Thoughts about International Day of Persons with Disabilities

At Adevinta , we marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities during the whole month of December (and other occasions throughout the year).?

Personally, I have been confronted with disability since I was a child, through my sister Clémence, who was born with a physical disability.?

I know very well how the way people look at you can affect you; the medical, administrative and psychological struggles one might face, as well as the complexity of education, professional integration or workplace (non) accessibility, to name a few.?

One way or the other, we will all experience a temporary or permanent disability (after all, 16% of the population has a disability!) or discover some aspects (and there are so many of them!) through family members, friends or colleagues.?

I believe we can all reach beyond stereotypes and have concrete actions to make our society and companies more inclusive, and become better allies.?

You might wonder what has been happening this month at Adevinta? Here’s a look at what our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team and Adevinta for Everyone (A4E) members have been organising:?

??? A movie night at the Amsterdam office showcasing the Peanut Butter Falcon, followed by a lively debate??

?? Round table in Paris (I was happy to join in) with intimate and powerful testimonies of some of our colleagues, either persons with disabilities or carers, and discussed how we could be better allies?

?? A Bytes Session (a knowledge-sharing session open to all Adevintans) with Lesa Bradshaw, TedX Speaker and owner of disability inclusion consulting firm, Bradshaw LeRoux.?

??We added new books around the topic to our A4E corners in our Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris hubs, including "Demystifying disability" by Emily Ladau , which I recommend: it is very pragmatic, educational and fun.

?? We gathered insights through personal testimonials.?

I am looking forward to seeing what the employee resource groups will prepare in 2024, with the support of HR, the AdEx and I will obviously be personally there to support those initiatives. What about you, what are you doing in your daily and work life to ensure inclusion for people with disabilities and their carers?