The USBLN and AAPD are excited to announce the unveil of the first Annual Disability Equality Index (DEI)! Created by the DEI Advisory Committee, a diverse group of business leaders, policy experts, and disability advocates, the DEI is an online benchmarking tool that offers businesses the opportunity to receive an objective score, on a scale of zero to 100, on their disability inclusion policies and practices. The first Annual DEI is scheduled to launch in October 2014.

The DEI is an aspirational, educational, recognition tool that is intended to help companies identify opportunities for continued improvement on their disability inclusion policies and practices, as well as help build a company’s reputation as an employer of choice. It was successfully piloted with 48 Fortune 1000 scope companies in early 2014.

The USBLN and AAPD will invite Fortune magazine’s 1,000 largest publicly-traded businesses (the Fortune 1000) to participate in the first Annual DEI. Other companies or organizations that are welcome to participate in the DEI include the following, providing they have 3,000 or more full-time employees in the U.S.:

• Private sector employers that are not owned by a larger U.S. incorporated entity
• Businesses that serve as the U.S. subsidiary of a foreign-based multinational business
• Foreign-owned private companies on behalf of their U.S. operations

To view the first Annual DEI survey questions and for more general information about the DEI, including information on how to participate, please visit: http://www.usbln.org/programs-dei.html.