I recently attended Best Diversity Practices' two-day "Diversity & Women Leadership Summit & Gala" in Washington DC. One goal of the conference was to allow business leaders to share strategies and insights about attracting and retaining a diverse employee base. The conference was well attended with more than 500 participants from 50 major corporations, 15 U.S. government agencies, women and minority entrepreneurs and more. The experience helped me realize how much more has to be done to get disability on the diversity agenda.

Participants had an opportunity to hear from many diversity officers about their efforts to increase diversity initiatives. This included personnel from Xerox, L'Oreal, Viacom, Russell Corporation, Deloitte & Touche and General Mills to name a few.

As I arrived to the conference site I wondered how many other Latinos with disabilities would be participating in the conference. I scanned the program for topics relating to disability and for Latino speakers/company representatives. There were none. I feared the lack of Latinos and people with disabilities at all levels of participation at this conference might be reflective of a similar lack at many of these companies.

Talking Diversity Without Disability

The conference opened and a speaker began to talk about diversity and employment. The topic of people with disabilities, let alone Latinos with disabilities, came up only once when the word "disability" was read by a Wal-Mart speaker off company list of whom they include in their diversity programs. It was the only time disability was mentioned.

The speakers expressed their commitment to diversity, but never seemed to make the connection that people with disabilities are part of diversity too. To make matters worse I felt like the attendees were watching me. Most of the people who looked at me seemed to wonder what I was doing there. Since there were no other people with visible disabilities in attendance I stood out. Also, the conference was not very accessible to people who use wheelchairs and service animals.

At the close of the conference I attended a workshop that featured a panel of chief executive officers from 10 companies. They spoke about their experiences with diversity and leadership. The speakers used phrases such as "leveling the playing field," "moral obligation," "social/corporate responsibility," "ethics." Disability was not mentioned in this workshop. As they spoke I reflected on how the disability community could make a business case about why it is be beneficial to business to include more employees with disabilities.

The Business Case for Including People with Disabilities

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2010 the United States will face a shortage of 10 million qualified workers. Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, US Chamber of Commerce said, "As the US pool of available workers continues to contract, companies are learning the bottom-line benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Once an overlooked talent pool, people with disabilities are contributing to the American economy in ways never imagined in previous generations." Yet unemployment numbers among people with disabilities are still astronomical.

The facts are that people with disabilities represent an excess of $1 trillion in annual aggregate income, and have over $220 billion in discretionary spending power. According to the Michigan Business Leadership Network, customers with disabilities can relate better to employees with disabilities. This in turn could lead to increased business as employees with disabilities attract disabled customers.

According to, C. T. Hill, Chairman, President and CEO, SunTrust Bank, Mid-Atlantic, "Hiring individuals with disabilities is, in fact, good for business. The return on investment to SunTrust can be measured in several ways. One, it helps our diversity initiatives, building a strong workforce; two, it helps us to develop products and services, expanding our customer base; and three, it enables us to reach out to our entire community. It's good for our shareholders and it's good for business."

I hope people with disabilities attend diversity conferences more often so business owners and employers become more familiar with the idea that disability is part of diversity.

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