Into the fold: Changing attitudes towards disability in the workplace

19th March 2019


P17 disability shutterstock 750912535

Related Topics

Related tags

  • Ethics ,
  • Sustainability ,
  • Society

Author

IEMA

Warm words and token gestures are not enough, says Kye Gbangola – eradicating disability inequality in the workplace will take sustained, committed action from board level downwards.

Society and the environment are changing, and it is important for disabled people to be embedded in decision-making processes. There are massive gaps in the visibility and representation of disabled people in the workplace. Even in the sustainability sector, where issues of equality are often discussed, involvement of the disabled has a long way to go.

There are 14 million people with disabilities in the UK. This equates to around 19% of the working age population – but disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people. According to the disability equality charity Scope, life is an average of £570 more expensive each month for a disabled person than it is for a non-disabled person. In addition, 43% of the British public say they do not know a disabled person, and 67% report feeling awkward around disability.

Fig leaf legislation

In 1995, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was passed in the UK (it has since been superseded by the Equalities Act 2010). The DDA was considered historic and visionary for its potential to enhance economic self-sufficiency and social participation for disabled people, and its promise to eliminate discrimination for the disabled when it came to employment, the provision of goods and services, education, transport, housing and so on. Sadly, it never lived up to expectations; the soft disability protection it provides has been little more than a fig leaf for companies and governments to pretend they are taking action on disability.

Businesses need to undergo the transition that we have seen in the sporting world, where Paralympians and other disabled athletes are held up side by side with mainstream sportspeople. Disability must be placed higher up the agenda. Presently, many would-be entrepreneurs with disabilities are stunted in their efforts to pursue existing and new business, and disabled university graduates have trouble finding work. The marketplace is limiting its potential growth by failing to include people with disabilities. We need corporate communities that are fully dedicated to enhancing their cultures and increasing opportunities for the disabled.

Organisations can play a vital role in supporting those with disabilities. Before I was poisoned in an environmental incident that paralysed me, my work involved ensuring homes and estates functioned to enable disabled independence. I sought knowledge on the subject in an effort to get the best for those in need, so that they could remain independent. Now that I am in a wheelchair myself, I see how difficult it is to find support in the home, let alone in the workplace. The regulations I worked hard to enact are worth nothing when business leaders turn a blind eye to breaches; at that point, these leaders oppress those they have a duty to protect.

Belonging and acceptance

For a level playing field to be generated, behaviours need to be consistent and government backed, and must enjoy the support of boards and their executives. It is not enough to simply employ a disabled person as the company's disability officer. A good starting point would be to measure and drive change at senior and executive level. Companies should be proud to report that they have people with disabilities in senior positions.

Measurement, disclosure, accountability, transparency, leadership and reporting are disciplines that my sustainability consultancy seeks to embed as habits within the organisations it works with. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the gold standard of 'report or explain' corporate sustainability reporting, and it has created the Disability in Sustainability Reporting guide to help companies disclose the percentage of their employees that have disabilities.

In the US, the Disability Equality Index (DEI) measures different organisations' culture and leadership on disability issues, examining elements such as enterprise-wide access, employment practices, support in initial recruitment and training thereafter, engagement with the disabled community, and support services. The increasing number of companies using DEI indicates a willingness to confront the issue – to take opportunities that boost the involvement of people with disabilities and promote high-level visibility of disabled professionals.

Disability-aware business leaders are able to better understand and leverage the unique differences, talents and perspectives of employees, investors, customers and suppliers with disabilities. Companies that are more transparent and disclose their efforts to integrate disabled people create a culture of belonging and acceptance – ultimately contributing to long-term sustainability across the business.

Kye Gbangbola is director and founder of sustainability consultancy Total Eco Management

Further reading

  • The Disability in Sustainability Reporting guide was developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Fundaci√≥n ONCE – read it at bit.ly/2NnG7kZ

Image credit: Shutterstock

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

UK’s CCUS strategy based on outdated assumptions, government warned

The UK government’s carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) strategy is based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated, Carbon Tracker has warned.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s climate adaptation plans are ‘inadequate’ and falling ‘far short’ of what is required, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has warned today.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK’s net-zero economy grew 9% last year while delivering higher paid jobs than average and attracting billions of pounds in private investment, analysis by CBI Economics has uncovered.

28th February 2024

Read more

A consortium including IEMA and the Good Homes Alliance have drafted a letter to UK government ministers expressing disappointment with the proposed Future Homes Standard.

26th February 2024

Read more

Campaign group Wild Justice has accused the UK government of trying to relax pollution rules for housebuilders “through the backdoor”.

14th February 2024

Read more

Three-quarters of UK adults are concerned about the impact that climate change will have on their bills, according to polling commissioned by Positive Money.

13th February 2024

Read more

All major housing developments in England will be required by law to deliver at least a 10% increase in biodiversity under new rules that came into force today.

12th February 2024

Read more

The crisis engulfing nature poses a massive risk to the global economy. Huw Morris reports on how the finance sector is adopting new measures for disclosing business activities and channelling investment

1st February 2024

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close