The Role of Disability and Accessibility in Corporate Sustainability Reporting

Abstract

Although companies increasingly focus on the social dimension in corporate sustainability, there seems to be a lack of understanding how and to what extent disability & accessibility (D&A) frameworks and activities are integrated in corporate sustainability reports. In this article, we aim to close this gap by a) analyzing the disability & accessibility activities from the largest 50 companies in Europe based on their corporate sustainability reports, and b) advancing a simplified conceptual framework for disability & accessibility that be used in corporate reporting. In particular, we provide an overview about corporate disability & accessibility reporting and associated activities according to three identified areas: a) workforce, b) workplace, and c) products and services. Our findings are twofold: First, the majority of the companies address disability & accessibility in their corporate sustainability reports mainly under the diversity umbrella, but lack a detailed debate about the three identified areas. Second, we found that existing frameworks for D&A are hardly used because either there are not focused on corporate reporting or seem too difficult or complicated to complete. Thus, our framework not only represents a first opportunity to foster the implementation of a disability & accessibility framework within the social dimension of corporate sustainability reports, but also presents a holistic yet flexible management tool that takes into account the most critical elements while shaping implementation, directing evaluation and encouraging future planning of D&A initiatives. This the first study that assesses the extent of D&A activities in the social dimension in corporate sustainability reporting.