On Friday 4th November I had the pleasure of opening and speaking at a Disability Confident event in The Guildhall, Northampton.
I have sponsored and supported this event over the past few months, along with the DWP, Guidant Group and Northampton Borough Council, in order to encourage businesses to hire more people with disabilities and health conditions. This is done by helping employers adjust to meet the needs of disabled people and by raising awareness about how people with disabilities can make positive contributions to businesses. Once a business recruits and retains more people with disabilities and health conditions they are labelled as “disability confident”, a status which shows that the company in question is ethical and respects equality.
This event gave me the opportunity to challenge the negative attitudes that still exist towards disabled people in the workplace, as well giving me the opportunity to increase people’s understanding of disabilities. Employers can be reluctant to employ disabled people because of myths such as disabled people taking more sick days, but I was able to explain that in fact local businesses have a lot to gain by becoming Disability Confident. One benefit is that employees with disabilities are able to bring additional skills to the business, skills that the general working population may not possess. For example, a deaf employee may be able to help a business to communicate using British Sign Language (BSL), which could result in large savings.
Over 7 million people,17.5% of the working population, in the UK are disabled or have a health condition, and statistics show that only 36% of these people are employed. The best long-term solution to poverty is a stable and rewarding job, but unfortunately many disabled people struggle to secure employment due to corrosive and inaccurate assumptions about disabilities. This is why it is crucially important that events such as the one I sponsored at the Guildhall are held: to help fight discrimination against people with disabilities and health conditions.