Inclusion and participation of people with disabilities

At Fraunhofer, the action field of inclusion and participation of people with disabilities aims to create a working culture in which people with and without disabilities can work together naturally and on equal terms. This includes identifying fields of action and developing concrete measures to facilitate and promote career entry and collaboration.

To achieve this, Fraunhofer focuses on four areas: accessibility, inclusive recruitment and staff development, collaborative work and working in networks and addressing unconscious bias.

Accessibility is a key element in promoting inclusion, which is why the Fraunhofer Accessibility Policy was adopted by the executive board in 2023. It sets out the basic stance and provides guidance for implementing accessibility in various areas of the organization in order to ensure accessibility and participation. 

The first step to achieving accessibility is for the Fraunhofer headquarters to create the necessary conditions for centralized and decentralized implementation.  To this end, headquarters is running an accessibility analysis project aimed at surveying and assessing the current state of Fraunhofer’s various organization-wide systems and services in terms of their physical, technical and digital, and linguistic and communicative accessibility in a structured way. The results of the assessment will be used to define objectives and formulate recommendations for further action.

The inclusion support program aims to give institutes knowledge and practical tips for designing inclusive processes and structures and to devise strategies to promote inclusion. Workshops on topics such as recruiting, accessibility and disability awareness combine with individual advice to support the institutes along their journeys toward building an inclusive organization.

People with disabilities are still underrepresented in the scientific research landscape, especially in science jobs. We want to change that!

To that end, Fraunhofer, the Max Planck Society and other alliance organizations joined forces in 2023 to launch the Inclusion Initiative. The initiative aims to identify development potential and strategic measures across organizations to promote sustainable inclusion and improve inclusive work environments in science for people with disabilities.

Click here to learn more about the initiative: Alliance Organizations Inclusion Initiative

Inclusion begins with recognizing when and where people experience inclusion, as well as exclusion. For this reason, we asked employees about their own experiences with inclusion and exclusion. In 2023, we conducted three personal interviews as part of our inclusion initiative “Vielfalt leben. Wissenschaft stärken” (Experience Diversity. Strengthen Science.).

 Statements on inclusion