What is Disability Hub Europe?

Disability Hub Europe (D-Hub) is a pioneering initiative launched in 2018, led by Fundación ONCE, with the mission to advance the intersection of disability inclusion and sustainability.

For its creation and consolidation D-Hub was co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) until 2023.

Since its launch, D-Hub has served as a reference platform for organizations seeking to strengthen the disability perspective into their sustainability strategies—particularly within the “S” of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and within their business approach in general.

Over the years, D-Hub has worked on a wide variety of key topics, producing reference material, and ensuring that people with disabilities are not left behind in the European and international sustainability agendas.

What makes D-Hub unique is its collaborative spirit, its multi-stakeholder perspective, and the commitment by partners, fostering thought leadership, innovation, best practice dissemination and shared learning across sectors and borders.

Our objectives

  1. Strategic analysis and monitoring 

    Develop observation, generate evidence, insights and reference work to strengthen the integration of disability within sustainability and business strategies.

  2. Capacity building 

    Enhance the knowledge and skills of companies and key stakeholders to maximize the potential of inclusive sustainability approaches.

  3. Exchange of good practices 

    Facilitate spaces for dialogue and mutual learning to share experiences and successful perspectives to disability inclusion in the business context.

  4. Dissemination and strategic alliances 

    Promote disability-inclusive sustainability by disseminating knowledge and building key partnerships to amplify impact and collaboration.

Our approach

About 1.3 billion people – roughly 15 – 16 % of the world’s population – and more than 100 million people in the EU, are persons with disabilities.

From a business and sustainability perspective, a disability focus involves considering the connections of disability-inclusion practices with impacts, risks and opportunities, as well recognizing persons with disabilities as stakeholders from a 360º approach.

This means that people with disabilities play an can plan different roles and interact at various levels with an organization or system, for example, as employees or potential employees -contributing to a diverse pool of talent-; as clients/consumers/users (opening possible new markets); as part of the value chain (providers); and as members of the community in which a company operates. This is “Business and Disability 360º”, a term coined by D-Hub.

D-Hub stands as a strategic enabler of inclusive and sustainable development, fully aligned with key international and EU frameworks such as: