Transcript: Ronald Johnson Makes the Business Case for Implementing Accessible Technology
PEAT asked Ronald Johnson of the Wireless Infrastructure Association: If you were riding in an elevator with a Fortune 500 CEO, what’s your pitch for why implementing accessible technology matters?
>> The challenge is how do you move an individuals with disabilities through the, not the supply chain, but through the employment chain, going from say entry-level, to mid management and then senior level employment. And I’ve encouraged CEOs to look at it this way: if you’re willing to invest in an individual with disabilities, the return on that investment could be phenomenal for your company because of the reason I’ve just described. But I’ve had an opportunity to have a sidebar conversation with some of the senior CEOs in America and I will tell you, generally speaking, they’re very committed to engaging individuals with disabilities. And for our industry in particular, the wireless infrastructure industry that represents over 250 companies worldwide, we hire millions and millions of employees and I would say for those CEOs of the companies that we deal with every day, they are totally committed to engaging persons with disabilities in all aspects of wireless infrastructure and ICT generally. And to me that’s a gratifying thing to know as a person who’s in charge of diversity and inclusion for a large association like WIA.
