A guest blog by Georgia Hart, a 22 year old from the North of England. ‘When someone asks a disabled person how they are, they want to hear of positive developments, they want to hear how they are overcoming adversity and what they are doing to ‘fight’ their condition. This sounds like a minor misconception, but it is one that has taken a toll on my mental health.’
Well, you could join in and ask your employer if they’d consider a change in their building’s appearance for a day, or you could use the IDPD to think of ways that you and those around you could be more inclusive, both professionally and personally.
Jennie Williams, founder and CEO of Enhance the UK, a charity which aims to challenge perceptions of disability through its campaigning work and its disability awareness training has been named in the prestigious Shaw Trust Power 100 List. Now in its fifth year the Power 100 List celebrates the achievements of individuals who strive to break down barriers around disability to create a more inclusive world.
It’s very easy to promise that the government will get 1 million disabled people into work over the next 10 years. This is just really a re-working of their previous claim about bridging the disability employment gap.
We feel that there are a number of underlying issues with this, mostly are to do with attitudes in the workplace. Many companies claim to be inclusive, but what does that really mean? Being inclusive for one person with a specific impairment does not mean that you’ll be inclusive for someone else. There is not one easy fix, but the key here is to assess what needs to change in your organisation first, before thinking about encouraging more disabled people into your company. There are many ways you can look at inclusion, and we believe that the attitudes of staff is one of the key elements.
We have written a number of ‘How to’ guides on our website which give you some helpful hints and tips on how to be inclusive. In the first instance you should read this:
How to actively recruit disabled people which gives you an insight on how to make your employment process more inclusive. Along with that article this one on creating an accessible advert will also give you some helpful tips.
More of our FREE workplace guides can be found here:
https://enhancetheuk.org/enhance/free-resources/
So whilst we applaud the government for taking steps to acknowledge that more needs to be done to encourage disabled people into work, the first steps should be to make sure organisations are being inclusive. It’s not difficult to change the attitudes of your staff, but this is often overlooked for other more tangible aspects. So why not get in touch with us to find out how we can help your organisation become more inclusive, we offer a range of training that will give your staff the confidence to communicate and interact with disabled people.
https://enhancetheuk.org/enhance/training/disability-awareness-training/
Working within any industry can have advantages and disadvantages for any individual, but especially if you have a disability. As mentioned in my previous blog about the impact of Unconscious Bias in recruitment and selection, it might be harder to get shortlisted for an interview if you’ve spoken openly about your disability in your cover letter. But what happens once you’ve got the job? When you get through the front door of your new career? Is everything ready for you?
A study in 2016 found that 1 in 5 claimed employers failed to make adequate provisions to accommodate their, or their colleagues’, disabilities. This statistic is shocking in a time when 20% of the UK have either a genetic or accidental disability.
According to the Equality Act 2010, an employer must consider making “reasonable adjustments” for a disabled employee or job applicant if:
So does this mean 1 in 5 employers aren’t showing signs of equality in their workplace, or does it mean that they haven’t shown adequate change within their business for their employees?
So once those changes have been made, you’d expect that you would join in with your colleagues on the progression ladder of your new career? According to a study commissioned by the PMI Health Group in 2016, this may not be the case. The study showed that 37% of UK workers believe disability is still a barrier to career progression.
So while you may be completing the same work as your colleagues, you may not get the promotion you deserve.
However, this may not be pinned down to a lack of equality within your office. There may be other factors at hand – born out of lack of knowledge from the employer who only has your best interest at heart.
Purple, an organisation that provides bespoke advice to employers and disabled employees, found that 45% of UK businesses are nervous about hiring a disabled person, citing further concerns about the interview process, not knowing whether to help with tasks such as opening doors or pulling out chairs and falling foul of discrimination law.
There are many solutions to this issue, but one that ranks higher above all is the need for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion training within organisations.
The common reason for inequality against yourself, or a member of your team with a disability, can stem from a lack of knowledge from both sides. You understand what assistance you need, but are unable to communicate it in an efficient way. Maybe you feel as if you are being awkward, or “don’t want to be too much of a hassle.”
But it can also come from the employer. They may be unable to communicate with you in a way that doesn’t come across as insensitive. They may not understand that you are used to this conversation, and feel comfortable talking about it openly.
Enhance The UK provide Disability Awareness Training in Organisations, and my organisation Righttrack Consultancy creates bespoke Equality and Diversity Training. Both these programmes are designed to help alleviate the awkwardness in these types of conversations, as well as providing practical knowledge, skills and awareness to champion fair, non-discriminatory practice.
