Omnicom's new initiative, OPEN Disability + Allies, launched this week; it will seek to drive disability inclusion, raise awareness of those who have a visible or invisible disability, and build a community at Omnicom.

1. GET DISABILITY
SMART
OPEN Disability +
Allies

2. GET DISABILITY SMART
OPEN Disability + Allies
Last night saw the launch of Omnicom’s initiative OPEN Disability + Allies
#OPENDisability #abletodomore. This critical initiative will seek to drive disability
inclusion, raise awareness of those who have a visible or invisible disability, and build a
community at Omnicom.
Disability is one of eight areas of Diversity and Inclusion Omnicom believes must be
prioritised - we have Omniwomen + Allies and Omni Pride + Allies; and now we are
proudly talking about disability. Although many of us in the room would have preferred
the ‘dis’ was ruled out and the focus was on the ‘ability’.
Omnicom is committed to change. Valuable 500 was launched with Omnicom, John Wren
was one of the founding signatures.
Omnicom is leading the way. But we’ve only just begun.
Sam Phillips, Chair of OPEN UK and all things D&I, opened the event by reminding us we
have around 9000 employees in the UK and many, many more globally, and how
important it is that our workforce is reflective of the countries we operate in. We recently
conducted an Omnicom-wide census - within our organisation in the UK, 11% of staff have
a long-term illness or disability (against 20% of UK population and 27% London), with 79%
of these disabilities invisible. But crucially when asked, have you disclosed your disability,
61% said they have, which is great; but 33% haven’t. We have to ask - why?
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR DISABILITY INCLUSION – ITS PERSONAL
Our OPEN Disability co-chairs – Stephen Marchant, President, Group Strategy and Growth,
Chameleon and Afua Basoah, Vice President, Rabin Martin, were honest about their own
personal, powerful stories. Stephen has Crohn’s disease and as he honestly admitted,
sometimes literally “can’t get out of bed. And it’s invisible and I struggle to talk about it.”
But he also admitted “I don’t really see myself as having a disability.” Stephen reminded
us that 60% of disabilities are acquired by people of working age. We could all be
impacted, if we aren’t already.
Afua spoke of her “magical journey” with her son Noah who tries his best as a
“determined warrior” and who thrives when you put him in a certain environment. Afua
remarked that for her this highlighted the need to create an environment in which we can
all thrive. She noted, “I have a responsibility to help others shine.”

3. GET DISABILITY SMART
OPEN Disability + Allies
Next up was Caroline Casey, Founder #valuable & The Valuable 500, who started by
advising “I come with a health warning… I could talk to you about my blindness but that’s
not what you need, you need to hear about why we can’t continue excluding” and her
argument was passionate, persuasive and impossible to ignore.
Caroline rallied us, singling out and applauding AMV BBDO for their ‘Diversish’ work,
which highlighted that 90% of companies say they are diverse and inclusive but only 4%
prioritise disability. You are not diverse or inclusive if you do not include disability. Casey
remarked that Omnicom works with 5000 brands, we could offer these companies “early
first adopters’ position”. The appetite is there, the business case is strong. “We want 500
CEOs globally to put disability on their board agenda by the end of 2019. We want 500
CEOs to offer 500 signatures of intention.”
VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE DISABILITY IN THE WORKPLACE
A panel followed, featuring staff within Omnicom who have visible and invisible
disabilities, and who each told poignant and honest stories.
Louise Johnson, CEO of Fuse, has dyslexia, which she managed to fool everyone about
until the age of 21. She talked about having have to create space to do certain things and
saying things the wrong way around. “I am notoriously famous for saying stupid things,
like ‘the world is your lobster’”. Louise acknowledged it was funny, but it was also her
reality and not something she can control.
Vanella Jackson Global CEO of Hall & Partners, was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was
10. “I didn’t know what it meant but I felt the shame of being different… I have carried that
shame with me until now, and I really mean now. When you are trying to hide something
it’s hard. But I’ve really come to realise it’s not a disability, it’s a creative superpower.”
Mike Alhadeff, Senior Strategist at AMV BBDO has Cerebral Palsy which “impacts my
speech and movement. I am in the privileged position that everyone can tell something is
wrong with me”. Mike talked about being reasonably new to AMV, but how being
“wobbly” made him instantly recognisable. Mike acknowledged that it is a learning
process for us all, but above all it’s about human relationships and building those
relationships. “We work in a high powered and stressful environment where no one wants
to see mistakes especially clients, but there must be a grace period.” For instance, Mike
noted: “I’m not being lazy but I struggle with art directing my powerpoints.” Joking that
his movement isn’t conducive to producing straight lines, he needs someone to help – as
he has gotten more senior, he has gotten more comfortable asking for help.

4. GET DISABILITY SMART
OPEN Disability + Allies
The panel were honest in admitting that yes there are challenges, but differences are
strengths. Louise noted: “I can get quicker to a problem, I’m more astute.” Guy Marks
CEO, OMD EMEA, who is “a bit deaf” with “a kidney disease” that not many people know
about, explained that: “Day-to-day I get by quite well… But I’m more tuned in, so we’ve
created a library space at OMD so people have a quiet space because a lot of people
struggle with the hustle and bustle of open plan. And we have D&I topics every month in
our town meetings, so its baked in, so that we are constantly reminding people how we
are setting ourselves up for success.”
CHANGE, NOW
Stacey Stockwell, an incredible deaf and blind ‘signer’, who has signed for a number of
famous musicals and has 20 years’ experience providing disability awareness training and
work to help businesses become disability confident, spoke next. Stacy explained that one
of the most common mistakes she has come across in her career is that people follow the
‘disability manual’ which is usually not written by a disabled person. And think it’s job
done.
When asked about the one thing that we should do following the event, Stacey advised, “I
am a great fan of disability awareness training, it gives people the tools to communicate,
lead and interact in the right way.” Make it human, stats aren’t overly helpful and don’t
help you when you meet a disabled person.
In summary, in short, and in the words of the brilliant Caroline Casey, “Why should you
care? Because I bloody love all of you and you are the industry that is going to change
this.”

5. GET DISABILITY SMART
OPEN Disability + Allies
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