Disability in the diverse workplace
Government initiatives mean that disabled people are increasingly better protected from workplace discrimination.
Nearly one in five people of working age (7 million) in Great Britain are disabled. Source: The Office for National Statistics
Employers are increasingly eager to accommodate the UK’s 11 million disabled people into the workforce, although barriers to employment do still exist. The Disibility Discrimination Act (DDA) identifies a disabled person as ‘anyone with a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. This includes physical impairment either caused by an accident or experienced from birth (eg blindness, deafness, heart disease, paralysis or severe disfigurement), and mental impairment, such as learning disabilities such as dyslexia and all recognised mental illnesses.
Although employers seem to have embraced disabled people’s employment rights, evidence suggests that they still need to do more. The recent Disability Standard Benchmark Survey carried out by the Employers’ Forum on Disability found that while 90 per cent of the 80 organisations questioned had an allocated budget to support race equality and 68 per cent had a budget on gender equality, just 48 per cent had a similar budget dedicated to disability equality. Scope’s Ready, Willing and Disabled survey, also found that 45 per cent of employers said they wouldn’t be able to employ a disabled person because they couldn‘t afford it, while 44 per cent didn’t know if cost would prevent them.
By not recruiting disabled applicants, employers are substantially decreasing the skills and expertise available to them. Many of the country’s leading employers recognise the business advantages of recruiting a more diverse workforce. Besides their ability to do the job, disabled people have considerable life experience, creative problem-solving skills and the potential to help businesses connect with different sectors of the population.
Disability and graduate recruitment
Almost one third of disabled people who are economically inactive say they would like to work, compared with less than one quarter of non-disabled economically inactive people. Source: The Office for National Statistics
While other diversity issues tend to be dealt with fairly and favourably by employers, it’s harder to say that the world of graduate recruitment does everything it should to protect disabled job candidates and trainees from discrimination. But job opportunities have increased, thanks to a slow but steady stream of government and employer initiatives, such as the Access to Work (AtW) scheme, an initiative run through Jobcentre Plus that provides financial assistance towards the extra costs of employing someone with a disability.
The disability ‘two ticks’ symbol is a government initiative developed so that employers can show their commitment to good practice in employing disabled people. It can be used by employers to encourage disabled people to apply for specific jobs and, most importantly, ensures that employers who use the symbol make five commitments to action:
- To interview all applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and to consider them on their abilities.
- To consult employees, at least once a year, about what can be done to make sure they can develop and use their abilities at work.
- To make every effort when existing employees become disabled to make sure they stay in employment.
- To take action to ensure that key employees develop the awareness of disability needed to make these commitments.
- To annually review these commitments and what has been achieved, plan ways to improve on them and let all employees know about progress and future plans.
Disability and employment law
One in four people will be affected by mental ill-health during the course of their life. Source: Mind
Undeniably the most important piece of legislation for disabled employees is the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). Originally passed in 1995, a new Disability Discrimination Act was passed by Parliament in 2005 and includes several adjustments affecting employment. The 2005 act states, among other things, that it is now illegal for a third party, such as a newspaper, to publish an advert that is discriminatory against disabled people. The act also now extends to include people who have some forms of cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis.
The core of the act is that the employer has a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to premises and working practices to ensure that disabled employees are not at a substantial disadvantage compared to others. Virtually every aspect of employment is covered by the act including the recruitment process, the terms and conditions of employment, chances for promotion, unfair treatment compared to other workers, harassment and victimisation and unfair dismissal. If the disability has a genuine significant adverse effect on an applicant’s ability to do the job that can’t be remedied by a change in equipment or alteration to the buildings, then they won’t be protected by the law in getting the job.
There is a legal requirement under the DDA to ensure that arrangements for interviews and assessment centres do not put applicants with disabilities at a disadvantage. The 2005 IRS Employment Review, which surveyed 139 recruiters of new graduates across a broad range of UK employers, reported that one in three graduate recruiters using online methods are unaware that the Disability Discrimination Act applies to these systems. The review’s recruitment and retention editor, Neil Rankin, warned on educationguardian.co.uk that, ‘Employers are going to have to get to grips with this important issue if they are not to fall foul of the law.’
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