Disability Representation on Boards Is Up, Yet Inclusion Lags

An increase in people with disabilities in boardrooms and corporate leadership isn’t always translating to more inclusive workplaces for rank-and-file employees.

Of the 415 companies that participated in the 2022 nonprofit Disability:IN’s Disability Equality Index Report, 30% have at least one senior executive who is disabled and 6% have someone who identifies as disabled serving on their corporate boards. The companies surveyed include large employers such as Starbucks Corp., Twitter Inc., and Amazon.com Inc.

The 2021 DEI report—which surveyed a smaller pool of companies—showed that only 10% said they had any senior executives who identified as disabled.

“If we ...