INTERVIEWING A DEAF PERSON FOR A JOB? HERE ARE SOME HELPFUL TIPS
• Don’t spend half the allocated time showing your fingerspelling skills that you learnt from a deaf girl at school when you were seven…. Yes this really does happen and the fake smile we have to put on hurts!
• Please avoid talking too slowly and over enunciating your words … it doesn’t help us understand you and you look just like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit!
• Please look at us when you speak to us. If you’re using a BSL interpreter don’t look at them… Errr hello! We’re over here!! Please look at us when you speak to us, you are interviewing us after all!
• Don’t tell us how amazing we are that we have managed to overcome so many challenges. Ok we know we’re fab, you know we’re fab, so give us the Job! Seriously though it sounds like you pity us and no one wants that.
For more information about our disability awareness training please visit enhancetheuk.org, follow us on twitter @enhancetheuk and find us on all social media channels – just search for Enhance the UK!
1. The correct venue is vital…. Inviting a wheelchair user to a business meeting? Think about where might suit them. It’ll need to be step-free, and if your office is on the 4th floor without a lift, the meeting will be a flop before it’s begun!
2. Parking and Public transport … are also very important. Regardless of where you meet, make sure that there’s accessible parking and/or an accessible tube station or bus stop nearby. If all else fails, offer the person an accessible taxi.
3. Accessible Bathrooms …. Everyone gets nervous before a meeting or interview, and there’s NOTHING worse than being unable to relieve yourself because you can’t even swing a cat in the tiny toilet cubicle.
4. Allow time … We live in a very fast world, where deals are made and meetings are over within minutes. Try and leave a bit more time in your diary for a disabled person. It’s nothing to do with sympathy; it will just allow them time to get a coffee, freshen up and settle without feeling it’s a race!
5. Just ask!… Anything you’re unsure of, just ask! Chances are, the wheelchair user will be able to tell you everything you need to know, so you can prepare for the perfect meeting. Good luck!
For more information about our disability awareness training please visit enhancetheuk.org, follow us on twitter @enhancetheuk and find us on all social media channels – just search for Enhance the UK!
By Gary Mazin
There has been a lot of press coverage recently about how the Government is falling behind its own targets to have more than 60% of disabled people in work by the end of the decade.
The number of people with disabilities in work is low. Less than half of working age people with disabilities in the UK are in employment, compared to 76% of non-disabled adults. This gap equates to two million disabled people, currently excluded from employment. Why does this gap exist, and how can it be closed?
This is no surprise to me unfortunately, as from my own personal experience I have found that many people and organisations have no intention or wish to employ disabled people. Obviously they will never openly admit this, but from someone who has had their ear to many senior managers in organisations large and small the truth is often more brutal.
Why am I not surprised you might ask? Well I spent more than 10 years working in the recruitment industry, supplying people into the media and creative sector from all ages and levels of experience.
And I have a disability.
So with the combination of the two, I’ve seen how when you look at the recruitment process, disabled people are still being excluded from the system in many ways.
My disability is degenerative and I spent most of my 20s and early 30s hiding my disability from as many people as possible. I did tell my managers and close colleagues, and kept it hidden as much as possible. My reasons were quite simple. As soon as I told someone that I was partially sighted with hearing loss, I could see the immediate reaction and it was rarely positive.
Most of the time people just looked like a rabbit in the headlights and didn’t know what to say apart from “I’m sorry”. You can see their inner monologue shouting at them to ‘act naturally’ or ‘don’t say anything stupid’. By this point I’ve realised that our work relationship has changed, and unfortunately I was never confident or experienced enough to know how to handle these situations myself at the time. There is no training manual given to people with a disability on how to deal with embarrassing or awkward conversations.
I was one of the fortunate people that have a disability and have been mostly in employment for the past 20 years of my life. But the reality is that less than 50% of people who have a disability in the UK are employed. So what can we do? The government seem to think they have a solution, but at the moment it’s not working quickly or effectively enough, as the recent statistics show.
In my opinion a lot of the failings start with poor communication and a lack of understanding. Sure there are more and more organisations that are fulfilling the two tick kite marking system (where they guarantee that an applicant with a disability will get an interview, as long as they meet the standard criteria). This system works for larger organisations usually within the public sector, but there are many many private companies who do not employ this strategy or have any reason to.
When I was working in recruitment I spent a lot of my time helping candidates improve their chances of getting the job they wanted. This was through guidance with their CV, giving them interview tips and techniques as well as general information and help. Having a disability myself I noticed that I was always more astute and aware if someone had a disability or impairment. I found that in most cases people with a disability didn’t know how to broach the subject when applying for a job.
