2024 Disability Index Report

 

The Evolution of the Benchmarking Tool

 

Initially established in the U.S., the Disability Index was internationalized in 2024 by adding Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. This shift was driven by demand from multinational companies aiming to enhance disability inclusion across their global markets. With almost tenfold participation growth over a decade, the benchmark has proven to be a valid and reliable tool, offering valuable insights for sustainable progress and aligning with leading experts. The internationalization of the Disability Index speaks to past success and emerging opportunities:

 

• • Past Success: Incremental and Transformational Change over the Past Ten Years. While most of the growth driven by the Disability Index has unfolded incrementally over the past decade, there have been bursts of transformational change in high leverage practice areas like disability-focused Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), accessibility requirements, recruiting, accommodations, and sourcing from disability-owned businesses.

 

• • Emerging Opportunity: Modernized Regulations. Forthcoming enforcement of legislation like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and European Accessibility Act (EAA) will make disability reporting a material issue for more than 50,000 employers upon its full implementation. Regional legislation such as the Accessible Canada Act and the European Accessibility Act are outlining clear compliance mandates that companies operating in certain jurisdictions must be prepared to follow.

 

 

Together, these factors constitute a dynamic and rapidly evolving landscape that shapes both individual and institutional attitudes, as well as actions related to measurable corporate disability inclusion practices that can be extrapolated from the data reported throughout the subsequent pages.

 

 

Transformational Change in Adoption Rates from 2015-2024

 

• • Participating companies that have an officially recognized disability-focused Employee Resource Group (ERG) or Affinity Group increased from 68% in 2015 to 93% in 2024.

 

• • Participating companies that have a policy/requirement to ensure digital products are accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities increased from 44% in 2015 to 71% in 2024.

 

• • Participating companies that make all job interview candidates aware of the option to request an accommodation(s) for the interview increased from 25% in 2015 to 60% in 2024.

 

• • Participating companies that have a centralized accommodations fund or allow managers to have a “budget margin” with disability accommodations expenses increased from 31% in 2015 to 57% in 2024.

 

• • Participating companies that have expenditures with Disability:IN certified disability-owned businesses increased from 27% in 2015 to 56% in 2024.

 

 

 

Across the world, the workforce is seeing an influx of talent with disabilities, as evidenced by the percentage of new hires who are self-identifying their disability status during onboarding: 4% median multimarket aggregate and 5% median in the U.S. These figures outstrip the self-identification rates for current employees: 3.5% multimarket median and 4% median in the US.

With the increasing importance of global corporate reporting directives and stakeholder expectations regarding social impact and corporate governance, the Disability Index offers an objective and comprehensive tool to guide businesses in enhancing inclusion practices. Since its inception in 2015, participation in the benchmark has surged almost tenfold, highlighting its enduring effectiveness and relevance. The internationalization of the benchmark is enabling more companies to build robust global disability inclusion strategies, thereby improving their operational, cultural, and financial performance.

Disability Index data collected between 2015 and 2023 fueled a new report by Accenture Research entitled The Disability Inclusion Imperative. Released in November 2023, the updated business case for disability inclusion reveals that inclusive businesses realize more revenue, more net income, more economic profit, and more productivity than peer companies.

Disability Inclusion Leaders realize marked business gains over other participants

 

753 Total Submissions Across 8 Markets

Market	Submissions
United States	537
United Kingdom	56
India	39
Canada	34
Brazil	34
Japan	21
Germany	18
Philippines	14

The practices measured by the Disability Index have been adopted by companies at varying rates. Disability:IN’s framework for assessing the adoption and advancement of each practice breaks down into four categories:

Results of the 2024 Disability Index

Expand the sections in the table of contents to explore the findings.

Multimarket Aggregate: Total Employees: 2%; New Hires: 3.6%

Country	Total Employees	New Hires
Brazil	4.45%	3.1%
Canada	3%	2.1%
Germany	2.35%	0.85%
India	0.4%	0.15%
Japan	2.25%	1.6%
Philippines	1%	1.1%
United Kingdom	2%	3.6%
United States	4%	5%

*Reported percentages are the median of disability self-identification rates from among the companies that reported such data as part of the 2024 Disability Index; reporting this information was optional for this year’s benchmark and, as such, these figures are not inclusive of every participating company.

The response rates are as follows: 86% of U.S. companies answered for current employees, 85% of all companies answered for current employees, 68% of U.S. companies answered for new hires, and 61% of all companies answered for new hires.

