — so why do we treat disability as something to “accommodate,” instead of as a source of competitive advantage?
Innovation Often Follows the Experience of Disability
During our conversation, Neil made another important point: many of the world’s most advanced technologies mirror the lived experiences of people with disabilities.
In most of our depictions of an advanced, science-fiction future, technology is often screenless — with AI assistants or wearable devices that respond to voice commands. In a way, blind people have been pioneering this mode of interaction since the early days of computing.
If we truly tapped into the ways people with disabilities navigate the world, we could innovate ahead of the curve.
We need to stop viewing disability through a compliance lens — as something that slows us down — and instead see it as something that can propel innovation and insights.
What Neil’s Story Tells Us
Neil’s journey makes one thing clear: no matter how accomplished or experienced someone is, barriers remain for people with disabilities.
We need more of us in leadership — not to meet a quota, but because our companies and communities benefit from the perspective, entrepreneurial mindset, and adaptability that disabled leaders bring.
As Neil told me:
“I don’t think I would have accomplished so much if I wasn’t blind.”
When people say, “I couldn’t succeed in that role if I were blind,” Neil replies:
“You’re right — you probably couldn’t. Just like if I woke up one day with sight, I’d be pretty shocked!”
There’s a lack of awareness of how people with disabilities see and adapt to the world in ways others can’t — and that’s exactly why we need to be leading the way.