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Roche Tissue Diagnostics and Sonoran Center Team Up for NDEAM: Implementing Universal Design

Today
A stylized silhouette of a running person, with the words 'Coming to the Workplace: Incorporating Universal Design in the Office

As part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) 2025, representatives from the Sonoran Center facilitated a workshop with Roche Tissue Diagnostics (RTD) about universal design (a concept focused on developing items that won’t need future adaptation or specialized design, like wider doorways or countertops with adjustable heights) as well as inclusive hiring practices. Roche reached out to the Sonoran Center about developing a presentation as part of its NDEAM programming, and the workshop was held this October and was accessible to all U.S. Roche Diagnostics colleagues. 

Roche is a healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics, with the Tissue Diagnostics business headquartered in Tucson. In the U.S. Roche Diagnostics has a specific team called RocheAbilities, which aims to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities throughout the company at large. 

The Sonoran Center’s Transition Program Manager, Loretta Alvarez; Employment First Coordinator, Gina Griffiths; and Employment First Program Manager, Jessica Winchester conducted the workshop. The workshop focused on Universal Design, while also covering Inclusive Hiring, and Employment First. 

“Roche Diagnostics, and their specific employee Impact Network, RocheAbilities, are doing several events throughout the month [of NDEAM],” said Loretta Alvarez. “We worked with RTD on deciding the topic and the content of the presentation, with the main focus being: What does it look like to put things in place so your workplace is more universally designed, more accessible, and more inclusive?” 

According to a feedback survey following the presentation, 84% of participants felt that the presentation provided information relevant to their needs. Participants also unanimously agreed that the presentation increased their knowledge and skills and they were satisfied with the knowledge they gained. 

Loretta described how the presentation began with establishing the philosophy of Employment First and the idea of neurodiversity, then expanding into concrete examples of putting these vital principles in action: 

“When we're presenting in the community, we want to make sure that everyone has that foundational language, talking about and defining what neurodiversity is, what Employment First is, what does it mean? Then we talk about how we all agree we want a workplace that's inclusive and has elements of Universal Design so things are accessible. What does that actually look like, practically? Here's some real, tangible examples of how this can look when you're bringing new people into your company.” 

The Employment First team and the Sonoran Center as a whole approached this not simply as a one-off presentation, but what could be the beginning of a series of partnerships with a wide range of organizations.

 As Loretta described, “Our goals for the presentation were, first, to share a general overview of concepts around Employment First and Universal Design and inclusive practices in the workplace, and to help spark conversations with the RocheAbilities team on how that can look, specifically for their workplace.” 

“A second goal was to build a relationship with RTD and the team. They're already doing the advocacy work and already working on building a more inclusive culture at their workplace. We got to meet with many of their team in person and have good conversations before and after the training. I am hopeful that we will have a continued relationship with them. It was great to see the investment in the topic and engagement with the content that we were sharing. They clearly are doing good work at their company, and we were excited to be a part of that and hope to continue being a part of it.” 

While RTD took the initiative to reach out and develop this learning program, the Sonoran Center hopes that this can be the start of a larger program to educate other companies and organizations about Universal Design, inclusive hiring practices, and Employment First. 

“We would of course love to work with more employers and not just in the engineering field. While we tailored this presentation specifically to the type of work that they do at Roche, these practices are universal. They can be applied to any business."