Accessibility and DEI

Accessibility is an essential part of any and every company's approach toward diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

A person's disability should not be a trait that is used to justify withholding content or services from them.

The disability community is larger than many other minorities

The World Health Organization statistics on disabilities states: "An estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. This represents 16% of the world's population, or 1 in 6 of us."

According to Pew Research data about disabilities in the United States, "Overall, there are about 42.5 million Americans with disabilities, making up 13% of the civilian noninstitutionalized population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2021." And according to the CDC, 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. has a disability.

None of these are negligible numbers. And they should be viewed in context of other causes that Maritz has deemed important.

Maritz has a history of caring about social causes

Maritz values social causes:

On top of this, Maritz often talks about how the company values diversity, equity, and inclusion. Indeed, caring about social causes and the various communities in which Maritz operates seems to be an essential part of Maritz's corporate identity.

One of Maritz's hallmark causes is human trafficking. According to the U.S. Department of State, there are an estimated 27.6 million victims worldwide at any given time. That's 2.12% of the 1.3 billion people worldwide who have a disability. To be sure, both groups of people are important, and we should not be saying one is more important than the other. And under the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the numbers don't matter. And shouldn't matter. The DE&I initiative on allowing people to share their pronouns was not driven by how many people it does or does not affect.

Further reading

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