Blind spot on disability is disabling Boards

If almost one in five of our working age population are disabled how come there is hardly anyone who is disabled on a FTSE350 board?

When talking about diversity and inclusion over recent months as part of being a panelist on various webinars. I have made the point that we seem to have a blind-spot on boards when it comes to disability. Yet when I mention it, I so often feel a failure given the response, which can best be described by the feeling that you get when you are talking to someone at an event and they look past you to see if there is anyone more interesting to speak to.

Progress has been made on gender but there is a still a long way to go. The horrendous death of George Floyd has jolted us into having proper discussion about racial inequality. Hopefully, this will lead to change of a more substantial nature. However, when it comes to social diversity on boards and to disability we don't even seem to have noticed it's an issue. I speak frequently about social diversity. My background provides credibility to do so. However, I haven't felt knowledgeable or confident enough to speak for those disabled and know all to well how jarring it can feel when people who have no experience of what it is like to face the challenges you do with the best intentions make it worse!

But it is really bugging me so I have decided to take the risk and jot down a few thoughts in the hope that others who have lived experience or perhaps are more eloquent or influential than I am may help raise attention for this issue.

Whenever I feel ignorant I start by looking at a few numbers and listen to people who know about whatever it is I feel ignorant about.

So, let's start with the numbers. According to UK Government statistics (last updated in 2014 which tells you something in itself!) there are over 11 million people with a limiting illness, impairment or disability. The prevalence of disability unsurprisingly rises with age. The 2014 analysis stated that 6% of children are disabled compared to over 16% of working age adults and 45% of adults over state pension age.

Scope the leading disabled charity says that there are now almost 14 million disabled and that there of now 19% of working age adults disabled. Its website notes that there are 3.7 million disabled people in work but that disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people.

So, how many of this group of 19% of working age adults are on FTSE 350 boards?

Shockingly I couldn't find any analysis on line. I had a go at going through FTSE350 websites trying to do my own DIY analysis. Sadly I gave up after 100 or so because it looked like there was nothing to count.

In 2016 non-executive directors.com commissioned some research with the Office of National Statistics, EU Equality and Diversity Commission, Department of Business Innovation and Skills, leading academic experts in disability, in social policy and in work and employment, Trade Union Congress (TUC), business surveys, policy documents and more. Sadly they discovered that no official or reliable data exists to show the number of disabled board directors. Moreover there was no legal requirement at all to report this information.

A good example of blindness to disability is the FRC's 2018 report FRC Diversity reporting try and spot the mentions of diability!

In 2018 KPMG made a valiant effort to call for all FTSE350 Boards to appoint a disability champion but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

How do disabled feel about this? In summary, "No-one knows because no one has bothered to ask us" . What we do know though is that according to Scope in 2017 one in three disabled people felt that there is a lot of disability prejudice

Why does it matter? It matters for at least three good reasons?

• It is socially unjust,
• It is moraly wrong and;
• Just as with gender, ethnicity and social diversity it means that we are missing out on the perspectives of almost 20% of the population which seems dumb.

If you agree and would like me like to do something about it here are some thoughts on what we might do:

• Learn more about the facts of this issue and find out what has already been done . My ignorance and limited research capability probably means that I have missed some great work that has already been done. Apologies to anyone who has really valuable insights to share that I have missed and please post them as a comment on this article.
• Listen to people who are disabled about being held back by it and provide platforms to those who despite all the odds have made it onto boards.
• Call it out and tell it like it is when we speak or write to influential audiences.
• Identify an influential organisation that wants to pick this up and mobilise support for change perhaps starting with a meeting for disabled leaders with the FRC, progressive investor groups and leading thinkers on the subject.

If you are interested please let me know.

Finally, if you are wondering who the guy in the photo is, it's Mike Newman. Mike was born blind and broke the blind land speed record by going beyond 200 mph. Disabled people just like the rest of us are capable of extraordinary things and it is not only them that miss out badly if we don't give them the same opportunities to demonstrate that and contribute to make us all raise our game.