As an employer, it’s essential to be aware of different disabilities to ensure that you can provide the right care and support for your employees. Some disabilities are invisible and some are visible. On this page, we are going to discuss visible disabilities. If you want information on invisible disabilities, please check out our corresponding page, here.

Visible disabilities are the disabilities we can easily see and detect. It is much easier to tell that an employee is disabled if their disability is visible. Issues including disclosure won’t be relevant to these employees, as they might to employees with invisible disabilities. 

Some common visible disabilities include:

There will be many more visible disabilities that aren’t on this list but this gives you a small idea of the types of disabilities we are discussing here. 

There are over 8 million disabled people of working age in the U.K. and is important to remember that there is lots of variation and diversity within that group. We have to remember not to stereotype disabled people. It is also important not to think that every person with a condition is the same. Every disabled person is a unique individual. 

This means that every disabled person will require different types of support from their employer. Let’s talk a little more about that in the next section. 

The Support Employers Can Provide to Those With Visible Disabilities 

It is your job as the employer to ensure disabled people can overcome any substantial barriers to them completing their work and progressing in their careers. This also applies to recruitment; disabled people need to have the same chance as non-disabled people as getting a job. Anything that is inaccessible needs to be modified in order to be equal and fair. 

The government provides information on what they describe as ‘reasonable adjustments’ that you must make to support disabled employees and those with long-term health conditions. Disabled people have the right to ask for reasonable adjustments and you need to carry them out under the law, wherever feasible and possible. 

You are also entitled to financial support as an employer providing these reasonable adjustments. The Access to Work Scheme can help employers claim back up to £60,000 per year in expenses relating to reasonable adjustments. The scheme helps you support your employees in a way that doesn’t impact your own financial position. Access to Work can also support disabled employees with their own work-related costs, so it is a great resource to provide to them too. 

The following are different ways in which reasonable adjustments can be made to increase accessibility:

Changing Your Recruitment Process

The small choices you make from the very beginning of a recruitment process can significantly impact who can access your job. For those with visual impairments, the font, size, and colour of the writing in job advertisements are essential in determining whether they can process the information. You may want to consider producing physical publications with brail for those with complete vision loss.

Even the language you use in your job posting can be exclusionary, whether this is intentional or not. Making sure that you screen your job postings for non-inclusive language is very important for keeping your recruitment accessible and diversity-friendly. 

Allowing for different interview styles can also permit those with visible disabilities to be assessed more fairly. The traditional sit-down, time-limited interview may not suit every candidate. You will also need to consider the accessibility of physical interviews at this point too. Would remote interviews allow more people to attend? Do you need modifications to the building you work in? You will need to think of these things in advance so that disabled candidates can be given the same chance as their non-disabled peers. 

By diversifying your recruitment process and making it more inclusive, you are ensuring everybody has a better chance to demonstrate their skills effectively.

If you need to be reminded of why disabled people deserve such a fair chance in recruitment, you should check out our page, here, on the benefits of employing a disabled person. 

Making Physical Changes in the Workplace

As we have noted above, the standard office environment may not be accessible to everybody.

For example, if there is no lift in your building but there are stairs, your office won’t be accessible to wheelchair users or those with physical impairments. This means that even if a wheelchair user was invited to your interview, they cannot attend. They are, therefore, unfairly discriminated against. You may also miss out on the perfect candidate for your job opening. 

Other considerations include ensuring there is enough space in the building for those with physical disabilities that may hinder mobility. For example, they might need extra space between desks or a handrail in the bathroom. Those with visible disabilities may also require different office conditions regarding temperature and light. 

The best plan of action is to talk to each employee individually to see how you can meet their needs. If you are openly and genuinely accessible from the first time you speak to a candidate, you set a great precedent going forward. 

A great thing to do is to include a section in your application process where candidates can disclose their disability if they want to and any accessibility concerns they may have. If you use this information to provide the right modifications, this is very fair and ethical. Make sure that it doesn’t inform your decisions, however. Always be aware of unconscious bias at work.

Work Routine Adjustments 

When, where, and how somebody works best may be affected by a visible disability. By allowing for flexible working hours, remote working, working on a different floor, etc., you are including those with visible disabilities in your organization and allowing each employee to get the best out of their day’s work. 

It is essential to acknowledge that some disabilities will impair people from working in specific ways. For example at a specific time or on certain days. They may need more time to rest, to be available for hospital appointments, and to receive certain treatments.

Providing flexibility relating to a working routine is essential for disabled employees’ safety and wellbeing.

Provision of Equipment

Check what technology and equipment you could provide to make a disabled employee more comfortable at work. For example, someone with arthritis may need a specific keyboard, or somebody with a visual impairment may require a personal computer with audio functions. These things are easy to change and can make a massive difference to your disabled employees, allowing them to work more effectively and efficiently. In turn, this will contribute positively to the business’ success.

It also directly shows your employees that you care and that you are committed to diversity within your office. Sometimes the changes we need to make are smaller than we think, but the impact is far larger than we might think too.

What Next?

If you are ready to become a Disability-Friendly employer, great job! You can start your journey right here on Careers with Disabilities. 

Check out the packages we offer employers, right here. 

Employing disabled people has so much power for everyone involved. Once you become inclusive, you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. 

A man in a wheelchair at the office
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