How accessible technologies may enable organizations to achieve diversity and inclusion of all people, irrespective of abilities and disabilities. The benefits may be internal to an organization (employees, regulation etc.) and external to their customers, patients, citizens). This is a topic relevant to all industries, countries and societies.

1. Why accessible
technologies matter

2. Why accessible technologies matter
Technology is used for most of the things people do every day: communicating, working, learning and online
transacting. Organizations that do not offer accessible technology to their employees, customers, citizens, and
students exclude a significant population from their community. This may result in a smaller talent pool to
recruit from, smaller customer base, and non-compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Increase in talent pool
• Reduction in staff
turnover
• Increase staff productivity
• Increase in innovation
Employee facing
 Increase in external user base
 Reduction in regulatory non-
compliance risk
 Improvement in brand and
reputation
 Reduction in cost to serve
 Reduction in engineering
costs
External user
The benefits of accessible technologies: The solution: Business Applications

3. Why accessible
technologies matter
Technology is used for most of the
things people do every day:
communicating with others, finding
out what’s going on, publishing and
reading, watching videos, listening to
music, selling and buying, going to
school, and even more.

4. Why accessible
technologies matter
Employees are always connected and
able to work online from many
locations, adopting accessible
technologies and strategies offers
organizations the flexibility to drive
higher levels of productivity, boost
employee retention, meet regulatory
needs, and ensure that the content
developed can used by all their
customers.

5. Why accessible
technologies matter
In a world where online interaction
has become part of daily life, it is
critical that organizations remove
barriers that prevent customers and
constituents with disabilities from
completing a transaction. These
online storefronts are essentially
“closed” to a whole population of
individuals if they do not adapt to
offer accessible technologies such as
screen readers, adaptive input
devices, speech recognition,
cognitive assistance tools, and
wearables (e.g., smart glasses).

6. Why accessible
technologies matter
Research shows that there are
economic and socioeconomic
outcomes resulting from an
investment in accessible
technologies, to enable easier access
for both employees and
customers—building accessibility
into technology and advocating for
accessible technology programs in
organizations can help lead to a
more just world.

7. What is a disability?
A disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the
person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world
around them (participation restrictions)—disabilities come in many forms both visible and unseen1
Disabilities include:
• Permanent disabilities like those listed below
• Temporary impairments like cataracts or a broken arm
• Situational requirements like working hands-free while driving
1Source: Disability and Health Overview | CDC

8. Accessibility empowers people with disabilities at
work, school, and in daily life
Vision Hearing Neurodiversity
Learning Mobility Mental health

9. or 15% of the world’s population
experience some form of accessibility
needs1
• Today, only 1 in 10 people in need have
access to assistive technology, which means
many can’t fully participate in our economies
and societies1
• 200 million people with low vision who do
not have access to assistive products for low-
vision1
• 466 million people globally experience
hearing loss1
• The unemployment rate for people with
disabilities is typically 2X that of people
without1
1Assistive technology (who.int)

10. What leaders are thinking

11. It’s like saying to every fifth person who walks
in your door… ‘I don’t really want
your business’
If you don’t design for accessibility
Bert Floyd
Team Lead of Assistive Technologies
TD Bank, Canada

12. Which of the
following business
initiative are your
organization’s top
priorities over the
next 12 months?
81%
Improve the
experience
of our
customers
79%
Grow
revenues
76%
Reduce
costs/
improve
margins
67%
Better
comply with
regulations
and
requirements
65%
Mitigate risk
associated
with legal
proceedings

13. Which of the
following business
initiative are your
organization’s top
priorities over the
next 12 months?
Public sector
74%
Reduce
costs
69%
Improve the
experience
of our
constituents
62%
Migrate risk
associated
with legal
proceedings
54%
Better
comply with
regulations
and
requirements

14. The benefits

15. Employee facing benefits of accessible technologies
If companies in the US embrace disability inclusion, they will gain access to a new talent pool of more than
10.7 million people. In the US, the participation rate of people with disabilities in the workplace is 20.6%,
compared to 68.6% for those without disabilities.1
Increase in talent
pool
Reduction in staff
turnover
Increase staff
productivity
Increase
innovation

16. If companies in the US embrace disability inclusion, they will gain access to a new talent pool of more than
10.7 million people. In the US, the participation rate of people with disabilities in the workplace is 20.6%,
compared to 68.6% for those without disabilities.1
Increase in talent pool
The unemployment rate for
people with disabilities is
more than twice the
average2. This population
represents an enormous
untapped talent pool at a
time when we are all in need
of great talent.
Millennials: 75% of global
workforce by 2025—choose
employers who reflect their
values.
Reduction in staff
turnover
Staff turnover is also lower by
up to 30% when a well-run
disability y outreach program
is in place.3
Increase staff
productivity
Offer experiences that let
people work and participate
in their preferred way and
reduce lost productivity by up
to 50%.4
Increase innovation
Having employees with
disabilities across
departments helps ensure
the products and services
that go to market are truly
inclusive. And making things
more accessible for persons
with disabilities can translate
into products and services
from which users with or
without disabilities may
benefit. For example, home
devices using natural voice
recognition.
1Bureau of Labor Statistics
2Accenture: Getting to equal: the disability inclusion advantage
3Disability Employment and Inclusion: Your Guide to Success—Business Case, Workplace Initiative, 2017
4A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study
Employee facing benefits of accessible technologies

17. People with disabilities tend to be some of the
most creative, innovative and, quite frankly,
most loyal employees. A person with a disability
wakes up every day thinking about being
innovative—that is a skill set. That ability to
problem solve is innate to them. Our training
programs quickly went from philanthropy to
skill search.
David Casey
VP, Workforce Strategies & Chief Diversity Officer
CVS Health

18. Increase in
external user
base
Reduction in
regulatory non-
compliance risk
Improvement in
brand and
reputation
Reduction in
cost to serve
Reduction in
engineering
costs
1Bureau of Labor Statistics
2National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corp.—Wikipedia
3A hidden market: The purchasing power of working-age adults with disabilities, American Institutes for Research, April 2018
4A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study
External user benefits of accessible technologies

19. Increase in
external user base
The greater the number of
people that can be reached,
the greater the chances of the
service or product to be
successful.
Companies with
leading-edge disability
programs and initiatives that
can be potentially
implemented by others,
achieved, on average, 28%
higher revenue, double the
net income and 30% higher
economic profit margins over
a four-year period.1
Reduction in
regulatory non-
compliance risk
Regulatory framework
across the globe, however
unclear for the digital world,
requires digital products
to be accessible. Otherwise,
they may attract legal
complications.
For example, Target, a US-
based retailer was fined $6M
by the National Federation
for the Blind.2
Improvement in
brand and
reputation
66% of consumers will
purchase goods and services
from a business that features
persons with disabilities in
their advertising, while 78%
will purchase goods and
services from a business that
takes steps to ensure easy
access for individuals with
disabilities at their physical
locations.3
Reduction in cost
to serve
Organizations across all
industries have cited a wide
range of savings from
accessible technologies.
These include cost to serve.
Consumers with disabilities
will often call the company
for support because they
can’t self serve. Also, paper
forms are 10 times more
costly than an online form.4
Reduction in
engineering costs
When digital accessibility is
kept top-of-mind throughout
planning and strategizing
(design and code) and is not
an afterthought that needs to
be retrospectively fitted,
the costs to develop the
application may be
50%–70% lower.
1Bureau of Labor Statistics
2National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corp.—Wikipedia
3A hidden market: The purchasing power of working-age adults with disabilities, American Institutes for Research, April 2018
4A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study
External user benefits of accessible technologies

20. Thank you

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