Welcome to the Disability Advice Hub! Here at Careers with Disabilities, we wanted to create a space for disabled workers and their employers to find specific information regarding a disability or health condition. Our advice will help you support to the individual needs within a workplace setting.
Many employers can feel overwhelmed by the number of different disabilities and health conditions. It essential to realise that employing a disabled person doesn’t have to be difficult or intimidating. Although unique to every person, by understanding the basic needs of each disability, health condition or long-term illness, you will be well on your way to creating an inclusive, positive and diverse workplace atmosphere.
There are nearly 14 million disabled people in the UK, and 70% of those have a hidden or non-visible disability. This can cause some difficulty as employers don’t necessarily know if their employees have a disability. Due to fear of discrimination, employees often choose not to disclose their disability and ask for the help they need. When employees know that their managers are willing to learn and make reasonable adjustments for their disabilities, then there will be less need to keep a disability hidden.
It is important to remember that discrimination, of any kind, in the workplace, is illegal. This means an employer cannot treat an employee differently due to their disability. By law, employers must make reasonable adjustments to make the workplace accessible for disabled employees. This is supported by a government funding scheme called Access to Work, which helps to cover the costs of any adjustments required.
Reasonable adjustments may relate to physical changes such as lighting, specialist equipment or furniture within a workplace environment. Alterations could also include changes to a daily working routine. For example, providing flexible working hours could be beneficial to those employees who have regular medical appointments, or those who work better in the afternoon as opposed to morning due to an illness such as depression.
Whatever it may be, opening up a dialogue between employers and employees is a crucial part of dismantling the silence and stigma that surrounds disability employment.
Our Disability Advice Hub will help to educate employers about different mental and physical disabilities, give advice on how to accommodate for these disabilities, and present the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. We encourage employers to begin making alterations to the workplace even employing disabled staff. This will demonstrate you are an accessible company who wants to encourage applications from disabled candidates.
For employees, we will provide advice on how to approach managers for help, how to disclose a disability, and what career opportunities are available.
Our Disability Advice Hub has specific information for a range of disabilities. If you want more general advice, visit our employer pages or guide for disabled people. If you have identified a disability or health condition that is we haven’t included, please get in contact with us and we will happily add it to the Advice Hub.