Washington, D.C., July 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Disability Equality Index (DEI), the nation’s most comprehensive annual benchmarking tool, facilitated by leading non-profits Disability:IN and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) have revealed this year’s 205 top-scoring companies. The DEI is a prominent benchmarking tool for the Fortune 1000 and America’s top 200 revenue grossing law firms (Am Law 200) to gauge their level of disability workplace inclusion against competitors. In its sixth official year, the DEI continues to see an increase in year-over-year participation, with the number of top-scoring companies more than quadrupling to 205 in 2020 as compared to 43 in 2015.

“The Disability Equality Index top scoring companies represent those businesses that have invested in accessibility and inclusion across their enterprise. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ADA, it is wonderful to see the progress made by these companies, and we hope to see continued progress and support for the DEI over the next 30 years,” said Maria Town, President and CEO of AAPD.

Jill Houghton, President & CEO, Disability:IN said “The best way to attract, retain and grow talent with disabilities is to create an accessible, inclusive workplace. This year’s top scoring Disability Equality Index companies are demonstrating their commitment to many of the numerous leading disability inclusion practices featured in the DEI, recognizing that there’s still room for improvement. We are proud to have developed strong partnerships with corporate allies who are committed to advancing disability inclusion and equality across their businesses in the United States and around the world.”

Making the world inclusive for all isn’t only the right thing to do, it’s also good for business. The Accenture report “Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage,” produced in partnership with Disability:IN and the AAPD, found that companies that offered inclusive working environments for employees with disabilities achieved an average of: 28% higher revenue, 30% higher economic profit margins, and 2x net income of industry peers.

The potential for wide-scale impact grows, as in 2020, 247 companies participated in the DEI, accounting for a total U.S. workforce of 11 million people. This year, we saw significant growth in employee self-identifications rates. In 2020, 5.5% of current employees self-identify as having a disability compared to 3.7% in 2019 .

In addition, the efforts of disability inclusion in business is now a much larger conversation. With multi-national corporations operating outside of the United States, the DEI methodology was updated to reflect the changing landscape. The Non-U.S. Operations category continues to be not weighted but is an opportunity to collect non-discrimination policy language, ERG activity, and overall best practices from U.S. based companies with additional operations outside of the United States. Some findings include:

• 75% of those multinational companies reported operations outside of the U.S. have disability inclusive standards of non-discrimination in the workplace that apply to all employees compared to 69% in 2019.
• 42% of multinational companies also report their non-U.S. operations have established disability-focused Employee Resource Group (ERG) or Affinity Group chapters, compared to 41% in 2019.
• Top industries with operations outside of the U.S. include automotive (Canada, Mexico, and Latin America), advertising and marketing (Asia-Pacific), and energy and utilities (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

Disability inclusion in business is a growing topic for investors in driving sustainable performance. A global investor coalition, representing more than $2.8 trillion in combined assets, have called on companies they invest in to become more disability inclusive, through a “Joint Investor Statement on Disability Inclusion.”¨The coalition is led by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, and includes large institutional investors such as California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and non-U.S. investors such as Australian-based Ethical Partners Fund Management.

The 2020 DEI report highlights industry trends and the progress of advancing disability inclusion in business. A few include:

• Top participating industries include: technology, financial services, and healthcare.
• 85% of businesses with a company-wide written statement of commitment on diversity and inclusion specifically call out “disability.”
• 70% of businesses have an accessibility expert to resolve accessibility/compatibility issues necessary for people with disabilities to use technology systems.

For the full 2020 DEI Report, list of top-scoring companies, and to register for the 2021 DEI, please visit DisabilityEqualityIndex.org.

100 Score Companies

3M      

Accenture       

Adobe Inc.      

Allstate Insurance Company 

Ameren Corporation

American Airlines

American Electric Power

American Water         

Aramark

AT&T

BAE Systems, Inc.

Bank of America        

Best Buy

Biogen

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan  

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island       

Blue Shield of California        

BMO Harris Bank       

BNY Mellon

Boehringer Ingelheim 

Booz Allen Hamilton  

Boston Scientific Corporation

Bristol Myers Squibb 

Capital One

Caterpillar Inc.

Centene Corporation 

CenturyLink    

Chevron         

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Choice Hotels International   

Cigna  

Cisco Systems Inc.    

Comcast NBCUniversal         

Compass Group USA

Corning Incorporated 

CVS Health    

Dell Technologies      

Deloitte           

Delta Air Lines

Dominion Energy       

Dow 

DuPont

DXC Technology       

Edison International

Eli Lilly and Company

Equitable        

Ernst & Young LLP    

Facebook, Inc.           

Fidelity Investments

Florida Blue    

Freddie Mac   

Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin         

General Motors          

GlaxoSmithKline plc

Google

Grant Thornton LLP   

Health Care Service Corporation      

Hewlett Packard Enterprise   

Highmark Health

HP Inc.           

