Ability, not Disability!!!!

Did you know that 16 million people of working age in the UK are disabled or suffer from a chronic health condition?

Sadly more than a third of UK workers believe disability is a barrier to career progression despite anti-discrimination legislation. These are disturbing figures in this age of equality and diversity. For me this is a debatable subject that gets very little "air time" and it sits very close to my heart.  

I have a deep and residing passion for equal opportunities because I have witnessed first-hand the discriminatory barriers people have to overcome simply to be given the same life and career opportunities as everyone else. Did you know that although disabled employees outperform all other groups in terms of innovation and professional ambition, according to data from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, they are still hugely under-represented in the workplace? 

Within many of us is a great desire to progress, a determination to overcome all barriers, and a hunger to succeed. How many Britons watched the Paralympics in 2012 and 2016 and felt the swell of pride and humbleness as these athletes finally secured parity with those of the Olympics? Channel 4 media coverage of these events was amazing and positioned all of the athletes as 'Superhumans'. Our GB athletes were winning medals in almost every event, they were the pride of their nation.

My son Jack was bitterly disappointed to miss out as a competitor at the 2012 Paralympics, after years of training as an award-winning swimmer. Yet despite this setback, he spent 11 days back in 2012 cheering on his friends and colleagues, willing them to reach their personal goals and bring back medals for their country. 

Life isn’t always plain sailing when you have a disability and Jack should know. Born with a bone missing from one of his legs, at the age of two he had to have a foot amputated so that a prosthetic leg could be fitted. Jack has had to live with discrimination all of his life, whether it be verbal, physical, or phycological it has been a constant challenge that he has had to deal with, and as his father, that really saddens me.

But he has never considered this as a good enough reason to hold him back; it has only instilled in him a relentless will to succeed, to support others who are in a similar position, and has given him energetic purpose to achieve everything he sets out to do.

Jack and many of his fellow sportsmen and women haven’t just reached the top in their chosen sport; they are also high achievers in academia and business. Their positive attitude is a lesson learned and has given me the motivation to campaign against the social injustices we see in the workplace.

I am extremely proud of Jack, he has a Masters in ‘Nano medicine’ and is now in the fourth year of research and studies in New Zealand, working towards his PhD – nothing will deter him. Once he got over the disappointment of not qualifying for the Paralympics in 2012, he redirected his energy and desire to be the best at what he does and is now in training to enter the UK Strongest Disabled Man, when he returns to the UK in 2022.

"We all need to be challenged about this, and we need to challenge others"

That leads me to ask the question -

"Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for the future economy of Britain, as we go into a period of business recovery, if Jack and millions of others like Jack, only had to overcome the limitations of their disability and not the discriminatory attitude of prospective employers?" 

"ABILITY NOT DISABILITY"