Campaign spotlights model employers that demonstrate inclusive hiring can help their bottom line and starts by featuring Ernst & Young LLP
NEW YORK – RespectAbilityUSA and POSITIVE EXPOSURE, two non-profits working to change how people see disabilities, have joined forces to create #RespectTheAbility, a campaign to focus on how hiring people with disabilities can make organizations stronger and more successful. The campaign highlights the benefits to employers that look beyond the disability and imagine the possibility when hiring talented employees with disabilities.
The campaign kicked off on with a conference call/webinar with Lori Golden, Abilities Strategy Leader from Ernst & Young LLP (EY), on “Disabilities to Diverse Abilities: Changing the Workplace Paradigm: EY as a Case Study”. The call is was recorded and you can find it and the powerpoint that goes with it HERE.
“Our goal is to educate and inform employers of the benefits of hiring employees with disabilities,” said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of RespectAbilityUSA. “EY hires the best talent out there, no matter what package that talent comes in. Their only focus is on their business, and what prospective employees can bring to the table to better the organization. It is time for other employers to look beyond the disability, and understand the true value of these employees.”
EY has focused on the benefits of a diverse staff since its beginning. Founding partner Arthur Young was deaf with low vision, and by example, he instilled in the organization the notion that talented, differently-abled employees can bring a multitude of benefits to the workplace.
POSITIVE EXPOSURE photographer and founder, Rick Guidotti, captured the new campaign with photos to link real life images and people with the facts. His motto in the work is, “Change how you see. See how you change.”
Using the hashtag #RespectTheAbility, RespectAbilityUSA and POSITIVE EXPOSURE hope to spread the word through their collaborative series, and to ultimately erase negative stigmas associated with disabilities.
A second spotlight on success, showcases Project SEARCH, a program that allows young adults with developmental disabilities to cultivate a set of skills that they can use in the workforce by providing them with a series of internships in order to achieve competitive employment. The third success story centers around young adults on the autism spectrum working on an organic farm in California.
#RespectTheAbility Success Stories
- Em’s Coffee Company: Bringing Independence To Independence, Iowa
- Physical Limitations Don’t Stop the Spece Brothers From Making Their Dreams Come True
- Kwik Trip’s Retail Helper Program a “Blueprint” for Other Companies
- AT&T: Every Voice Matters – Fortune 50 Global Company is Top Employer of People with Disabilities
- If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere: Inclusion at EY
- Youth with disabilities help make government work better
- Young people with disabilities help senior citizens: Provide excellent workforce for the future
- Workers with disabilities help hospitals help patients
- Autistic man on path to become an organic farmer
Download our free toolkit, “Disability Employment First Planning Tool,” for more information.
About POSITIVE EXPOSURE
POSITIVE EXPOSRURE, founded in 1998 by award winning fashion photographer, Rick Guidotti, utilizes photography, video and narratives to present the humanity and dignity of individuals living with genetic, physical, behavioral and cognitive differences. The POSITIVE EXPOSURE global footprint promotes a more inclusive and compassionate world where all differences are celebrated. www.positiveexposure.org
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