How can organisations create long term value by advancing their disability inclusion agenda?

Today, more than 1 billion people around the world live with a disability. While many global companies have made progress toward more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces, there is still a lot of work to do to embed disabilities inclusion across organizations and access this largely untapped talent pool, especially in Asia Pacific.?

EY and Citi teams explore the business case, the factsheet on visible and non-visible disability, the support available in Asia Pacific countries and what it takes to advance disability inclusion in organisations in a joint paper that released today on EY website and Citi website.

This paper is designed to create awareness among employees and leaders about disabilities and the inclusion of “people with disabilities”(PwD) in the workplace. It outlines the disabilities landscape in the Asia-Pacific region and highlights how organizations can benefit from the inclusion of PwD in their workplaces.?

Building disability capabilities starts with inclusiveness. Here are six steps you can consider for improving disability inclusion in your organization:

1. Educate all employees about disability practices

Enable everyone to have an understanding of disability inclusion, their responsibilities and available assistance. To boost your employee’s awareness, consider:

• Recruiting and educating allies
• Including disability inclusion case studies in existing people training
• Using role models and storytelling to raise awareness of different experiences of disability, including non-visible disabilities
• Structuring trainings for teams who will be working with people who are, for example, neurodiverse: those who experience neurological differences that may include dyslexia, autism and others
• Offering webinars, podcasts or events to educate on specific conditions, such as strokes or mental health
• Celebrating diversity & inclusion days or weeks with success stories from within the organizations

2. Eliminate communication barriers through accessible technology?

Small changes can address many of the roadblocks that people with disabilities experience in standard communication methods. Some items to consider:

• Make your documents available in different formats, such as Braille, and provide different fonts or audio versions as needed. Be clear about how people can request these alternate formats.
• Use the built-in Microsoft Office accessibility checker on all documents.
• Include captions on all videos.
• Provide a transcript with all audio content.
• Provide live captioning on webinars and virtual meetings.
• Provide sign language interpreters when needed.
• Offer alternative ways for people to contact you.
• When hosting events, either live or virtually, ask people if they have any accessibility requirements.
• As with technology, when developing any documents or communications, consider accessibility from the start.

3. Create a level playing field for applicants with disabilities

Consider whether your organization is unintentionally creating barriers for some candidates in the following ways:

• Advertising — are your job postings inclusive? Do they show that the organization welcomes people with disabilities? Or does the wording discourage certain people from applying?
• Applications?— is the technology you use for candidates accessible to people with different requirements?
• Interviews and assessments?— do you ask if candidates have any accessibility requirements? Are the activities you plan suitable for people with different abilities? Does the person being interviewed need more information beforehand to feel comfortable?
• Commitment to diversity?— do your recruiters, hiring managers and external agencies take consistent action to create a diverse and inclusive workplace? Are they fully versed in diversity and inclusion practices?
• Onboarding — do you have a process in place to implement any required adjustments? Is it possible to have adjustments in place from day one? Do you have a disability network that people can connect with during the onboarding process?

?4. Connect with your disabilities community

Don’t make assumptions or generalize. Ask people with disabilities what works well for them and what you could be doing differently.?

Consider creating an employee resource network for individuals who are supportive advocates for their colleagues with disabilities. These programs help to create safe and inclusive environments and serve as powerful education platforms. These networks offer a tangible reminder that everyone, including people with disabilities, can perform better when they can be themselves at work.

?5. Involve people with disability in the design process to ensure accessibility in your new products and services

When you develop new services and websites, build accessibility into the initial design process, and be sure to involve employees with disabilities in the design and testing phase. It’s much easier to design accessibility into a project from the beginning, rather than to try and retroactively “fix” it.

?6. Tie your business case for disability inclusion to your overall business objectives.

High-performing teams are a key driver of success. When diverse teams contribute a variety of perspectives, they drive innovation. When the individual members feel included, they collaborate better and engage more fully, boosting productivity. Sponsorship from key stakeholders is also crucial to boosting disability inclusion and accelerating progress. Without commitment and visibility at the senior leadership level, change will likely be slow and piecemeal.

?When you take these steps to improve disability inclusion, you spark organization-wide change. By embracing people with disabilities, creating an accessible recruitment and inclusive work experience and proactively closing gaps often stemming from societal biases, organizations can create long-term value.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.