How can you create a supportive work environment for people with disabilities?

There?are?numerous?ways?to?build?a?welcoming?workplace?for?persons?with?disabilities,?but?here?are?some?broad?guidelines?that?can?be?applied?to?any?organisation: - Set?a?good?example. It?is?critical?to?have?a?clear?commitment?from?the?top?that?diversity?is?vital?and?that?persons?with?disabilities?be?recognised?and?respected. - Maintain?accessibility. Accessibility?is?a?broad?notion?that?encompasses?not?only?the?physical?workplace?but?also?workplace?attitudes,?technology,?and?reasonable?accommodations. - Leverage strengths. People with disabilities have diverse skills and abilities that can benefit the organisation in various ways.

Educating yourself as a People Manager on the employment law is the foundation of any inclusive leadership practices. That's a must, the rest is how you can adjust the workplace in order to include people with disabilities. The second most important key success factor is to assess: what an how to make the people with disabilities feel included. Inclusion is a feeling so leaders should not just assume that only by applying the law is enough. Ask the team members with visible and invisible disabilities on what and how to make them feel included. So meeting the legislation and giving people a voice are critical in making people with disabilities feel included and motivated at work.

In my experience making sure that there are physical accommodations, accessibility, and reasonable, attainable goals and expectations as well as constant open communication and an open door policy so that employees feel comfortable speaking with the leadership team about questions and concerns.

People with disabilities are 'No More or No Less' than people without. It's the skill/trait, which one possesses/ exhibits, that should be commended/observed/ commented upon, for improvement. I firmly believe that we should respect people differently abled as individuals, in their own right, it should be a process of inclusion into the mainstream not respect in exclusion, based on our perceived notion of ability. With gloves off treatment they will also feel in the crowd - compete, improve & deliver without being reminded of their special status.

Promoting diversity and inclusion required to make sure the people with disabilities are being represented at all levels of the organisation. When we look at global scale, how many CEOs of Senior Leadership Teams have people with disabilities in their board rooms? Another static shows that less than 40 per cent of FTSE 100 firms have disability initiatives. As few as five FTSE 100 companies have issued board-level statements about disability, while only 10 have set goals related to inclusion, and almost one in three fail to meet government website accessibility requirements.

Two ways feedback is the most powerful tool that any leader, organisation should master in order to foster a year on year improvement of supporting & promoting people with disabilities. My personal lessons of 20 years of people management are that disabilities are not all visible. Some are not being reported either. So creating a trusted and psychologically safety workplace is a must to ensure log lasting change. I exhibited this year at one of the largest recruitment fair in the UK and the number of people with disabilities looking for a job was overwhelming. Why? And What can we do more to champion those people at the highest level in the organisation?

Reasonable adjustments need not be expensive adjustments. During my studies I was Duty Manager on the reception of a very busy city centre hotel. The reception counter was designed for us to work standing up and came to just below chest height. When interacting with a wheelchair user, we were trained to sit down with the guest at one of the tables within the reception area and complete the check-in there. A reasonable adjustment that cost the hotel nothing and made the check-in much more pleasant for the guest.

Remember that not all disabilities are visible. Not everyone with impaired vision will use a stick; not everyone with impaired hearing will wear hearing aids or they may be covered by their hair so you may not see them. Growing up with a parent who was completely deaf in one ear and had significantly reduced hearing in the other, I developed an awareness of the challenges that those with hearing impairments face. Educate yourself on subtle clues that may indicate an impairment and adjust accordingly. Is someone looking directly at your mouth rather your eyes while you are talking? They may be lip reading - make sure that you face them while talking. Small adjustments can go a long way.