Culture & Leadership are the foundation on which most successful and sustainable corporate disability inclusion strategies are built.

The data reveal that inclusive culture is driven by a combination of employee community organizing and public leadership support for disability inclusion.

The annual percent of participating companies that…

• Have a requirement to ensure digital products are accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities
  • 2024 Multimarket: 69%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 71%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 64%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 62%
• Invest in internal and/or external innovative technology to advance digital accessibility
  • 2024 Multimarket: 69%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 69%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 55%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 50%
• Have a written statement of commitment to Diversity & Inclusion that specifically mentions disability
  • 2024 Multimarket: 85%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 84%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 83%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 80%
• Publish diversity report(s) that include data on employees who identify as having a disability
  • 2024 Multimarket: 50%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 45%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 24%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 22%
• Have a company-wide external hiring goal(s) for people with disabilities
  • 2024 Multimarket: 46%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 52%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 57%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 60%
• Have established international chapters of their disability-focused Employee Resource Group (ERG) or Affinity Group
  • 2024 Multimarket: 33%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 47%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 44%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 42%
• Have someone who openly identifies as having a disability serving on their company’s corporate Board of Directors
  • 2024 Multimarket: 11%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 11%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 7%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 6%
• Have documents that govern nominations of Directors on the corporate boards that specifically mention the consideration of people with disabilities
  • 2024 Multimarket: 11%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 8%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 7%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 10%
• Publicly disclose or report on disability on their company’s corporate Board of Directors
  • 2024 Multimarket: 3%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 3%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 2%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 2%

Companies are more engaged with the disability community than ever; incremental gains in philanthropic support, community outreach, and targeted marketing suggest that companies around the world are factoring disability into their community impact strategies.

Many companies are backing this up with commitments to ensure that social media posts and smartphone apps are accessible to users with disabilities.

The annual percent of participating companies that…

• Have a formal program(s) in place to understand how to address the needs of the disability community
  • 2024 Multimarket: 90%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 92%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 85%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 83%
• Market directly to the disability community by authentically depicting people with disabilities at in their internal or external marketing and/or advertising materials
  • 2024 Multimarket: 77%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 80%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 72%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 70%
• Have a plan to ensure that social media postings are accessible
  • 2024 Multimarket: 69%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 71%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 60%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 55%
• Publicly support or help shape external national or local initiatives around disability inclusion practices in calendar year 2023
  • 2024 Multimarket: 63%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 68%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 59%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 59%
• Have an accessibility statement posted on their public-facing website
  • 2024 Multimarket: 65%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 67%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 58%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: N/A
• Have a smartphone app and have audited their app for digital accessibility
  • 2024 Multimarket: 31%
  • 2024 U.S. Market: 44%
  • 2023 U.S. Market: 34%
  • 2022 U.S. Market: 37%

Resources for Advancing Key Actions

Encouraging Employee Self Identification

• From Compliance to Culture [Research]
• Best Practices for Self ID [Resource]
• Disability Fundamentals for Managers [Training Course]
• Disability Etiquette: A Starting Guide [Infographic]
• On the Verge: Disability and Sustainability – U.S. Report | European Report [Research Series]

Leverage Disability-Focused Employee/ Business Resource Groups

• E/BRG Resource Toolkit [Comprehensive Toolkit]
• ERG Maturity Model Matrix [Resource]
• BRG Executive Sponsor Role Fact Sheet [Resource]

Conduct Internal & External Digital Accessibility Audits

• Procure Access [Program]
• Building Blocks of Accessible Procurement [Resource]
• Accessible Procurement Toolkit [Toolkit]
• Accessible Procurement Resources

Modernize Corporate Governance

• Inclusion of People with Disabilities as Diverse Board Members [Memorandum]
• Proxy Statements and Voting Guidelines for Disability Disclosures [Resource]
• Nom Gov Language [Resource]
• Global Boardroom Diversity Legal Findings on Disability & Board Diversity [Research]
• Boards Are IN [Initiative]
• Investors Are IN [Initiative]

Accelerate Expenditures with Disability Owned Businesses

• Supplier Diversity [Program]
• Economic Impact of Disability Owned Businesses [Infographic]

Additional Resources

• The Disability Inclusion Imperative [Research]
• Global Directory [Database]
• CEOs Are IN [Initiative]
• Disability:IN Policy & Research Initiatives
• CMO & CCO Coalition Resource Library [Resources on Marketing & Communications]