Webinars

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Neurodiversity refers to the idea that all humans have diverse cognitive profiles, neurological abilities and strengths and weaknesses, which should be recognized and respected. Neurominorities are on a spectrum of cognitive functioning, who think differently and perceive the world in different ways – often due to conditions such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, Tourette’s syndrome and other neurological differences.

Businesses are increasingly recognizing that neurominorities can bring much needed talent and skills to workplaces if reasonable adjustments are made to enable their full professional potential.

The webinar presented latest practices by leading multinational enterprises IBM, Orange, EY and HSBC on becoming neuro-inclusive places to work. International Sign interpretation and live captioning were provided.

Companies increasingly recognise the benefits of accessibility, including physical and digital, as part of their efforts to create more inclusive workplaces in which all employees can thrive. Five multinational enterprise members of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network – Accenture, Atos, GSK, Repsol and Standard Chartered Bank – presented their latest key accessibility practices and policies. Speakers: Jarl Ross (Accenture), Beatriz González Mellídez (Atos), Andy Garrett (GSK), Javier García González (Repsol) and Bhumit Shah (Standard Chartered Bank).

This session presented the “Digital in Demand” initiative of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network (GBDN) and was chaired by Susan Scott-Parker, Strategic Advisor to the ILO GBDN. The initiative’s goal is to enable people with disabilities to access the digital skills which are “in demand” with employers.

Speakers: Jürgen Menze, ILO, Switzerland; Bernd Schramm, GIZ, Germany; Daniel Otumbai Omondi, Graduate at Bridge Academy, Kenya; Simon Brown, Sightsavers International, United Kingdom; Tabie Kioko, Safaricom, Kenya; Lesa Bradshaw, Bradshaw Leroux Consulting, South Africa.

This session was part of the Zero Project Conference 2022.

In this session, speakers shared innovative policies and practices that have contributed to accessible and inclusive employment environment. Moderator: Jürgen Menze, ILO, Switzerland. Speakers: Lars Lindberg, Nordic Welfare Center, Sweden; Mounter Wu, Flex Zhuhai, China; Marina Kalnitski, Inclusion Factory, China; Peter Njioka, Safaricom, Kenya; Frances West, Frances WestCo, United States. This session was part of the Zero Project Conference 2022

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing labour market barriers faced by people with disabilities in the Asia and Pacific region. At the same time, the pandemic has accelerated certain Future of Work mega trends, including the growth of the digital economy and the demand for digitally skilled workers.

The ILO Global Business Disability Network (GBDN) two-day conference focussed on its second day on Digital in Demand (DiD) initiatives, aimed at bringing enterprises and digital skills training providers closer together to enable the employment of persons with disabilities in the digital economy, including by tackling stereotypes based on disability and gender. Through group work sessions, practical recommendations to digital skills training providers, government or international donors, Organisations of Persons with Disabilities and disability NGOs on how to overcome barriers to digital skills acquisition by persons with disabilities were developed.

Interpretation into International Sign was provided.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing labour market barriers faced by people with disabilities in the Asia and Pacific region. At the same time, the pandemic has accelerated certain Future of Work mega trends, including the growth of the digital economy and the demand for digitally skilled workers.

The ILO Global Business Disability Network (GBDN) two-day conference highlighted recent corporate promising practices in addressing disability inclusion (including from Accenture, Compass Group, Pizza Hut, Sony, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata Consultancy Services) as well as the work of National Business and Disability Networks.

Interpretation into International Sign was provided.

As part of the Academy on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work – organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) – the session “Disability in the 2020s: A digital decade for an inclusive World of Work” on 13 October featured a discussion with

• Neil Milliken – Global Head of Accessibility, Atos
• Karine Sonigo – Skills Digitalisation Specialist, ILO
• Jim Nemeño – Operations Manager, Philippine Business and Disability Network
• moderated by Jürgen Menze – Disability Inclusion Officer, ILO

to address questions like how to ensure that people with disabilities can benefit from the ever-growing digital economy, what the role of companies and training providers can be, how latest digital technology can be used for good as well as which challenges and opportunities of telework by workers with disabilities exist.

Interpretation into International Sign was provided.

Senior accountability and global governance frameworks are essential for any multinational company wanting to enable consistent, equitable and dignified treatment for people with disabilities in every market they operate in.

This webinar launched the ILO Global Business and Disability Network’s “Accountability in Action” – a detailed profile of the GSK Global Disability Confidence Council, which provides a unique insight into how a global company structures the governance and senior accountability to focus on disability inclusion in key areas – such as tech, premises, recruitment, products and services – with the aim to deliver consistent best practice globally. Download at http://www.businessanddisability.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GSK_GDCC.pdf

Nick Hirons, Senior Vice President Global Ethics and Compliance & Chair of the Global Disability Confidence Council, presented the Council, its values and ways of working; how and why it sets global priorities and standards; and offered his ‘top tips’ for any CEO seeking to benefit from GSK’s long experience positioning disability equality as an ethical and economic imperative.

Margaret Smith, Senior Managing Director Geographic Services and Business Operations at Accenture, shared her experience regarding how senior executive disability champions can shape the global cultures which then enable consistent fair and equitable treatment of all persons with disabilities.

Andy Garrett, member of the GSK Global Disability Confidence Council and Workplace Adjustments and Accessibility Lead, shared how the company is operationalising GSK’s global commitment to implementing consistent service standards and values.

Susan Scott-Parker OBE, founder business disability international, introduced the “Accountability in Action” profile, which she wrote in close collaboration with the Council. Susan also moderated the session.

Live captioning and International Sign interpretation were provided.

Learn more about the ILO Global Business and Disability Network: http://www.businessanddisability.org/

Digital accessibility, not as a compliance measure, but as a “human-first” based digital inclusion transformation initiative, is at the beginning of its journey. If companies can establish digital accessibility as a foundational pillar to their overall digital transformation strategy and engage employees with disabilities at the product and service and workplace design phase, then we can begin to move digital impact measurement of digital accessibility away from compliance and over to innovation and business differentiation.

Frances West, Founder of FrancesWestCo and main author of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network’s publication “Leave no one offline: A primer on engaging your company on digital accessibility” presented the key insights and recommendations covered by this publication.

Steve Framil, Founder & Associate Director Enterprise Digital Governance at Merck/MSD, presented the company’s journey on digital accessibility so far, success stories, current plans and the challenges that remain.

Yves Veulliet, Global Diverse Abilities Inclusion Leader at IBM, moderated the session.

Live captioning and International Sign interpretation were provided.

This Zero Project conference session explored the unacknowledged risks to the more than 1.3 billion persons with disabilities triggered by the fast-growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered recruitment tools. Why do leaders of the global ethical AI debate disregard the potential harm to more than 1.3 billion people living today with disabilities and to the hundreds of millions who will become disabled in time? Will the HR cost savings generated by AI technology outweigh the potential damage to the life chances of so many? The discussants were Yves Veulliet (IBM), Susan Scott-Parker (business disability international), and Stefan Trömel (ILO Global Business and Disability Network).

Resources mentioned in this webinar:

• Designing AI applications to treat people with disabilities fairly
• Recruitment AI has a disability problem: questions employers should be asking to ensure fairness in recruitment