Fidelity Investments Recognizes Disability Pride Month

More than one in four adults in the United States has a disability[i]. As one of the largest minority groups, it’s critical that the financial services industry ensure its product and services provide relevant and accessible experiences for this growing population.

Continuous Learning

To that end, Fidelity recently took part in Disability:IN’s Global Conference where we connected with other companies about how to support the disability community and shared some of our best practices. Fidelity sent close to 30 people this year including representation from its Customer Inclusion Team, products managers, our Accessibility Customer Support Desk, Supplier Diversity, ERG Leadership, our digital accessibility team, and our Diversity & Inclusion Office. Nearly 3,000 attendees from 800 companies attended the three-day event. Here’s what some of our attendees took away:

Hale Pulsifer

Customer Inclusion Team Disability Lead

“In the Disability Inclusion space, today’s newcomer is tomorrow’s innovator. This is why there is such great collaboration among companies committed to disability inclusion. We all come with different cultures, resources, and opportunity sets. The best part of my job is helping Fidelity clients on their own disability inclusion journeys. Sometimes the topic is wide open like understanding the depth and weight of the disability inclusion opportunity, and sometimes it’s more specific like digital accessibility, neurodiversity hiring programs, or supplier diversity. Helping Fidelity clients is part of what we do.”

Mandy Scipione

Head of Global Diversity & Inclusion

“Thanks to our relationship with Disability:IN, Fidelity receives best practices to help support ALL of our associates so everyone can come to work and do their jobs without having additional hurdles in their way. This conference was an opportunity to recognize the work we have completed, get ideas on the work that we can continue to do, and importantly to connect with customers and clients and learn how we can support each other on our journeys.”

Mary Beth Berberich

Global Co-Lead for Enable, Fidelity’s Employee Resource Group for the Disability Community

“The Disability:IN Conference provided a wealth of opportunities to connect with other ERG leaders and hear about their best practices. There was also wonderful content discussing how to support our neurodiverse community, and how it all starts with education and awareness. Overall, it was the most energizing conference I have ever attended, and I have several ideas on how we can continue to support our Enable community and Fidelity associates.”

Fidelity distributed stuffed frogs that represent different elements of disability, including this one with low vision. 

A group of Fidelity associates at the Disability:IN Conference

Support For Those We Serve

We know that disabled people are looking for financial education, support, and ways to build their wealth.  Between February 2020 and August 2023, the number of employed Americans with disabilities soared by 33%[ii] which means that not only are disabled Americans building their financial strength, but workplaces will need to be at the ready to provide benefits and inclusive experiences for their disabled employees. Fidelity’s Customer Inclusion Team works to ensure that the products and services offered across our businesses are culturally relevant and accessible to all, and our own Diversity & Inclusion office works to provide those same relevant and accessible experiences to the 74,000 associates who work at Fidelity. We’re focused on providing support to:

Employers: We help the 27,000 employers we serve offer relevant, accessible workplace benefits that enable their employees to build wealth. We do this through thought leadership like this piece, published earlier this month: Disability Opportunity: an emerging consumer segment and employee base. We also offer these clients toolkits with disability inclusion materials, informational videos on inclusive customer experiences, affinity group programming around topics like caregiving, mental health, neurodiversity, and other workplace disability inclusion trends, as well as ad-hoc consulting on accessible procurement practices, hiring programs, digital accessibility programs, and more. Our new Plan Sponsor webpage is here.

Plan participants: For people who have Fidelity benefits through their employers, we offer resources to help those participants make the most of their benefits and leverage varied opportunities to build wealth. This includes accessible websites and applications, financial planning that incorporates disability through vehicles like the Attainable® Savings Plan, an Accessibility Help Desk, and for those who wish to meet in-person, translation for American Sign Language. Our new NetBenefits page for plan participants is here.

Individual investors: For individual investors, we offer accessible and inclusive online platforms, accessible statements, a telecommunications relay service, and American Sign Language translation in our Investor Centers.

Our associates: Our focus on creating a culture of inclusion includes both seen and unseen diversity, including experiential differences and neurodiversity. Fidelity’s internal Accessibility Marketplace allows employees to self-select assistive technologies and other services without formal accommodation or manager approval. We partner with our technologists and UX designers to ensure our digital environments are accessible. This month, we were honored to be recognized with a top score on Disability:IN’s annual Disability Equality Index* for the seventh consecutive year.