{"id":9601,"date":"2009-05-05T11:04:37","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T10:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/?p=9601"},"modified":"2009-05-05T11:04:37","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T10:04:37","slug":"diversity-on-the-corporate-website-disability-and-unvisibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/diversity-on-the-corporate-website-disability-and-unvisibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity on the Corporate Website: Disability and Unvisibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

I promised (in the third post of this series) to wrap up with a look at disabilities and unvisible differences. \u201cDisability\u201d is a freighted word in itself, but it\u2019s still the descriptive term used most often, so I\u2019ll stick with it. <\/span>But I\u2019ve invented the word \u201cunvisibility\u201d to refer to minority groups that can\u2019t be distinguished in a visual portrayal.<\/p>\n

The primary unvisible community is lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), but other groups would include the invisibly disabled, as well as those of a minority ethnic group that isn\u2019t visually obvious. <\/span>The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 defines disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,” which includes a wide variety of conditions that wouldn\u2019t show up in a photograph. <\/span>Similarly, many Native Americans and Americans of Hispanic descent are not visibly distinguishable from non-Hispanic whites.<\/p>\n

I looked for a company that does a good job of talking to and about these communities, and came up with Ernst & Young. Search \u201cdisability\u201d or \u201cLGBT\u201d on their website, and you\u2019ll find a variety of informational articles and other communications, including: a brochure about their AccessAbilities program<\/a> offers an excellent guide to understanding disabilities in the workplace, and another called Making It Real<\/a>, \u201cmoves beyond corporate policy\u201d to look at the \u201cday-to-day lives of LGBT employees.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Ernst & Young uses the term \u201cinclusiveness\u201d to refer to all its programs taken together, and \u201cdiversity\u201d to refer to ethnic groups. <\/span>In some ways that\u2019s an attractive approach, since \u201cinclusiveness\u201d seems more about integration than about difference. <\/span>But on the other hand . . . \u201cinclusiveness\u201d seems more passive. <\/span>It suggests that folks will be welcomed if they turn up, whereas \u201cdiversity\u201d implies actively inviting folks in order to create a more broadly representative workplace. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ideally, a company should choose the terminology that best reflects their approach and culture. <\/span>But whatever word is used\u2014there\u2019s still the matter of how to get the message across on the website. <\/span>Disabled and unvisible groups are more difficult (and sometimes impossible) to represent in images, so there is more dependence on text.<\/p>\n

Ernst & Young does a thorough job of covering this territory, but they take a pretty subtle approach! <\/span>It unfolds like this:<\/p>\n