A Trailblazer in Disability Advocacy and Healthcare Business Solutions – Interview with Kass James
- Brainz Magazine
- Sep 2
- 6 min read
Kass James is a forerunner in the field of disability rights, corporate responsibility, and healthcare business. Having been physically disabled for most of his life, Kass was acutely aware of the lack of accessibility in the workplace. His work focuses on restructuring healthcare to increase profitability while benefiting patients, as well as doing patient assessment for ADA compliance and assistive technology. He’s a partner with the Spoonie Advocate Associates, an organization pushing for increasing value and patient outcomes through common sense and responsible change.
Kass James, Healthcare Business and Disability Specialist
Who is Kass James?
My unconventional path has shaped who I am: I left home at 12 to pursue music at a boys’ choral boarding school, then invested in a house while in university and paid my mortgage by renting out rooms to friends and students. That house became and remains a lively gathering place for academics and social justice advocates. Besides reading an ever-growing stack of books by my bedside, I have a passion for photography, music, animation, cooking, and I am an avid rugby fan. While my work focuses on disability access, I still enjoy being on stage. However, I am now more physically limited to serving as an MC and event organizer rather than a performer. I also volunteer with local and international charities, working on various projects from grassroots marketing to real-time data analytics.
While I’m passionate about disability access and accommodations due to my own personal experience, I try to stay impartial because I understand that much of the pushback from stakeholders stems from misconceptions about reasonable accommodations. Although conflict motivates me, especially when advocating for human rights, work in this field mainly involves education and assessment of needs rather than ongoing disputes. It is rewarding to see the positive, tangible impact of my efforts in both the workplace and home environments.
What inspired you to start Spoonie Advocate Associates?
The Spoonie Advocate Associates was conceived initially in 2017, born out of our founder, Sarah-Jaana’s personal experience, having navigated a world that often excludes disabled individuals. The original founding team first met as undergraduates in 2008, bonding over a shared commitment to utilize our life experiences as disabled individuals to assist others in the disability community. After university, we each pursued separate careers, continuing to develop skills and expertise driven by a passion for accessible inclusion. We each became professionals in separate yet overlapping fields, and we often found it helpful to seek each other’s opinions on complex disability issues. By 2019, we began collaborating professionally on accessibility projects and inclusion initiatives, leveraging the skills each of us brought from our respective fields. We formally established the Spoonie Advocate Associates in 2020, transforming our friendship into a dynamic partnership dedicated to addressing the complicated needs of clients with disabilities and chronic illnesses.
We like to say that we became the professionals we needed while growing up. The stories of the other partners are theirs alone, but each of us had to become an expert in our fields to advocate for ourselves. I’ve been physically disabled for most of my life and have used a cane since I was eighteen. When I reached university, there were very few options for me to gain physical access to classrooms and other spaces. I even had a professor threaten to refuse to teach a course if it was moved from his preferred classroom, and I spent a semester struggling up and down two flights of stairs. Shortly before the pandemic, I became motivated to pursue disability access and focused on assistive technology at the Center on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge. During the pandemic, I also earned certifications in various ADA standards to better serve the needs of the business. Now, we each use our personal experiences to navigate the complex path toward accessible and functional healthcare.
What kinds of services do you provide for people?
I conduct ADA compliance assessments for both physical and digital environments, as well as disability assessments. That’s a long-winded way of saying that I’m the practical application guy for reasonable accommodations and compliance measures. My certifications include ADA compliance for HR, environmental access, accessible building codes, and assistive technology assessment. I then obtained a master’s degree in management of information systems, with a focus on healthcare business. As such, I provide options for reasonable accommodations and assistive technology that help individuals live more complete lives. I evaluate an individual’s needs, workplace, duties, physical spaces, and digital resources, then make recommendations for access. This process can occur before or during an EEOC investigation to show good-faith efforts to provide reasonable accommodations. I can also serve as an impartial voice of reason on behalf of an employer in rare instances when it is unreasonable to provide such accommodations.
Our other members of Spoonie Advocate Associates specialize in patient advocacy, rare disease advocacy, and special education. We empower patients to take charge of their healthcare by guiding them through complex systems and helping them make informed choices. For clinicians, we offer practical tools that enable them to provide more coordinated and comprehensive care. Our special education specialist supports students by developing individualized strategies for academic success and assists educators in creating classrooms that include accessible, built-in accommodations. As a result, students achieve better information retention while educators spend less time and effort on accommodations.
How do you help businesses or organizations become more ADA-compliant and inclusive?
Inclusivity and compliance are two distinct concepts, and both can be achieved by a conscientious employer; however, only compliance is obligatory. Our assessments help businesses fulfill their legal obligations and create more inclusive environments, resulting in improved employee engagement and reduced legal risk. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the job's demands, the physical and digital spaces used by employees, and the specific needs of individuals with disabilities. I provide businesses with clear, actionable recommendations that not only fulfill ADA and ADAAA obligations but also enhance workspaces to make them more functional and efficient. These can be as simple and inexpensive as rearranging furniture, making workflow adjustments, or updating documentation to be screen reader compatible. There can also be complex recommendations for changes to web design, job positions, training, and construction upgrades. Our human resources sensitivity training fosters greater understanding, helping companies meet both educational and professional goals while improving team culture.
Inclusivity comes from a place of acceptance, where an organization or employer values accessibility and inclusion. Honestly, it offers more financial and social benefits than just meeting requirements, and it’s the work Spoonie Advocate Associates loves to do. Going beyond state and federal minimums to become fully inclusive provides significant advantages and also protects businesses from future changes in compliance standards. For public projects and non-profits, we often do this work at cost to promote the adoption of accessible and inclusive practices.
Why is assistive technology so important in both healthcare and everyday life?
The largest growing population in every first-world nation is the elderly and aging. It’s not a coincidence that assistive technology, meaning technology designed to help individuals with impairments live fuller and more productive lives, is also one of the fastest-growing fields. Assistive technology often has unintended applications beyond its intended use for individuals with disabilities. Curb cuts, voice-activated technology, text-to-speech technology, audiobooks, automatic doors, and closed captioning are all quality-of-life improvements that people with disabilities use regularly. These were all initially developed as forms of assistive technology that are now used for universal convenience.
It’s very likely that you will require one or more pieces of assistive technology at some point in your life. So, whether for convenience or necessity, accessible design and assistive technology are things that everyone uses. Chances are, you’re benefiting from it in some way every day, and businesses that prioritize accessible design tend to be more attractive to both customers and employees.
For anyone with a disability or chronic illness, getting assessed for assistive technology is often necessary to obtain accommodations that enable them to lead a fuller and productive life. Through a comprehensive assessment, an assistive technology specialist or professional can make recommendations and help individuals acquire technology to live more independently and support themselves in their daily activities and work.
What’s your advice to someone who feels overwhelmed by the healthcare system?
You are not alone, and support is available. The complexity of the healthcare system can be overwhelming; patient advocacy exists to help individuals navigate their healthcare journey. For those dealing with complex, chronic, or rare conditions, it often feels challenging to maintain control. Insurance, healthcare providers, and specialists may seem disconnected. A patient advocate facilitates communication between parties, empowering patients to take an active role in their care.
For providers and administrators who are feeling overwhelmed by the increasingly complex reimbursement systems, we also have your back. We offer training and payment restructuring options to enhance profits, reduce risks, and improve patient outcomes. These recommendations don’t just come from theory but are successful models applied both internationally and domestically. These solutions are not another app to buy or software fix, but rather business and process changes to increase profits and outcomes while reducing employee turnover. We’re also certified in HIPAA and HITECH and make recommendations that don’t increase risks to protected health information.
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