About Disability:IN Hawaii

Disability:IN Hawaii is the state’s first business-to-business organization created by business leaders to share best practices in hiring, retaining and marketing to people with disabilities.

Good business practices include finding talent for our organizations. When we focus on a person’s abilities, we find excellent qualified individuals in Hawaii’s untapped pool of individuals with disabilities.

The University of Massachusetts, in a 2005 study, found that 87% of consumers with disabilities would prefer to give their business to companies that hire individuals with disabilities. People with disabilities have a combined income of more than $1 trillion, with $220 billion in discretionary income. By comparison, the teen market, heavily catered to by businesses, controls less than $150 billion in spending power according to a 1998 estimate by Teenage Research Unlimited.

Disability:IN Hawaii was created by business leaders from companies across the State of Hawaii and is part of the national Disability:IN. Currently, there are 34 DI afflliates in 29 States. Disability:IN Hawaii is a business-driven organization founded on two beliefs:

1. Businesses large and small have the abilities and capabilities of successfully employing individuals with disabilities.
2. Business leaders respond to their peers.

The Vision of Disability:IN Hawaii is to recognize and promote best practices in hiring, retaining, and marketing to people with disabilities.