5 Business Benefits of Disability Inclusion

Contrary to popular belief, disability inclusion is not about "doing the right thing" it is much more than that, it is a shrewd business strategy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in four adults in the United States has a disability, whether that disability is apparent or not. That translates to 26% of the population in the U.S. and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the global number of people with disabilities is 1.3 billion or 16% of the global population.

This means people with disabilities represent a large and diverse talent pool, a powerful customer base, and a massive market opportunity. By getting smart on disability inclusion, your business can gain a competitive advantage.

Here are five business benefits of disability inclusion:

1. Enhance Your Recruiting Strategy: People with disabilities have valuable skills, experiences, and perspectives that can benefit your workplace and enhance productivity. By creating accessible environments and providing reasonable accommodations, you can attract and retain candidates with disabilities who can contribute to your business goals and objectives. You can also foster a culture of innovation and creativity by tapping into the diverse talents and insights of people with disabilities. I often say, if you're looking for your next innovation ask employees with disabilities what accessibility features need to be improved in your products or services? What access problem needs solving? Do you need more accessible products? Do you customer service reps who are educated on your accessibility features?
2. Improve Your Culture of Inclusion: Disability inclusion is not only good for people with disabilities, but also for all employees, managers, and yes, even your customers. By creating an inclusive workplace, you can improve employee engagement, improve tenure, and attract new customers. You are creating an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and supported. Moreover, you can enhance your customer experience by having a workforce that reflects the diversity of your customers and understands their needs. Which takes us to number 3.
3. Gain New Customers: People with disabilities have money to spend. They buy houses, cars, phones, computers, toothpaste and everything else. According to Return on Disability Group, people with disabilities have an estimated spending power of $13 Trillion. By ensuring your products are accessible, and customer service people know how to effectively interact with people with disabilities, you can increase your market share and revenue. Additionally, as you attract new customers and those customers are active on social media, you will quickly get referrals from people with disabilities and access to their network.
4. Improve Innovation: Most of the products we use today were created for people with disabilities - do you watch movies with captions? Captions are an innovation created for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Use text messaging - another tool for those with hearing impairments. Do you use curb cuts or automatic doors? An innovation for those with mobility issues. There are countless examples of innovations for people with disabilities becoming mainstream. So, if you are looking to improve innovation it is critical to have input from employees with disabilities. People with disabilities bring different perspectives and solve problems in unique ways.
5. Enhance Your Reputation/Brand: As you gain new customers and employees because of your disability inclusive environment you will be improving your brand. You can also improve your products and services by incorporating the feedback and preferences of people with disabilities. Furthermore, you can benefit from the positive word-of-mouth and referrals from people with disabilities and their families, friends, and allies.

So, while many disability inclusion programs often begin with altruistic reasons like "it's the right thing to do", or to "give back to the community" - the real benefits are that it is good for your business. It improves productivity, innovation and helps you gain market share.

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