- Conference
- 2010 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 29 June 2010
- Decision
- Carried
Both the Disability Discrimination Act and the Public Sector Equality Duty have helped to reduce discrimination against disabled workers in the workplace. With regard to career and job opportunities available to disabled people, the public sector is at the forefront of anti-discriminatory practice by granting an interview to any disabled candidate who fulfils all essential selection criteria for a post.
However, how far does this go to advance the cause of true equality and opportunity for career-minded disabled people? Does the granting of an interview really mean that discrimination against disabled people has been eliminated – would, for instance, a job be offered to a disabled candidate who obtains the same score in an interview as another candidate who has no disability?
Do the employers still think about the extra costs they may incur in employing a disabled person, be it for any special equipment required for them to do the job – or the fact that they may take more days off through sick leave related to their disability?
There are many disabled people who have qualifications, experience and ability to aim for promotion, but feel discriminated against in an interview situation. Very often, they can feel that they were successful in getting an interview because it is seen as the employers ‘duty’ to grant one; i.e. the employers ‘tick the boxes’ of not discriminating against disabled staff, but in most instances they just pay lip service to the Act.
With help available through Access to Work (which hopefully will not be withdrawn by the new Government), a sizeable sum of the cost of any specialist equipment required for a disabled person is paid for by the DWP. Also, employers need to take on board the advantages of employing a disabled person, a disabled person can bring many skills and life experiences to a job which the non disabled cannot.
Why employ disabled people?
1.Disabled people are often very committed employees
2.The organisation widens the pool of candidates from which it recruits and therefore has a wider skills/experience range to choose from (6% of 1st Class Hons Degrees are gained by students known to have a disability)
3.the organisation better represents our community and helps us engage with disabled people in the community
4.Disabled employees provide positive role models for other disabled people in the community.
There are business, legal and ethical reasons for employing disabled people
Employers also need to understand that people who suffer with mental health problems often cope very well with the right medication and do not have to take time off work; unfortunately there is still a stigma attached to this area of disability.
Conference therefore requests that the National Disabled Members’ Committee commence work that would:-
1.Seek information from Employers about their attitude, awareness and general observation of the recruiting process and how it affects disabled employees.
2.Invite submissions from individual disabled members who feel they may have experienced discrimination and a ‘glass ceiling’ stopping them from climbing the employment ladder, having regards to confidentiality and anonymity.
3.Issue information and guidance to Employers about the advantages of employing disabled people.