Humana         

Huntington Bank        

IFF      

Intel Corporation

Johnson & Johnson   

JPMorgan Chase & Co.         

Kaiser Permanente    

KPMG LLP     

L'Oreal USA

Land O'Lakes, Inc.     

Lincoln Financial Group         

LinkedIn         

Lockheed Martin        

Lowe's Companies, Inc.

M&T Bank      

ManpowerGroup        

Marriott International, Inc.      

MassMutual   

Mastercard

Mathematica Policy Research           

Mayo Clinic    

McKesson      

Medtronic plc 

Merck

MetLife, Inc.   

Microsoft        

Motorola Solutions     

Northern Trust

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Northwestern Mutual 

Old National Bank      

Oracle 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company    

Pfizer Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.  

PPL Corporation        

Principal Financial Group      

Prudential Financial   

PwC

Qualcomm      

Randstad US 

Raytheon Company   

Reed Smith    

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

S&P Global    

Salesforce.com, inc.  

SAP America, Inc.     

Siemens USA

Sodexo 

Sony   

Southern Company    

Southwest Airlines     

Spaulding Rehabilitation Network     

State Street

Synchrony      

T-Mobile         

TD Bank         

The Boeing Company

The Hartford

The Travelers Companies, Inc.         

The Walt Disney Company    

Thermo Fisher Scientific        

Tracfone Wireless, Inc.          

Tufts Health Plan, Inc.

U.S. Bank       

U.S. Cellular   

Ultimate Software      

United Airlines Holdings, Inc.

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)

UnitedHealth Group   

Unum 

UPS

Verizon           

Visa, Inc.

Voya Financial           

Walgreens      

Walmart Inc.   

ZVRS and Purple Communications, a Division of ZP Better Together, LLC    

90 Score Companies

Ally Financial Inc.       

Amazon          

American Multi-Cinema         

Ameriprise Financial, Inc.      

Anthem, Inc.

Astellas Pharma, Inc. 

Barclays         

Baxter International Inc.         

Bayer  

Baylor Scott & White Health

Becton Dickinson (BD)

Cargill, Inc.     

Charles Schwab & Co.

Cintas Corporation     

Citrix 

Colgate-Palmolive     

CSX Transportation, Inc.       

DTE Energy   

Dun & Bradstreet       

Epstein Becker Green

Fannie Mae    

Fifth Third Bank         

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority        

Fiserv 

Fox Corporation

Franklin Templeton    

General Dynamics Mission Systems 

Grainger         

Indeed

Iron Mountain

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.         

Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.       

Meijer 

Nielsen           

Pearson

Quest Diagnostics     

Sanofi US       

Steptoe & Johnson, LLP        

The Coca-Cola Company      

The Kroger Company

The MITRE Corporation         

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center         

Viasat, Inc.     

Whirlpool Corporation

Xcel Energy

80 Score Companies

Argonne National Laboratory 

Brown Brothers Harriman      

BT Americas  

Consumers Energy    

Cox Communications, Inc.

Cummins Inc. 

CUNA Mutual Group  

Empower Retirement             

Ford Motor Company 

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)

Leidos Holdings         

Norfolk Southern Corporation

Novant Health

PepsiCo         

RRD

Rush University Medical Center        

Target            

TEKsystems   

Uber Technologies     

United Technologies Corporation

Unisys Corporation                                        

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About the Disability Equality Index (DEI)

The Disability Equality Index (DEI) is a joint initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and Disability:IN. Developed by the DEI Advisory Committee, a diverse group of business leaders, policy experts, and disability advocates, the DEI is a national, transparent, annual benchmarking tool that offers businesses an opportunity to receive an objective score, on a scale of zero (0) to 100, on their disability inclusion policies and practices.

The DEI is an aspirational, educational, recognition tool that is intended to help companies identify opportunities for continued improvement and help build a company’s reputation as an employer of choice.

The Disability Equality Index (DEI) brings together AAPD, the nation’s largest disability rights organization, and Disability:IN, the leading national business-to-business network, to collectively advance the inclusion of people with disabilities. The organizations are complimentary and bring unique strengths that make the project relevant and credible to corporate America and the disability community.

About the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

AAPD is a convener, connecter, and catalyst for change, increasing the political and economic power of people with disabilities. As one of the leading national cross-disability civil rights organizations, AAPD advocates for the full recognition of rights for the over 60 million Americans with disabilities. Learn more at: www.aapd.com.

About Disability:IN

Disability:IN is the leading nonprofit resource for business disability inclusion worldwide. Partnering with more than 220 corporations, Disability:IN expands opportunities for people with disabilities across enterprises. The organization and 27 affiliates raise a collective voice of positive change for people with disabilities in business. Through its programs and services, Disability:IN empowers businesses to achieve disability inclusion and equality, with the goal of advancing inclusion to the point when the organization is no longer necessary. Learn more at: www.disabilityin.org.