This article was originally published by the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN) and is the first part in a two-part series.

There’s more conversation about disability inclusion in business and employment than ever. Although, the disability factor is mostly rolled into over-arching talk about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). And still too often, disability gets left out of this discussion.

But not by astute business leaders. They’re realizing how disability inclusion connects on multiple levels to business and employment success.

Connecting disability inclusion to broader business objectives and the company mission is vital for continued growth and success. A TD Economics study emphasized this.

All the links to profitability, innovation, overall business success and brand are reasons why disability needs to be part of your DEI conversations.

And why it’s crucial to make the disability inclusion connection, on all its levels.

The levels of connection

Grasping the business benefits

First, there’s understanding the business benefits of disability inclusion. There are a lot of them, including the connection to profitability.  

Businesses focused on disability inclusion grow sales 2.9 times faster than other companies. They grow profits 4.1 times faster.

The bottom-line link

Research by the Society for Human Resources Management puts the average cost of recruiting, hiring and training one new employee, at over US$4,400. Turnover can get expensive. This affects the financials bottom line.

Disability inclusion helps:

  • Retain employees. A Boston Consulting Group study found two key things. When there’s a healthy culture and a lot of people investment, employees who have a disability are 1.5 times more likely to stay with the company than other employees. At the same time, all employees are 50% more likely to stay with the company. 
  • Reduce turnover costs. This is what a Job Accommodation Network study found: 90% of businesses said providing workplace accommodations helped them retain a valued employee. Thus cutting out the costs of training someone else.

The innovation connection

Disability inclusion drives innovation that ultimately benefits everyone.

“Curb cuts” — those ramp indentations cut into sidewalks at street corners, were invented originally to help people who use a wheelchair safely navigate sidewalks at intersections. But they make streets more accessible for everyone. Curb cuts help anyone pushing a stroller or pulling a wheeled suitcase, for example.

Then there’s voice-recognition technology. It’s widely used. In vehicle onboard navigation and entertainment systems; in Google Maps for GPS voice directions; and for home automation and security, for example. One of the reasons it was invented in the 1990s — to help people who couldn’t physically write, get their thoughts down on paper and save their documents using voice command.

Being disability inclusive makes your business six times more likely to be innovative, agile and capable of responding quickly to opportunities and change. 

Inclusive design connection

When you’re developing a new office or retail space; or a product, process or service, include the perspectives of people who have a disability. This results in a better end product that benefits, and can be used by, everyone.

Use the strengths and perspectives of your employees who have a disability. It helps ensure your business reflects the community it serves, with fully accessible products, facilities and services.

The brand factor

Surveys reinforce that disability inclusion helps strengthen your brand, and out of that, customer loyalty.

Connections between businesses and ESPs

Establishing trusted relationships with each other is critical for businesses and employment services providers (ESPs).

Businesses need to connect with the disability talent pool, to stay competitive. But most employers don’t know how to reach this talent source.

Which is where connecting with ESPs comes in:

  • They help by matching ideal candidates who have a disability to roles when businesses have a hiring need. 
  • ESPs also play a key role in educating businesses on being a successful disability-inclusive employer.

Build and nurture a relationship that goes well beyond thinking of each other as client and service provider. That’s transactional thinking. The real relationship and benefits happen when:

  • There’s an emotional connection — you think of each other as community partners
  • There’s effective, regular communication
  • You’re top of mind with each other all the time

The top-down connection

All these disability inclusion connections must be made and driven from the top down. Because it’s the President and the CEO who set the company direction.

Yet there’s still a lack of executive commitment. The 2022 HR Trends Report noted, in 58% of businesses there isn’t top leadership buy-in on DEI.

Michael Bach is the founder of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. On the You Can’t Spell Inclusion Without a D podcast, he summed up commitment to disability inclusion.

“Disability inclusion requires work,” he says. “And if you’re not willing to put in the work, nothing’s going to change. It’s sort of like getting a gym membership and not going.”

Breaking down the barriers

All the disability inclusion connections are closely intertwined. So are the barriers to making them.

Accessibility

Accessibility still is often an afterthought. But today, it should be the first consideration in the planning process — for anything. From a new office space to a standard operating procedure, to a hiring process, to a website. There are physical barriers, such as buildings and office spaces not designed with accessibility in mind. Other accessibility barriers hinder full participation: transportation, digital and social ones.

Addressing all these and developing strategies for better accessibility, is important. It’s a good idea for companies to hire a manager of accessibility.

“If you do not include accessibility in your [diversity, equity and inclusion] plans, you’re doing it wrong,” Lorin MacDonald, an award-winning Canadian lawyer and disability advocate, wrote in a social media post. “And you are certainly not creating a sense of belonging among your workers with disabilities.”

