It's easy to make a case for hiring a person with a disability from a moral or social standpoint, but it also just makes really good business sense.

People with disabilities represent a huge portion of the workforce that is largely ignored by employers. That's a huge miss, and businesses that aren't able to recognize the potential that this portion of the workforce offers are going to get left behind.

In the United States in 2013, more than 70% of working-age adults were employed. But only 30% of working-age adults with disabilities participated in the workforce ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014 ). There are similar figures for the Canadian marketplace. That's a huge gap, and what it translates to is that a huge portion of the workforce isn't able to develop their work skills and grow to their full potential--and that's just simply bad for business.

This section of the guide will look at three areas where hiring a person with disabilities just makes good business sense: Employee ROI, Marketing, and Innovation.