People

As a company, we believe everybody should be included. This means we are committed to treating people with respect and integrity no matter their gender identity, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, faith or socio-economic background.

But we believe that inclusion is a continuous act and therefore as an organisation we have implemented certain policies which we hope foster an inclusive environment at all times.

These include:

We also strongly believe in not blaming people for getting things wrong and always aim to use mistakes as opportunities to learn.

Our Companies

We are working with the Valuable 500 companies to bring about social change. However, we are mindful of the unavoidable limitations and pressures placed on us. Therefore, as part of our Manifesto, we have outlined exactly how we aim to work with our Valuable 500 companies:

We convene, gathering together to solve problems.

We are catalysts for system change.

We connect brilliant businesses with brilliant ideas.

We campaign to make change happen for people with disabilities.

We celebrate the successes of our companies, and our team.

But we’re not consultants, we don’t pretend to have all the answers.

We don’t control our companies or the work they do outside of inclusion.

We don’t take credit for our companies’ successes.

We know that from time to time, our companies may make mistakes or act in a way that does not adhere to our standards and practices. Our approach to this is always to engage with the company in question as swiftly as possible to try and work towards a resolution. If you have something you would like to share with us regarding any of our companies, you can do so via [email protected]

Connection

At the Valuable 500, one of our core missions is connecting business leaders with diverse, authentic disability leaders in order to bridge these two cultures in a way that helps both to learn and grow. We recently launched the Valuable Directory, the world’s first global directory of disability inclusion specialists, in order to connect our companies with disability experts around the world to assist them to progress commitments into action. This first iteration showcases 77 businesses that have been vetted by 21 revered thought leaders across the global disability space. This is the first directory of its kind as it has been created by disabled people for disabled people. You can find out more about the Valuable Directory by taking a look at our Directory press release.

Due to the small size of our team and the ambition of the work we are trying to achieve, we also have to be careful about additional requests we bring to our companies on behalf of third parties. Therefore, while we will always do our best to make change happen and connect likeminded parties, we cannot promise that we will endorse, promote or communicate any third party initiative with our companies.

Language

Our definition of disability

We currently use the definition set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which aims to set a global standard.

The Convention protects all persons with disabilities, who are defined in Article 1 as including “… those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

This broad definition adopts what is known as the social model of disability. It recognises that disability is an evolving concept, and that we are often prevented from exercising all of our human rights and fundamental freedoms by barriers of attitude and environment which have been placed in our way. In other words, the Convention seeks to alter social attitudes by ensuring that governments, individuals and organisations recognise that we have the same human rights and fundamental freedoms as all other persons.

A word about words

There is ongoing debate within the disabled community (and elsewhere!) about which words and phrases we should use to describe ourselves. It’s important to remember that the disabled community is extremely diverse, and therefore it’s natural that there are many different opinions about the language that best describes disability itself.  Not everyone will agree on everything but there is general agreement on some basic guidelines.

Disability

At the Valuable 500, we believe that disability is not a dirty word, and therefore we advocate using it instead of phrases like ‘differently abled’ or ‘diffability’. Understandably, in our line of work, we talk about disability a lot, so we are all very comfortable using the word and often have to in order to get our message across.

However, it’s important to remember that some people are not, as they don’t feel it accurately describes their own lived experience. We try not to automatically refer to ‘disabled people’ in all communications because many people who need disability benefits and services don’t identify with this term. For example, many autistic people would rather be described as ‘autistic’ than ‘disabled’. Similarly, many people whose first language is BSL consider themselves part of ‘the deaf community’ – they may describe themselves as ‘Deaf’, with a capital D, to describe their identity. For this reason, we try wherever possible to let people describe themselves in their own terms or consult with experts on the correct language for these different experiences.

It’s also important to note that there are significant cultural differences when it comes to the appropriate language to use. At the Valuable 500, we try to be sensitive of these differences especially when it comes to translation and consult people with disabilities in different regions through research.

