Posts
When the poet Gil Scott Heron wrote those prophetic words, "the revolution will not be televised" about the turbelent sixities and early seventies I don't think he had any idea how that would apply to the disability and aging communities. As I have begun to discuss we are at a critical moment, not just in America but globally. With the dawn of the digital revolution new opportunities are avaliable to the disability and aging community ranging from areas of employment, education, healthcare to the access to goods and services. However, even with the great strides that have been made it is my opinion that we as a culture have not moved quick enough. In part that is due to both cultural and attidunal barriers. It is my belief that private industry can take the lead in helping these communities cross the chasm and adopt an attutide of openess and understanding to the disability and aging communities which will in turn be beneficial for all.
Why must corporations adopt this attitude and why is it is essential for the health of not only American business but a global economy? Inorder to truly understand the ramification of this we must look at several basic facts. In the United States alone there are 56 million people with disabilities or 20% of the population. According to AARP there are will be over 80+ million babyboomers by 2010. Of those 80+ million close to 70% will be dealing with some form of disability in their lifetime. Now that being said, there is a large majority of people with disabilities who are either under employed or unemployed. As for the baby boomer community who are on the cusp of retirement many do not want to retire or want to find alternative ways to continue to work. These workers have valuable expertise and expierence which can be very hard to replace. All of this being said, what should corporations be paying attention to?
1. Within both the disability and aging communities there is untapped resource of talent
2. Recrutiment, Hiring and Retention Strategies will be critical for the health and growth of corporations
Along with this demographic shift we are beginning to see the over all value of the disability and aging communities. The disability community is $1 trillion dollar market and the babyboomers is a $2 trillion dollar market- much of which is untapped. We are slowly beginning to see that Madison Avenue is starting to catch on. Commercials by companies such as L'Oreal with Diane Keaton and Americaprise Financial with Dennis Hopper are focusing on the aging markets. The disability markets are a bit slower to catch on but that has usually begin the case. What I find interesting though is that as I mentioned at the outset, the revolution will not be televised - the real revolution is taking place in the digital universe. Corporations must grasp the fact that to truly change corporate culture they must begin to understand that to gain access to this community they must first create an infastructure that allows for the hiring and retention of these communities. Technology becomes a key component and adapting both the work enviornment internally and externally will be critical. Using new avenues such as the internet, assistive technology, universal design, mobile technology and other digital platforms will open new options for corporations both from a human capital perspective and build greater brand loyalty which will only provide a competitive advantage in the overall scheme of things.
Why must corporations adopt this attitude and why is it is essential for the health of not only American business but a global economy? Inorder to truly understand the ramification of this we must look at several basic facts. In the United States alone there are 56 million people with disabilities or 20% of the population. According to AARP there are will be over 80+ million babyboomers by 2010. Of those 80+ million close to 70% will be dealing with some form of disability in their lifetime. Now that being said, there is a large majority of people with disabilities who are either under employed or unemployed. As for the baby boomer community who are on the cusp of retirement many do not want to retire or want to find alternative ways to continue to work. These workers have valuable expertise and expierence which can be very hard to replace. All of this being said, what should corporations be paying attention to?
1. Within both the disability and aging communities there is untapped resource of talent
2. Recrutiment, Hiring and Retention Strategies will be critical for the health and growth of corporations
Along with this demographic shift we are beginning to see the over all value of the disability and aging communities. The disability community is $1 trillion dollar market and the babyboomers is a $2 trillion dollar market- much of which is untapped. We are slowly beginning to see that Madison Avenue is starting to catch on. Commercials by companies such as L'Oreal with Diane Keaton and Americaprise Financial with Dennis Hopper are focusing on the aging markets. The disability markets are a bit slower to catch on but that has usually begin the case. What I find interesting though is that as I mentioned at the outset, the revolution will not be televised - the real revolution is taking place in the digital universe. Corporations must grasp the fact that to truly change corporate culture they must begin to understand that to gain access to this community they must first create an infastructure that allows for the hiring and retention of these communities. Technology becomes a key component and adapting both the work enviornment internally and externally will be critical. Using new avenues such as the internet, assistive technology, universal design, mobile technology and other digital platforms will open new options for corporations both from a human capital perspective and build greater brand loyalty which will only provide a competitive advantage in the overall scheme of things.
No comments:
Post a Comment