PR85410

LONDON, September 4, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- The letter, titled "Disability inclusion does not just come around every four

years for business leaders" highlights the disability inequality crisis in business

ahead of what would have been the closing ceremony of the 2020 Paralympics

Leading CEO's, from some of the world's largest businesses, have signed an open

letter calling for disability inclusion to be addressed more than once every four years.

The Paralympics bring great hope and visibility to the 1.3 billion people

living with some form of disability globally – 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.

After the last medal is awarded, people with disabilities are still being

excluded. While 90% of companies claim to prioritise diversity, only 4% focus

on making offerings that are disability-inclusive. Recent findings show only 8%

of companies feature people with disabilities in their marketing and

advertising collateral on a regular basis.

The business leaders are calling for this to change and for other CEOs to stand

together as one and pledge to commit to disability inclusion, by joining 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. Businesses need to commit to disability

inclusion when the world stops watching, all year round, every year.

Business leaders who have signed this letter include;

Caroline Casey, founder of The Valuable 500

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.

All businesses signing the letter are official partners of the Tokyo

Paralympics, and members of the global disability inclusion movement The

Valuable 500 - which is working to get 500 of the world's largest businesses to

commit to placing disability inclusion on their business leadership agendas.

Source: The Valuable 500