One of the core values of Cordell Health is to support those with disabilities in work, moving the focus from disability to ability. It’s about recognising and celebrating what people can do and the adjustments needed to support them where they struggle. We think of this as ‘levelling the playing field’.
All of which makes supporting events that promote better awareness of people with disabilities an absolute must. UK Disability History Month is one of these. It’s an annual event to raise awareness about disabled people’s fight for equality and human rights.
And the workplace is where we, and other employers, can do our bit to make a positive difference. We’ll be looking at some of the numbers behind UK disabilities, the key workplace challenges and what employers can do to create a more disability aware workplace culture.
The benefits of a more diverse (and disabled) workforce
According to the Business Disability Forum:
- Hiring more disabled employees can help create more diverse workforces, which are more innovative and productive. This is often attributed to the way that disabled people adapt to living with their disability – which can bring unique experiences that make them more innovative thinkers.
- Being known as an inclusive employer can benefit your employer brand. Existing employees become advocates, and this attracts candidates who may feel more aligned to an organisation known for recognising the talents and abilities of people with disabilities.
- If you are not trying to recruit disabled people, then you are missing out on a significant talent pool.
What employment law says
Employing people with disabilities isn’t just good for inclusion and productivity, employers have legal obligations too under the Equality Act of 2010. This Act makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate against disabled job applicants and employees and places a legal duty on employers to make “reasonable adjustments” to ensure they are not substantially disadvantaged.
Closing the disability employment gap
According to UK Government data, in the second quarter of 2024, there were 5.6 million disabled people in employment in the UK, a 360,000 increase from the previous year. This is a positive move in the right direction, but big differences remain. The disability employment rate was 53.1%, compared to 81.6% for non-disabled people, and the disability employment gap was 28.5 percentage points. This employment gap between disabled and non-disabled shows that we still have some way to go in creating that level playing field.
And the stats back this up. 43.0% of disabled people are economically inactive (they are not in work and not looking for work). But could this situation change if they believed they had more of an opportunity, and that workplaces were more inclusive than they might have thought?
It starts (and often ends) with recruitment
Disabled people often face significant barriers in recruitment, including a lack of confidence stemming from negative experiences, difficulty finding disability-friendly employers, and unconscious bias in the hiring process. For those that want to find work, it can seem that they face one barrier after another.
Common challenges include limited opportunities to showcase skills, being judged on disability rather than qualifications, and the structure of the application and interview process itself, which can create unnecessary hurdles. So how can employers do more to help disabled candidates? The answer lies in asking what more can we be doing? This applies to making the application process easier and fairer, as well as making disabled candidates feel more welcome as they apply – and equally, after they join.
This means designing policies and practices that remove as many barriers as possible for disabled people who want to bring their skills and knowledge to your organisation and creating an inclusive workplace culture for new starters. Don’t make your recruitment experience a reason why disabled candidates fall out of the process, or even worse, not bother in the first place.
Creating a more disability aware workplace culture
While recruitment is an obvious area to make improvements, it is just a part of the overall ‘employee experience’ that runs through their whole time in the organisation. The biggest influence on this is the culture. And having promised a more inclusive and supportive environment in the recruitment process, the actual experience of working after joining must live up to these expectations.
So, what else goes into creating a more disability aware workplace culture? We think employers need to focus on accessibility, better awareness through training and support, and a clear and supportive policy towards for reasonable adjustments.
Let’s break this down a little:
Accessibility – physical and digital: This needs to work across physical spaces as well as increasingly digital work channels. So, as well as ramps, wider doorways and accessible areas and toilets, don’t forget assistive technologies like screen readers and voice recognition software.
Meeting practices: Include a diverse range of people in discussions, mention people by name during presentations, and provide live captioning or sign language interpretation when needed.
Training: While awareness of the needs of colleagues with disabilities should increase due to all activities, training on disability awareness and inclusivity can help, especially for line managers.
Reasonable adjustments: Create an effective and visible policy for reasonable adjustments – with regular reviews. Ensure employees have confidence that their requests will be considered fairly and implemented quickly. Offer flexible work arrangements, modify tasks, and customise work to meet individual needs.
Managerial and leadership support: Managers should not leave employees to manage adjustments on their own. Instead, they should work with employees to understand barriers and find solutions together. And the more your leaders get on board and are seen to champion the skills of disabled people, the quicker the overall awareness message will spread.
Seek advice from the Disability Confident scheme: The Disability Confident scheme supports employers to employ and keep disabled people in work. The scheme gives you free guidance and advice to help you do this. Find out more here.
In conclusion
Levelling the playing field for your disabled employees means creating workplaces where everyone can contribute and thrive. Employers who embrace accessibility, inclusive recruitment, and meaningful workplace adjustments will not only meet their legal duties but also gain access to a valuable pool of talent. By building a culture that focuses on ability, organisations can move from awareness to genuine inclusion – and create opportunities that benefit everyone.
Get our guide
We have produced a new Cordell Health guide to disability awareness. This is available to subscribers to our wellbeing service. If you are not signed up to this service and would like to find out more, please contact us on wellbeing@cordellhealth.co.uk