Person-first vs identity-first language

Person-first language has traditionally been the most widely acceptable way to address someone, though this has been changing as of late.  Person-first language means “person with a disability”. This implies that they are a person first and just happen to be disabled.  It puts emphasis on the person and implies that their disability is only one part of who they are and should not be the focus.

Identity-first language is the equivalent of saying “disabled person”, which means you identify their disability first. Some feel that having the disability front and center destigmatizes the disability as a bad thing but some people within the disability community prefer it as it highlights a key part of their identity. They feel that the disability cannot be separated from the person and while it’s certainly not all they are, it affects everything they do, say, think, and feel.

So which is right? There is a lot of debate about whether using person-first or identity-first language is correct. Many people with disabilities prefer person-first language, others prefer identity-first language and some don’t mind either way. But some people care deeply about how they are referred to and understandably feel that they have fought to have the right language used about them. A lot of Autistic people, for example, prefer identity-first language and are fighting for more widespread use of the term.

At the end of the day, person-first language vs. identity-first language comes down to preference.  Some people prefer to use person-first, because they feel that their disability is only part of who they are and should not get in the way of being seen as a person.  Still, others prefer identity-first, usually because they feel their disability cannot (or should not) be separated from who they are. Not everyone with a certain disability has the same preference, though there can be a general consensus among different groups. When you’re speaking to someone and you aren’t sure which they prefer, the best thing to do is ask! People will probably be grateful you care enough to put in the effort.

This is the approach we opt for, as well as tailoring our use of person-first and identity-first language to whichever is more appropriate in the context.

Collective terms and labels

The word ‘disabled’ is a description not a group of people. Therefore, we use ‘disabled people’ or ‘people with disabilities’ as the collective term, not ‘the disabled’ or ‘those with disabilities’.

We avoid medical labels as they say little about people as individuals and tend to reinforce stereotypes of people with disabilities as ‘patients’ ‘unhealthy’ or ‘unwell’. This is particularly relevant to the ongoing discussion of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which disabled people have been regularly described as ‘vulnerable’. We prefer to use the term’ at risk’ as we think this is a more accurate description of how people with disabilities are affected by the pandemic, without the additional negative connotations.

Positive not negative

We avoid phrases like ‘suffers from’ which suggest discomfort, constant pain and a sense of hopelessness. People with disabilities live everyday lives and often thrive doing so. We believe the language we use should reflect this.

Equally, many wheelchair users do not view themselves as ‘confined to’ a wheelchair or ‘wheelchair-bound’ – instead it’s a source of freedom. Therefore, we use terms like ‘wheelchair user’.

We also avoid using the term ‘able-bodied’ as this has negative implications for people with disabilities. Instead, we refer to people who do not have a disability as ‘non-disabled’.

Ableist language

Unfortunately, there are huge numbers of words and phrases which are part of our shared vocabulary that are inherently ableist. Like many things, they simply weren’t designed with disabled people in mind.

Most disabled people are comfortable with the words used to describe daily living. People who use wheelchairs sometimes say they’ll ‘go for a walk’ and people with visual impairments may be very pleased – or not – ‘to see you’.

However, we try to avoid using words and phrases that make reference to inaccessible activities as there is usually another (and better!) way to say it.

Therefore, rather than ‘take a stand’ we would instead say ‘take action’.

Language we don’t use

There are however, some words that as an organisation we don’t use. These are:

These words and phrases are highly offensive to many people with disabilities. However, there has been a movement in the disability community in recent years to ‘reclaim’ offensive words. For example, the word ‘cripple’ word has been used increasingly by some members of the disability community recently, most notably as part of the #CripTheVote movement.

But this is a personal choice made by people with disabilities, for themselves. These words should certainly never be used about a disabled person unless they have explicitly given their express permission.

Intersectionality

We strongly believe that people are made up of multiple diverse identities. Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, disability, etc.

Intersectionality provides a lens through which we can examine the processes, practices, policies, and structures that increase the risk of people experiencing disadvantage or discrimination because of their intersecting identities.

We try to look at everything through the holistic lens of intersectionality and listen to a diverse range of voices and opinions to make sure we are considering a wide range of different experiences in our work.

