Supporting disabled people in the workplace
When thinking about supporting disabled people in the workplace, it’s important to have an insight into the facts. Did you know there are around 14 million disabled people in the UK? That’s around one and five. That is also discounting everybody who has not disclosed or does not see themselves as having a disability.
According to a briefing paper from the House of Commons, in 2020, 52.3% of working age adults in employment were disabled. That is in comparison to 81.1% of non-disabled people.
Some of us may be thinking: that doesn’t seem too bad, everyone has a choice, perhaps disabled people choose not to work.
That’s all very well and good until we look at some of the reasons why disabled people are not entering the workplace and therefore, why these differentiations and figures are so staggering.
To answer this question, we could go right back to the beginning. We could look at the limited expectations that the professionals (As in, doctors, teachers, etc) have for disabled people and therefore as a result, how that influences the perceptions held by family members.
We could also then look at the education system and how it is set out to exclude anybody with extra support requirements. Meaning as a result that disabled people are less likely to have the same levels of qualifications than non-disabled peers when entering the workplace.
We could look at the social barriers erected that prevent disabled people from easily moving around the country from town to town, city to city to go where the work is and where, the optimum career path is.
For the purposes of this blog we are going to focus specifically on the barriers that prevent disabled people feeling included in the workplace and what, as a result, organisations and businesses can do to support their disabled employees to feel confident and valued.
The recruitment process
The recruitment process, as we know for many areas of diversity, is lined with barriers and biases that prevent people with diverse backgrounds having equity of opportunity. These barriers are erected for disabled people due to lack of awareness and clarity as to what to do and where to start. Barriers such as: inaccessible application forms and inflexible testing matrix can make it impossible for some to simply get past this first stage. This blog on the recruitment process gives a more detailed insight into how some of these barriers can be mitigated.
Arguably, one of the biggest barriers for disabled people when thinking about engaging with a company or an organisation in that initial application stage is a lack of confidence about how they will be perceived.
For many disabled people entering and being successful in the workplace, the question about whether to disclose their disability is a prominent one. A disabled person with a physical disability, like me, does not have an option to decide whether to disclose a disability or not; my wheelchair gives it away quite swiftly. There is no hiding my impairment. However, as 80% of disabled people have hidden disabilities, this is often a big dilemma.
The reasons disabled people choose not to disclose a disability are clear: mainly, they come down to fear of repercussions. Due to prior experiences, second and third hand information from friends, families and co-workers, disclosing a disability seems dangerous. Exposure to discrimination, lack of promotional opportunity and assumptions made. I have heard from many people with hidden disabilities that often, they are disbelieved; the employer simply question is whether they are telling the truth. Comments such as: “You don’t look disabled” are commonly heard by people that disclosed to an employer.
Often, somebody with a disability doesn’t get that far: a hiring manager after hearing about a disability will find a reason not to take that application any further.
For physically disabled people, we don’t have an option to not disclose our disability. At times when we are successfully managed to get through to the interview stage, the physical barriers around the interview prevent us from demonstrating what we are capable of. Barriers such as in accessible rooms set up meaning that if the interview requires a presentation, we are not in the correct position to deliver it. In adequate support for example for a deaf candidate who needs a sign language interpreter.
On boarding process and business as usual
When a disabled employee has successfully been offered a position within an organisation or company, there are many other barriers that they are presented with before they can successfully carry out a role. Starting with the on boarding process. The on boarding process is an opportunity as we know for the new employee as well as the line manager to get to know each other and to find out whether in the long term, it is going to be a good match. The only way a new employee can demonstrate their ability and really have an opportunity to find out what the company has to offer is if they have the right support. Without the right support, an employee will not be able to engage, interact and demonstrate potential. For disabled employees, the support may manifest itself in access requirements and reasonable adjustments. The line manager must be in a position to develop a relationship where a conversation around these things can be held. Both line manager and disabled employee must feel confident enough to have an open dialogue and proactively work together to find solutions that work for that disabled employee. Taking into account what we have discussed above about fear of repercussions, an environment must be created where the disabled employee feels confident to talk about support that they may need.
The environment must allow for these conversations to happen and be returned to often. This is for many reasons. Firstly, when a new employee enters a new role, it is hard for them to know what is going to be expected. Nobody is a mind reader. Therefore, asking an individual that is brand-new to a role the support they need to carry out that role, will be impossible for them to answer. Secondly, roles and disabilities change and fluctuate; an individual with a chronic disability may need different support at different times. Finally: confidence building. No matter who we are, the more we get to know an environment, the more confident we feel. A conversation with a line manager when an employee is settled in a role and knows the landscape is naturally going to be more open than a conversation when somebody has just begun a new role.
Line manager confidence
Once a disabled employee is in a new role, it will be down to the line manager to ensure that individual has the right support at the right time to successfully carry out their role and feel part of that workplace culture. Often, especially in larger organisations, strategic decisions about supporting disabled people are made at senior levels but they are not passed down to line managers. Therefore, line managers are left on their own to try and work out how to implement the strategies. This can often be where situations of discrimination occur; not always because the line manager doesn’t want to do the right thing but simply because they don’t know what their responsibilities are. Supporting line managers and people with direct reports can ensure confidence and competence to not only deliver the support the disabled employee needs but know what to do and where to go to ask for help.
So, what are we saying?
In order to successfully support a disabled employee all the way from the role application stage through to the successful application of a role, the organisation or company must take responsibility to understand ways to mitigate the barriers that prevent disabled people from achieving the above. But how?
- Instilling confidence into disabled candidates that when they disclose a disability, it will be a positive experience. This can be done by demonstrating values towards disabled people on the careers pages of a business’s website.
- Providing social proof in the way of case studies and testimonials that evidence disabled employees within that business that have had a successful and positive experience of being supported in the right way.
- Upskilling and supporting recruitment managers and line managers to ask the right questions at the right time and to provide an environment where a disabled employee can discuss any support they need.
- Creating an inclusive environment where any employee at any time can talk about the support they may need. Not necessarily knowing the answers but opening the doors of conversations so that the answers can be co-produced and worked on together.
- Lastly, by developing an inclusive culture within your organisation, you are naturally developing allies that will support and champion the needs of your disabled employees.
Let’s also not forget that many individuals acquire disabilities during working age. If your workplace has already proved through the environment that you have created that it is safe to disclose an ask for extra support as and when needed, those employees that acquire a disability will not feel the need to hide or leave your organisation and as a result, you will secure long-term, productive and happy employees that will champion your organisation.
About the author:
Esi is a trainer, disability inclusion expert, public speaker podcaster and writer.
Celebrating Disability provides professional, tangible support for businesses developing their workplace culture to be inclusive of disabled people. Esi also runs the Disability Inclusion Community, an online membership community for organisations who are passionate about developing a culture of inclusion for disabled employees and customers.
As a disabled person, Esi uses her personal, lived experience as well as her professional background in the public and private sector to ensure advice given is tangible and realistic.
As part of her work to advocate and champion equality for disabled people, Esi is a public speaker. Speaking at conferences and away days on the subject of disability inclusion and equality in every cornerstone of life.
Find out more information about Esi and her related businesses at celebratingdisability.co.uk and disabilityinclusioncommunity.com.