Creating an Accessible and Inclusive Culture at
Work
To introduce myself, I'm the Deputy CEO of Enhance The UK and
I'm an expert in disability awareness, helping organisations to
create accessible working environments for all. As a Deaf woman
with a hidden disability, I know first-hand how many unnecessary
barriers there are for disabled people in the workplace, and as a
disability awareness expert, I know how straightforward and
inexpensive it is to remove those barriers.
For example, the average cost of a reasonable adjustment for an
employer is just £30. So, there's really no excuse not to
implement simple changes that make a significant difference to the
1 in 6 workers in the UK who have a disability.
When delivering training and talking about accessible
workplaces, people often think of ramps and disabled parking bays,
but there's much more to an accessible environment than being able
to enter the building. It starts with leadership and culture and
includes things like:
- Creating accessible job adverts
- Making employees feel confident enough to disclose their
disability to HR (80% of disabilities are hidden)
- Providing disability awareness training for your employees
- Highlighting that your organisation is a Disability Confident
Employer
- Choosing software for video calls that has accessible
features
- Having transcripts available for the podcasts your tech firm
produces
- Using subtitles on all video content
- Understanding the importance of lighting in an interview
situation for a person who lipreads
- Or simply asking a disabled colleague what equipment would help
them when carrying out their daily tasks
Glasgow's IFSD is full of beautiful buildings filled with
financial services, business, and technology companies who serve
customers around the globe but, if your services aren't accessible
to disabled people, how can you really claim to be a champion of
diversity or an inclusive employer?
It's fair to say that many people are nervous when discussing
disability and lack the confidence to have appropriate
conversations when needed. Our interactive workshops give employees
the confidence and skills to have open conversations and build
stronger working relationships, which creates a positive experience
for colleagues and customers alike. We also run 'Lunch and Learn'
sessions, a bite sized virtual experience which can focus on
specific areas such as recruitment, HR or reasonable
adjustments.
The world of work is changing and it's an exciting time for
organisations to really step up and think about access for disabled
people - be that a school leaver applying for an apprenticeship, or
an employee who has been too scared to talk to HR about their
hidden disability - and for disabled customers and their 'purple
pounds', which account for £249 billion annual spending power.
There's lots of free insight on our Disability Awareness
Training website
www.disabilityawareness.training and you can learn more about
our charity by visiting www.EnhanceTheUK.org or
connecting with us on twitter @EnhanceTheUK
Keep up to date with all the business and community news
from Glasgow's IFSD by subscribing to our monthly
e-newsletter or connecting on LinkedIn
and twitter.#IFSD