Attitudinal barriers

Myths and misconceptions about disability linger. There’s still a significant lack of disability awareness — and attitudes stemming from this hinder full participation and progress.

A stigma or fear of the unknown is one of the reasons why 71% of businesses surveyed by the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work in 2017, haven’t hired people who have a disability.

A manager who finds a conversation about workplace accommodations awkward, may be thinking that providing them will cost thousands of dollars. It’s a common misconception.

The reality is, 56% of workplace accommodations cost little or nothing to put into practice.

Perhaps a customer or employee parks in a marked accessible parking space but they “don’t look like they have a disability.” The fact is, disability is diverse — and the most common disabilities are invisible.

People are human — attitudes can be difficult to change. Still, finding and suggesting ways of promoting empathy, understanding and positive attitudes towards inclusion, is important.

That’s because full participation in employment, communities and society is a legislated basic human right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Increased understanding and awareness of the business, economic and societal benefits of disability inclusion can create a mind shift that helps break down attitudinal barriers.

Employment barriers

Almost 645,000 Canadians who have a disability, can and want to work. Statistics show more people who have a disability are employed only part-time than workers without disabilities.

Often, businesses don’t know about this talent source. And they don’t have recruiters specifically assigned to reaching these job seekers. One employer survey found, only 4.2% of businesses have a recruiter dedicated to hiring job seekers who have a disability.

Accessibility, technology, attitude and transportation barriers mesh with employment barriers.

  • Most recruiting is done online. Research shows that 60% of job seekers abandon online job applications. That’s because the process is too long, cumbersome and not user friendly. And job postings may unintentionally exclude candidates who have a disability from applying because of the way they’re worded. 
  • Inaccessible interview processes and locations are a barrier to employment. 
  • Attitudes stemming from the lack of disability knowledge and awareness, can mean qualified candidates who have a disability are not moved forward in the recruiting process. 

Progress is being made on barriers to employment. Research by The Valuable 500 found, 85% of business leaders surveyed globally are proactively working to break down major barriers to employment in their organizations.

Education barriers for youth

Youth who have a disability face significant barriers and discrimination in seeking both the experiences needed to develop important skills and in obtaining paid employment. Research has shown that barriers include a lack of:

  • Co-op programs between schools and local businesses
  • Employment preparation programs, resources and supports tailored to youth who have a disability
  • Instruction on the foundational (technical, soft, literacy) skills employers are looking for

Post-secondary education barriers

At the second National Dialogues and Action forum in November 2022, these were some of the concerns expressed by experts about barriers in Canadian post-secondary institutions:

  • Accommodations are a “retrofit” after-thought solution for students who have a disability in an environment that’s not inclusive to begin with 
  • Trying to adopt universal design is a major challenge because of the physical size of post-secondary institutions 
  • Each institution has its own accessibility policies, procedures and practices

Transportation barriers

The shift to remote and hybrid work has created new employment opportunities for people who have a disability. But if a person needs to work on site, they must be able to get there.

The Council of Canadians notes on its website, “Individuals cannot pursue their personal goals without access to transportation.”

Transportation can be a major barrier to employment especially in smaller cities, in small towns and in rural communities.

Accessible or specialized transportation may not be available. This means if the person who has a disability doesn’t drive, they might have to rely on family and friends who do.

The transportation barrier is lower where there are accessible public transit systems. How much lower depends on the extent of accessibility across the system. There’s still a barrier if transit vehicles are fully accessible, but not all stations and boarding areas are. And specialized, door-to-door accessible public transit must be rigidly scheduled in advance, with specific pick-up and drop-off times.

Even with accessibility, taking public transit may be a long, circuitous, arduous, exhausting commute for an employee who has a disability.

Building bridges

None of these barriers are insurmountable. Building bridges over them simply requires commitment to the disability inclusion journey. And time. It’s a long journey with many benefits along the way.

A good starting point: Proactively build your knowledge about disability, and raise your awareness and confidence about it.

Be intentional and strategic about disability inclusion. It’s a sure way to break down the barriers. When there’s intentionality, there’s planning and preparation. Accessibility, for example, moves to the forefront instead of being an afterthought.

On a practical level, review your “three Ps”: All your policies, processes and practices. This will help determine how well you’re making all the disability inclusion connections. If there are inclusion gaps, build bridges to close them — reshape your three Ps.

Then start building bridges to the “hidden” disability talent pool. Reach out to third-party networks like the Ontario Disability Employment Network. They’ll help connect you to employment service providers in your community.

Dean Askin is the Communications Strategist for the Ontario Disability Employment Network.