Inclusive Companies Outperform Their Peers.

• Position: DISABILITY - Brief article

There is a positive correlation between how inclusive a company is of persons with disabilities and its financial performance. This insight comes from an analysis by Disability:IN--along with partners Accenture and the American Association of People with Disabilities--of the leading and most-improved companies for disability inclusion from the Disability Equality Index (DEI) over the past four years.

"This research validates that those companies that have improved their inclusion of people with disabilities over time are four times more likely to have total shareholder returns that outperform their peers," explains Jill Houghton, president and CEO of Disability:IN, Alexandria, Va.

Adds Jenny Flurrie, chief accessibility officer of Microsoft: "Disability is a strength and hiring talent with disabilities simply makes any company better. The results of this study confirm that belief and we hope that the data helps more companies recognize that hiring people with disabilities can truly be a differentiator and impact their bottom...