Join the Movement:
The Campaign for Disability Employment
When you're a small business owner, a crucial part of fostering an inclusive workplace is building awareness—expressing your leadership's commitment to diversity and educating your colleagues on workplace practices that benefit everyone, including workers with disabilities. It means shaping positive attitudes and promoting the skills and talents that individuals with disabilities bring to America's economy. Contrary to what you might think, you don't need a human resources department to help you build that kind of culture and awareness. There are free resources that can help, including the Campaign for Disability Employment.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, the CDE is the force behind the award-winning What Can YOU Do? Campaign, and three great public service announcements (PSAs)—"I Can," "Because" and "Who I Am"—that have aired hundreds of thousands of times on television stations nationwide.
This month, the CDE launched a new and improved website—WhatCanYouDoCampaign.org—that houses a range of tools and products designed to educate employers of all sizes and enhance their internal and external communications efforts around disability inclusion. New features include streamlined navigation, an informative blog and a toolkit of disability inclusion resources for employers.
Interested in spreading the CDE's message within your business? Here are some ways to get involved and express your commitment both internally and externally:
- Play and Distribute the CDE's PSAs. Embed the CDE's flagship media products on your website, share them with your networks and screen them at employee gatherings.
- Download and Use CDE Resources. Check out the free posters, web banners, print ads, ready-to-publish articles and discussion guides that help facilitate conversations in the workplace about disability employment.
- Become a CDE Supporter. Post a "proud supporter" badge on your corporate website and proactively engage in CDE outreach. "Supporters" of the campaign may be recognized on the CDE website.
- Get Social. Follow the CDE on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other platforms.
- Subscribe to the CDE. Stay up to date on CDE news, products and events by subscribing to its e-alerts.
- Engage in CDE Dialogues. From Twitter chats and blogs to photo-sharing campaigns, the CDE engages in many interactive conversation-starters. Join in!
Of course, the most important way to advance disability inclusion is to "just do it"—by taking steps to support the hiring, retention and promotion of employees with disabilities. Thanks to the CDE, the tools to do so are just a click away.
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