Leading CEOs from some of the world’s largest organisations are calling for disability inclusion to be addressed more than once every four years. The CEOs include official partners of the Tokyo Paralympics. They have signed an open letter, entitled “Disability inclusion does not just come around every four years for business leaders”. The letter highlights the disability inequality crisis in business ahead of what would have been the closing ceremony of the 2020 Paralympics.
The Paralympics bring great hope and visibility to the 1.3 billion people living with some form of disability globally. That’s around 15% of the world’s population. The games also provide businesses a valuable opportunity to proudly display a strong message of support to people with disabilities, elite athletes or not, through sponsorships and partnerships. However, after the last medal is awarded, people with disabilities are still being excluded. While 90% of companies claim to prioritise diversity, only 4% actually focus on making offerings that are disability-inclusive, according to The Valuable 500.
CALL FOR CHANGE
Recent findings show only 8% of companies feature people with disabilities in their marketing and advertising collateral on a regular basis. A group of CEOs are therefore calling for this to change and for other leaders to commit to disability inclusion by joining initiatives like The Valuable 500.
It is not enough for the business community to only “make a visible display of solidarity and representation when disability inclusion is trending internationally due to the Paralympics”, the letter points out. Businesses need to commit to disability inclusion when the world stops watching, all year round, every year.
COMMITTED CEOS
Business leaders who have signed this letter include:
- Yuji Hirako, President and CEO, Member of the Board, ANA
- Elie Girard, CEO, Atos
- Michael Corbat, CEO, Citi
- Yoshinari Kitajima, President, Dai Nippon Printing (DNP)
- Keiichi Yoshii, President, CEO and COO, Daiwa House Industry Co, Ltd
- Yuji Akasaka, Representative Director, Executive President, Japan Airlines Co, Ltd
- Akimasa Yoneda, President, KNT-CT Holdings Co, Ltd
- Takashi Niino, President and CEO, NEC Corporation
- Jun Sawada, President and CEO, NTT
- Noriaki Kiyota, President, Representative Director, TOTO Ltd
- Caroline Casey, Founder of The Valuable 500
PROGRESS TO DATE
All the businesses signing the letter are official partners of the Tokyo Paralympic and members of the global disability inclusion movement The Valuable 500. The non-profit is working to get 500 of the world’s largest businesses to commit to placing disability inclusion on their business leadership agendas.
On a positive note, some progress is being made. Over a third of companies have pledged to accelerate disability inclusion in the wake of COVID-19, according to The Valuable 500 (as reported).
Sign up for our newsletter
