Ted Kennedy Jr., co-chair of the Disability Equality Index and board member of the American Association of People with Disabilities, informed CNBC that business’ altering views towards remote-working and hybrid-working following the Covid-19 pandemic will permit more individuals with impairments to go into the workforce.
The Disability Equality Index in the U.S. explains itself as the prominent business benchmarking tool which determines and divulges getting involved business’s efforts in impairment addition.
“Hybrid work and remote work are just a couple of the accommodations that many people with disabilities have been asking for. So, we think that companies’ views now of remote work will allow more people with disabilities to enter the labor force,” he stated.
“It will make it easier for them to accommodate somebody, for example, with a mobility impairment for whom it is difficult to travel to and from work … Many employers are now looking, because of the tight labor market, are looking to this great untapped labor pool of people with disabilities,” he continued.
Over 1 billion individuals cope with impairments worldwide today.
Speaking in the most recent episode of CNBC’s “Finding Solutions,” Kennedy, who is a “paediatric bone cancer survivor and amputee” himself, likewise stated that impairment addition has actually ended up being “the next chapter of ESG [environmental, social and governance] business social duty,” with proof that business who lead on the concern in fact outshine their peers.
In 2018, Accenture partnered with Disability: IN and the American Association of People with Disabilities on the “Getting To Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage” report to supply brand-new research study on business who consisted of individuals with impairments in their labor force.
“So this report looked at the hundreds of companies that participate in the DEI and compared those to the ones that did not, and they found 30% higher profitability, much higher revenue, four times more likely to outperform their peers in terms of total shareholder returns over time,” Kennedy informed CNBC.
The DEI is a joint effort in between the AAPD and Disability: IN, which explains itself as “the leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide.”
Jill Houghton, president and CEO of Disability: IN, likewise informed CNBC’s “Finding Solutions” that more development in organization is still required, regardless of 2021 marking 31 years because the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed to forbid discrimination versus individuals with impairments throughout a number of locations consisting of work.
“We are championing tools like the Disability Equality Index, because there is so much work to be done to create cultures where people with disabilities are not only included, but can have pride in the strength of having a disability in the business,” she stated.
“[It] takes a look at things like culture and management, business large gain access to, work practices, neighborhood engagement, provider variety and non-U.S. operations. It has actually weighted concerns and non-weighted concerns, and it’s meant to assist organization determine concrete actions that they can take across their business to consist of individuals with impairments,” she included.
New York City, NY – DECEMBER 06: Edward Kennedy Jr speaks onstage throughout RFK Human Rights ‘ Ripple of Hope Awards Honoring VP Joe Biden, Howard Schultz & & Scott Minerd in New YorkCity (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for RFK Ripple of Hope)
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In August, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission authorized Nasdaq’s prepares to have their noted business openly divulge their board-level variety stats.
According to Nasdaq: “The rules would additionally require most Nasdaq-listed companies to have, or explain why they do not have, at least two diverse directors, including one who self-identifies as female and one who self-identifies as either an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+.”
People with impairments were not consisted of in the brand-new variety guidelines.
Kennedy informed CNBC: “We’re extremely dissatisfied [with the decision], we’re not going to quit”.
Asked how destructive it was to the work that he does and if it seemed like a snub, he stated: “Well it feels like a snub, but, you know, we’re playing the long game, and we have to remember as we’re sitting here having this conversation, that it wasn’t too long ago where we were talking about gender diversity on boards and now it’s really unthinkable, at least in the United States, to have a corporate board without a member of a racial or ethnic minority on their corporate board,” he stated.
“So the disability rights movement … for many years, many decades, I would say piggybacked on the rights movements that have gone before us; the civil rights movement of the 60s, the women’s movement, the gay rights movement, and now the disability rights movement,” he included.
Kennedy’s daddy, Ted Kennedy, was a United States senator and a “principal proponent of disability civil rights.”
Kennedy stated his daddy and uncles, consisting of previous U.S. President John F. Kennedy, saw how his auntie Rosemary, who he stated dealt with an “intellectual disability,” was typically overlooked and maltreated.
“I think that that really inspired my family’s interest and action and energy and the cause of civil rights, because I think they saw the unfairness of it all, and really wanted to do whatever they could to address those changes. So, it’s been a part of the Kennedy family ethic for many, many years,” he stated.
Asked for her message to organizations who aren’t yet completely inclusive on their boards, Jill Houghton informed CNBC: “The time is now, don’t wait … So, include people with disabilities from the top down because it matters to your workforce and to your customers and to your investors.”
