The Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce organizes Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

The employment rate of people with disabilities in Romania is much lower than that of people without disabilities, and well below the average of other European Union countries, according to recent studies.

According to the National Authority for People with Disabilities In Romania, if 74% of people between 20 and 64 years old without restrictions are employed, the percentage is only 51% for people with some limitations and decreases dramatically for people with severe limitations, only 12% of them are employed.

In this context The Romanian Diversity Chamber of Commerce, together with the Sustainability Embassy in Romania, are hosting a first-of-its-kind event in Romania – the Global Accessibility Awareness Day conference – dedicated to raising awareness on the accessibility for persons with disabilities. The event will take place on May 19th at the Marmorosch Hotel, in Bucharest.Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), an international initiative observed yearly over the last decade, focuses on promoting ideas on how to make the world more accessible to individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this first conference in Romania is to explore the potential of this fantastic and often ignored talent pool for businesses and to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about accessibility on the labor market and inclusion for the approximately one million people with any type of visible and invisible disabilities living in Romania.

“If the pandemic has taught us anything is that accommodating people’s needs in the workplace can go a long way towards a business thriving and attracting more talent. It follows that we should want to seek out that talent in all potential pools of skilled individuals and make the necessary changes to our environments to allow them to make their full contribution. This way, we can make a difference not only to our individual companies, but also to society as a whole”, Perry Zizzi, RDCC President, said.

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The first edition of GAAD Romania will bring together the public sector, high-level experts, disability advocates and international corporates to discuss current challenges, access and digital transformation, while bringing forward solutions and initiatives to remove barriers and create equal opportunities.

“Employers need to understand that the business model of the future is an inclusive one, where the principles of equality, respect for diversity and flexibility in creating forms of employment tailored to people with disabilities can add value to teams, increase productivity and contribute to the employer brand. In Romania, a large number of companies are not yet convinced that hiring people with disabilities is an opportunity and we need to bring to everyone’s attention the value of diversity, inclusion and the positive changes they can bring to their teams”, said Dragoș Tuță, founder of ASR.

Among the speakers at the event we will be honored to have Mrs Tanya Collingridge, Deputy Head of Mission at the UK Embassy in Romania, Dragos Tuță, founder of Sustainability Embassy in Romania, as well as representatives for Kaufland, .Lumen, the National Authority for Persons with Disabilities and NGOs like Orange Foundation, AMAis, ANSR and “Alături de Voi” Foundation. The conference is sponsored by Kaufland Romania and supported by The Netherlands-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and the Belgium-Romania Chamber of Commerce as Strategic Supporters. For free registration, please click HERE.