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The potential payoff of harnessing the lived experiences of persons with disabilities is powerful and game changing. Disability inclusion is not a compliance mandate or a niche market opportunity.
As we near the end of National Disability Employment Month, it is obvious that the most important reason to celebrate disability employment has been overlooked.
Disability employment is an executive-led, long-term, organizational strategy that provides lasting value for shareholders and stakeholders alike.
Too often the private sector’s focus on disability employment treats it as part of a corporate social responsibility campaign or compliance with legal mandates. There is a lot of attention given to employee resource groups, sensitivity trainings, and social media campaigns to tell the story of disability employment. Yes, those efforts are important and have a rightful place within every organization. But they are incremental steps, not a comprehensive approach to fostering greater disability employment across the economy.
When disability employment is treated as a driver of long-term value creation, it has a proven ability to future-proof a business by opening trillions of dollars of global markets and innovating the next generation of goods and services able to meet human needs.
Consider cruise control in vehicles, the text function or touch features on mobile phones, the electric toothbrush, and the internet. All were innovated by people with disabilities. Each innovation quickly found its way to mainstream acceptance, enjoying widespread commercial success, and fostering a positive change in how billions of people work and live — regardless of disability status.
Because persons with disabilities must constantly adapt into a society that is not always accessible to them, it is no wonder their innovative skills are more pronounced than most employees’. For example, a study by Coqual (formerly The Center for Talent Innovation) found that 75% of employees with disabilities in the United States have ideas that would drive value for their company — compared with 61% of employees without disabilities.
Companies that harness the innovative potential of all their employees who identify as disabled stand to gain significant upside benefits. Research by Return on Disability found that the global population of persons with disabilities and their close friends and families is roughly 3.4 billion people — more than double China’s population. Their spending power is over $13 trillion.
Achieving a disability inclusive business strategy starts at the top — with the CEO and board of directors. Only when leaders communicate their connection to disability will all employees feel comfortable doing so. This is not an act of charity or pity. Just imagine the value created if employees with disabilities are given permission to rechannel the ingenuity of masking disability to applying the traits of creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience to their jobs.
Here are a few more ideas that connect disability employment to innovation and, ultimately, to business strategy:
- Collaborate with suppliers to foster disability inclusion in supply chains.
- Rethink your approach to design and innovation. Innovation throughout the global economy is stunted because it is not open to a diverse set of entrepreneurs and employees. Persons with disabilities are innovating every day. So, use their talents!
- Partner with local organizations that specialize in placing talent with disabilities into the workforce — and appreciate the intersectional nature of disability when doing so. Potential partners can be found working with veterans, people identifying as LGBTQ, or low-income populations.
- Engage a team of experts in accessible design so that inclusive design concepts are incorporated into physical office spaces.
The potential payoff of harnessing the lived experiences of persons with disabilities is powerful and game changing. Disability inclusion is not a compliance mandate or a niche market opportunity. Instead, it can unlock transformative solutions worth trillions of dollars and make society better far into the future.
Robert Ludke is a consultant on business strategies and the author of “Transformative Markets.” He started his career as an intern for Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, serving on the Subcommittee for Disability Policy, and later worked for Harkin as a legislative correspondent and legislative assistant.
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