• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 18, 2018

Diversity, as I’m sure you know, is high atop the Adland agenda. On that agenda, women and minorities usually take center stage.

But a new movement -- #valuable -- is pushing hard for businesses to recognize the value and worth of the 1 billion disabled people around the world.

Omnicom and Virgin Media are stepping up to become strategic partners of the #valuable movement, which was founded in 2017 by Caroline Casey, who is legally blind. More on her incredible story can be found here.

Omnicom will take the lead in spreading the message of disability inclusion in business with the intent of sparking a global conversation “about a world where everyone is valued equally.”

Janet Riccio, executive vice president, Omnicom Group and dean of Omnicom University, said the holding company is “committed to elevating this issue to a priority place on its agenda and remaining an ally of this important movement.”

Virgin Media will focus its efforts in the UK, where it will join the disability equality charity, Scope, which has a goal to support 1 million disabled people to get and stay in work by 2020. Virgin Media will encourage UK business leaders to join its campaign to create workplaces where disabled people can thrive.

Casey’s movement has also joined forces with the World Economic Forum, which has confirmed that disability inclusion will form part of its upcoming annual meeting agenda in Davos for the first time next month. On that agenda is a press event with Casey and Unilever CEO Paul Polman to discuss the “accessibility revolution.”

Said Casey: “Business has proven its social muscle time and time again, making huge progress advancing gender, race and LGBTQ+ equality over the last 50 years. #valuable believes that now is the time for business to take disability seriously, and this strategic on-boarding is just the first step.”