How to Run Disability-Awareness Training in Your Workplace

Disability-awareness training is an essential opportunity for any workplace. It is a great way to build an inclusive and accessible working environment for all members of staff. It shows that you are an employer who cares about their disabled employees and how they are treated. 

Disability-awareness training has many unique benefits and it can achieve so much for any workplace. At Careers with Disabilities, we believe that it is an opportunity every employer should make the most of. Disabled people deserve the best treatment possible from their employers, and this is one way in which to offer that treatment. 

With that in mind, in this blog, we are going to discuss more about disability-awareness training and how you can run your own sessions in the workplace. 

What is Disability-Awareness Training? 

There are lots of different types of work-based training related to disability. Disability-awareness training is a particular type of training that focuses on increasing awareness, education, and perspective of all members of staff in a workplace. 

Specific areas of learning typically include: 

• Uncovering and rooting out unconscious biases
• Exploring societal opinions and stereotypes surrounding disability and disabled people 
• Types of disabilities, conditions, and illnesses
• Reasonable adjustments, what they mean and what they can entail 
• Appropriate language, terminology, and ways to talk to and about disabled people 
• What counts as discrimination and the many forms that discrimination can take 
• How to be an ally to disabled colleagues
• Learning about typical boundaries disabled people face and stories of how they experience the world of work 

The training should have the ultimate aim of helping everyone learn more about disability and how to work appropriately with disabled people. All in a way that is empowering for disabled people and that speaks positively in tone. It shouldn’t be the case that disability is spoken about negatively, as if it is a problem or inconvenience. 

Disability awareness training should always be as forward-thinking and change-motivated as possible. That is the best way for it to remain comfortable and inclusive for everyone involved. 

Why Should You Run Disability-Awareness Training in Your Workplace? 

There are many reasons why offering disability-awareness training in the workplace is so worthwhile, including: 

• Better treatment of disabled staff/colleagues: Running disability-awareness training has a direct and positive impact on how disabled members of staff are treated in your workplace. Uncovering bias, exploring inclusive language, and all other aspects of the training really help other members of staff understand how they should treat disabled people at work. This makes things much more comfortable for everyone. 

• Better work relationships: Better treatment and more inclusivity at work mean better work relationships. Colleagues can be friendlier, closer, and can work better together. This improves the overall well-being of the office and improves staff loyalty levels. Happier members of staff stay in their job for longer. 

• Improved work performance and productivity: When disabled members of staff can work in an accessible and inclusive environment, they are better at their jobs. Without needing to fight discrimination and overcome unnecessary hurdles at work, they can focus on the work they have to do with better concentration. 

• Demonstrating a positive company image: Showing yourself as an inclusive employer that cares about disability awareness at work is key. Therefore, this helps your image both inside and outside of your company. In 2022, being disability-friendly isn’t preferred, it is essential. 

How to Run the Training

When it comes to actually running disability-awareness training, many companies will opt for hiring external companies. Some options include: 

• Enhance the UK
• Celebrating Disability 
• Mencap

Some third-party options can also help you find material for your own training sessions, including Disability Matters. You are completely free to run your own disability-awareness training and it can be very effective without external trainers. The main things you need to consider are:

• Doing appropriate research and learning first
• Listening to disabled members of staff and allowing their voices to be heard in all training
• Using inclusive language 
• Making the training as accessible as possible for all employees
• Consulting any disabled employees you have first for input and perspective 

Effective disability-awareness training is that which meets the desired goals and is inclusive in the process. Those are your main pillars of focus. 

To Sum Up

Disability-awareness training is an amazing tool for any company. It is something all employers should engage with where they can. There are so many positives to be had, including increased well-being for staff, better relationships between colleagues, and improved work performance. 

If you are an employer and you want to learn more about becoming Disability-Confident, check out our guide on Careers with Disabilities. 

Also, take a look at the range of services we offer employers and how they can help you on your journey to inclusivity. From our inclusive job board to our company profiles, we have lots of ways for employers to engage with a diverse job seeker market.

Start your journey with us today.