Accessibility

The Valuable 500 is committed to ensuring that all its products and services are as accessible as possible to everyone. We strive to ensure accessibility in the following areas:

Any difficulties in access that are reported to the Valuable 500 will be dealt with quickly and the relevant need taken into consideration. Please contact us if you have any queries about our work and accessibility.

Website

We have endeavoured to make our website, and all our digital products as accessible and usable as possible. We’ve done this by using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) produced by the World Wide Web Consortium, aiming for Level AA compliance. We also regularly ask people with a wider range of disabilities and assistive technology users to give us their feedback on our website and digital content.

This website is managed by the Valuable 500. We are constantly auditing and updating our website to ensure that our design and content is accessible by everyone. For more information about what we have done and continue to do, please take a look at our Accessibility Statement.

Social Media

When using social media, we make full use of the accessibility features provided by the relevant platform (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter) and take all possible measures to ensure our content can be enjoyed by everyone. These include:

We also work hard to create social media content that is accessible to all. This means:

Video Content

When producing video content, we aim to include as many people as possible. Therefore, we consider how the content will be enjoyed by people with a wide variety of different needs. This includes:

Documents

We always try to provide written content in the most accessible format possible. Our commitments in this area include:

Events

At the Valuable 500 we host our own events as well as taking part in external events as a guest. It is not always possible to control the accessibility of these events as much as we would like, but we have a policy that we will not participate in any events that do not provide closed captioning at the very minimum.

At our own events, we aim to provide:

Podcasts

On all of our podcast content, whether hosted by us or featuring one of our team members, we commit to:

Video conferencing

We use Microsoft Teams as our main video-conferencing provider due to its built-in accessibility features, such as automatic captioning.

Inclusive Design

At the Valuable 500, we believe in inclusive design. Sometimes a solution that makes content accessible to one audience, can actually exclude another. For example, audio description is vital to people with visual impairments but can be distracting for autistic people, or people who have ADHD.

Therefore, sometimes our accessibility strategy involves creating different content to serve different audiences (we provide separate audio-described videos on our Youtube channel). Sometimes it means creating a version that is as inclusive as possible to as many people as possible. For example, our brand animation is not audio-described but instead designed to be both visually and aurally stimulating. You can find out more about inclusive design on inclusivedesignprinciples.org.

“Nothing about us, without us”

Ultimately, we believe that everything we do should be guided and informed by people with disabilities. Because when it comes to disability inclusion, we believe in the mantra ‘nothing about us, without us’. In fact, we go even further than this, instead adopting the phrase ‘Nothing without us.’ Because we believe disability is everyone’s business.

The majority of our team members have experience of disability, either by having lived experience themselves or by having a close loved one who lives with a disability. This enables us to draw from a broad range of experiences within our own team. We have also appointed an Advisory Board, which is made up of individuals from a wide variety of different backgrounds who support and guide us.

However, we also invest heavily in research with people with disabilities and use the insights we gather to guide our strategy across all areas of the business. This helps us to ensure that we are always serving the community to the best of our abilities.

And we always welcome further insight, so if you have something to say, please do get in touch at [email protected]

Further information

If you would like further information and discussion of any of the topics featured in our Standards and Practices, we recommend that you take a look at these amazing resources.

Stella Young

Stella Young is a comedian and journalist who happens to go about her day in a wheelchair — a fact that doesn’t, she’d like to make clear, automatically turn her into a noble inspiration to all humanity.

Watch Stella’s Ted Talk.

Sinéad Burke

Sinéad Burke is acutely aware of details that are practically invisible to many of us. At 105 centimeters (or 3′ 5″) tall, the designed world — from the height of a lock to the range of available shoe sizes — often inhibits her ability to do things for herself. In this Ted Talk she explains what it’s like to navigate the world as a little person and asks: “Who are we not designing for?”.

Watch Sinead’s Ted Talk.

Christine Sun Kim

Meet artist Christine Sun Kim, who has been exploring the world of sound through her art.

Watch the episode of HUMAN featuring Christine.