Across the Caribbean, persons with disabilities have long faced systemic barriers that lock them out of formal, decent work and full economic participation. To address this long-standing gap, the United Nations has officially launched the HireAbility Campaign, a regional movement centered on the transformative mission: “Break Barriers. Embrace Inclusion. Champion Rights.”
The cross-stakeholder initiative unites six UN Country Teams across English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean nations, bringing together national governments, private sector employers, disabled persons’ organizations, youth advocates, global development partners, and UN agencies around a shared goal of building disability-inclusive workforces and workplaces. The campaign’s backbone is the Disability Inclusive Employer’s Pledge, through which participating companies commit to adopting equitable hiring practices and cultivating accessible, inclusive workplace cultures, and it has already earned early buy-in from leading regional businesses.
Speaking at the official launch ceremony, Simon Springett, United Nations Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, framed the campaign as a landmark milestone for disability inclusion across the region. He traced its origins to a grassroots idea put forward by Zinzee Noel, a youth disability advocate and Grenada’s representative to the UN Youth Advisory Group (YAG), which has grown into a region-wide movement for equal employment opportunity. “Although barriers differ across countries, the aspiration is universal: persons with disabilities must be able to participate fully in society, access decent work, contribute their talents and skills, and be recognized for those contributions,” Springett emphasized. He thanked early supporting businesses, including Massy Stores Saint Lucia, Grenada Broadcasting Network, Grenada’s Unique Productions Inc., and Barbados’ Bajanpro Inc., for their leadership, and urged all stakeholders to treat the campaign as a long-term commitment, not a one-off event, on the path to fully accessible workplaces and inclusive communities.
Noel, who co-hosted the launch alongside Loik Charles, a fellow youth disability advocate and YAG representative for Dominica, delivered a powerful welcome address centered on the campaign’s core truth: persons with disabilities already bring the skills, qualifications, creativity, and drive needed to make meaningful contributions to regional workforces. Drawing from her own lived experience, where she faced persistent hiring discrimination despite being highly qualified and capable, she noted that the HireAbility Campaign creates space to reframe public conversation around disability and work. “The HireAbility Campaign gives us an opportunity to change the conversation. Its message is simple but powerful: Break barriers. Embrace inclusion. Champion rights,” she said, adding that inclusive hiring delivers widespread benefits: beyond improving individual lives, it strengthens organizational performance, community resilience, and regional economic growth.
Thomas Kring, Deputy Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Caribbean Office, echoed this framing in his keynote address, stressing that access to decent work for persons with disabilities is not a charitable act, but a fundamental human right tied to dignity, equality, and full economic participation. He argued that regional labor markets must be reformed to offer fair opportunities for disabled people to build their skills, secure quality work, and contribute fully to society, and called the Inclusive Employer Pledge a critical public commitment to equitable hiring, dignity, respect, and equal opportunity.
One of the launch’s most notable moments was the inaugural signing of the Disability Inclusive Employer Pledge by representatives of three regional entities: Carenage Bay Holding Ltd in Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Runman Belize Corporation; and The Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited. Signatories also shared concrete, actionable plans to deliver on their commitments, including The Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited’s announcement of a new dedicated internship program for persons with disabilities.
Closing out the launch ceremony, Charles called on employers and stakeholder partners across the Caribbean to follow the lead of the inaugural signatories, sign the pledge, remove structural workplace barriers, deepen cross-sector partnerships, and commit to the long-term systemic changes needed to advance disability inclusion across the region.
Immediately following the official launch, participants joined a disability inclusion sensitization webinar, where experts from the ILO and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) shared practical, actionable guidance on key topics including inclusive hiring practices, physical and digital workplace accessibility, reasonable workplace accommodation, prevention of violence and harassment against disabled workers, and building supportive, welcoming workplace cultures.
The HireAbility Campaign will run for four months, concluding on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December, giving additional employers across the region time to join the movement and sign the pledge. Its ultimate vision is to build a Caribbean where all talent is recognized regardless of ability, systemic barriers to employment are eliminated, and persons with disabilities can participate fully and equally in the world of work.