National Disability Employment Awareness Month is here! Organizations across the country, including The Bazaar and Bargains in a Box, will be celebrating the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities. Our aim is to acknowledge the importance of such diversity and inclusiveness as a core driver of purpose across a better working world.

Held annually National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is led by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, but its true spirit lies in the many observances held at the grassroots level across the nation.

This year, we decided to focus on the Why — and instead of telling you, we asked members of The Bazaar Team to explain why disability in the workplace is important, what it means to them, and the impact it has made to their workday and lives in these short videos.

Watch the entire playlist or click-through with the 'next' and 'back' buttons.

As we continue to learn from the people around us, we make strides toward being a better business, as well as a cornerstone of the communities we serve for years to come.

This year marks the 76th anniversary of NDEAM. 2021 also marks the 61st anniversary of The Bazaar — and while our Inclusion Program didn’t officially launch until 2014, we have celebrated diversity and disability in the workplace for decades.

At a time when less than 18 percent of the U.S. disabled population has a job, awareness and action is more important than ever.

When we began adding new and diverse talent to our team, we realized the need to reinforce our commitment foundationally to best support our growing company. As it stands today, 30% of Bazaar’s workforce includes people with disabilities, as well as second chance and formerly incarcerated individuals, those who have experienced homelessness, and veterans.

While we’re incredibly proud of where this program has come, celebrating NDEAM prompted us to ask ourselves, how can we grow? How can we make sure that this community is appreciated and celebrated every day, not just during this designated month?

We challenged ourselves to think big-picture. What if one day we could grow our disability community to 50%? We also sought to cast a wider net within the larger underserved community, considering who else could benefit from this program and a fair chance for employment.

We are pledging to expand our inclusion program to account for half of the company headcount by 2025, we are asking other Chicago leaders to embrace inclusion, and we are here to help.

In the meantime, The Bazaar invites you to celebrate NDEAM by answering: Why is Disability in the Workplace Important to you?

Tag  The Bazaar on LinkedIn or simply share posts, start your own conversations to spread awareness.