The Organising Committee for the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games took part in the XII International Fair for Technologies in Rehabilitation, Inclusion and Accessibility, or simply known as ReaTech, which took place this weekend at the Centro de Exposições Imigrantes (Imigrantes Exhibitions Centre in Portuguese), in São Paulo. Eloise Brillo, Rio 2016™ Head of Diversity and Inclusion, lectured on “Rio 2016™ Recruitment and Selection of People with Disabilities” and she already celebrates the results obtained.

“The main focus was attracting new candidates and showing that we are active. More than 40 people, who are able to apply for a position in Rio 2016™, attended the lecture”, Eloise said. This was her second consecutive participation at the fair. “We realised that our database increased by a little more than 10% during the weekend. There were 714 people in it and now we have 799.”

From the start, the Organising Committee works in order to have a diverse team, including people with all types of disabilities, for all job positions, from management level. In May, the Organising Committee’s headcount will be around 480 people including 21 professionals with some kind of disability: visual or hearing impairment; physical, intellectual or multiple disabilities.

“It’s important to show that we are looking for people with all types of disabilities. But it’s also important to say that we have no paternalistic stance. Our team is formed exclusively of competent people”, she explained.

In Brazil today, businesses with one hundred or more employees must hire professionals with disabilities. A company employing between 201 and 500 people, just like the case of the Organising Committee, for instance, should have 3% of people with disabilities among its workers. However, in Rio 2016™ the rate is almost 5%.

“More than a percentage or amount, what today makes me proud is to have such a diversity of available positions and people with disabilities in our team. People who give it their all”, Eloise said.