Built to Speak. Broken by Design. Rethinking Who Gets to Contribute in the Modern Workplace

By Nav Gill, Founder of The Inked Ledger Inc. and Board Member, Canadian Stuttering Association

Most workplaces are built for fluent speakers. Imagine knowing the answer. Having the insight your organization needs. Being unable to say it, not because you do not know, but because you stutter. Every year, organizations invest millions into workplace culture. Engagement is measured. Retention is tracked. Commitments are published. None of it accounts for that moment.

I grew up with a stutter that shaped how I moved through the world. I avoided situations where I might be exposed, becoming someone I was not simply to protect myself. That path led me to leave high school before graduating.

The turning point came when I learned I was going to become a parent. I could not allow that cycle to repeat. I rebuilt my path, completed adult high school, earned a Bachelor of Commerce with High Honours from Carleton University, and began my career at a Big 4 firm. I found my voice without formal support. Most never do.

I believed I had overcome my stutter. Then I entered the workplace. Routine moments became defining. Recording voicemail greetings. Introducing myself on calls. Being unable to deliver, not due to a lack of knowledge, but because I could not say what I knew to be true. This journey does not end. It evolves.

This is not a communication issue. It is a system design issue.

Many roles still demand that you speak to be seen. The way we communicate shapes how competence is perceived. That barrier has a cost: talent lost, potential unrealized. People quietly leave rather than fight a system not built for them.

Inclusion is not a value statement. It is a capital allocation decision.

As artificial intelligence reshapes how we work, these gaps risk widening. Voice commands, AI meeting tools, and voice note culture are becoming default modes of contribution. For those who stutter, these are not innovations. They are new walls built on old assumptions of fluency.

Organizations must move beyond awareness. Fund the research. Build accessible technology. Partner with those leading this work. Treat stuttering not as a design oversight but as a design challenge your organization is responsible for solving. Through my work with the Canadian Stuttering Association, where I serve on the Board of Directors focused on strategic alliances and partnerships, I see firsthand that this is not an individual challenge. It is a systemic one.

Somewhere right now, a child is learning the world was not built for the way they speak. That child may carry the vision your organization needs most, but only if you build the room before they arrive.

The question is not whether these barriers exist. The question is whether your organization will invest in dismantling them before another generation learns to stay silent.