Do they put something on their CV? This is generally seen as the human shop window and people find it very hard to write about themselves, let alone know how they would broach the subject of a disability.
Then there’s the question of whether they tell the company before they have an interview so that the organisation can make reasonable adjustments if needed. The whole area is a minefield and often makes the person with a disability feel more isolated and highlighting their difference even more. I’m sure there were a lot of candidates who had some impairment but was keeping it secret, like I did for so long.
Unfortunately many organisations do not do themselves credit when it comes to the point of encouraging people with a disability to apply for a job. It’s normal for an employer not to have met someone in a wheelchair or a guide dog owner within their work day to day life. They see plenty of information if they’ve watched the Paralympics or seen a cute guide dog programme on the TV. Although one in five people do have a disability, the reality is that you just don’t see enough disabled people in the workplace.
One particular example springs to mind where I was helping a media organisation hire a typesetter to help design their newsletters. I had a very strong candidate apply who met all the criteria of the job and had all the experience required, it helped that she had a warm and friendly personality. She had a visual impairment and needed a screen magnifier.
After speaking to the client they made the reasonable adjustments and she had the interview and took the test on the magnified screen. I was hopeful that she was a strong candidate as in my mind she did everything required. The feedback I received about her really shook me to the core:
“Lovely girl, but I really can’t be doing with all the hassle of employing someone like that. They’re just too much trouble.”
This came from a manager of an organisation with over 1.000 employees in one office alone. How could I respond to that? I was completely flabbergasted and somewhat aghast, especially as they were my client and I had built up an excellent relationship with them. I just didn’t know how to reply. I received an official email half an hour later which explained that the reason they didn’t want to take her application any further was because they didn’t feel she was “a good team fit” and that she didn’t have quite enough experience of working on one piece of software (she did).
When it came to passing my feedback onto the candidate, I decided to try and be honest without intentionally upsetting her. Once I explained about how they just didn’t think she’d be a fit within the team she sighed and said “It’s because of my eyesight isn’t it?” I was crestfallen for her, having had my own knockbacks and rejections due to having a disability I totally understood her resignation of it being about her disability and not her ability to do the job.
The fact remains that the company officially didn’t hire her because of fair reasons, but I know the truth which was quite simply discrimination. During my tenure as a recruitment consultant it became clear to me that discrimination in many forms was still very apparent, and often not subtly hidden. Particularly with regards to disability. I don’t want to generalise but Scope conducted a survey where they discovered that 67% of people actively avoid approaching someone with a disability as they’re afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing. It’s not difficult to transfer that to the workplace and discover that many people quite simply are scared of disability, or the unknown.
Since I’ve started as a Disability Awareness Trainer it’s made me even more aware how far we have to go with regards to breaking down these barriers of communication. Until disabled people are fully welcomed socially and with open and honest communication there will still be a real problem bridging this disability employment gap. I’d like to hope that organisations will start to look at their internal teams and think about whether they’re doing enough to be inclusive. A good start is making sure that all Managers and HR staff know the best way to communicate with someone with a disability. Making the organisations self-aware and looking at how they can improve accessibility, whether it be socially, or physically. Once these barriers start to come down, then we can look at how companies can encourage more disabled people to apply. Until we start being more honest and open about our inexperience and lack of communication skills, this gap will never disappear.
Enhance the UK run disability awareness training workshops that can help your organisation become more accessible and equip your staff with knowledge and skills that will help them communicate better with deaf and disabled people. For more information visit www.enhancetheuk.org
Do you work in HR? Are you interviewing a deaf person for a job? Read our tips
• Don’t spend half the allocated time showing your fingerspelling skills that you learnt from a deaf girl at school when you were seven…. Yes this really does happen and the fake smile we have to put on hurts!
• Please avoid talking too slowly and over enunciating your words … it doesn’t help us understand you and you look just like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit!
• Please look at us when you speak to us. If you’re using a BSL interpreter don’t look at them… Errr hello! We’re over here!! Please look at us when you speak to us, you are interviewing us after all!
• Don’t tell us how amazing we are that we have managed to overcome so many challenges. Ok we know we’re fab, you know we’re fab, so give us the Job! Seriously though it sounds like you pity us and no one wants that.
For more information about our disability awareness training please visit enhancetheuk.org, follow us on twitter @enhancetheuk and find us on all social media channels – just search for Enhance the UK!
