HouseProud's blogs for International Women's Day - 6. How can we support our?staff and residents who have disabilities?
How can we support our?staff and residents who have disabilities?
by?Lynne Nicholls
Events Officer – HouseProud??????????????
Vice Chair of the Board - WATMOS
The disabled rights movement shares many parallels with the LGBT+ movement. It took protests by disabled people to force the government to act, leading to the landmark introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Thisbmade it illegal to discriminate against disabled people in connection with employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services or the disposal or management of premises.?
In 2010 the Equality Act defined disability as 'a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day- to-day activities'?and placed a duty on employers to make “reasonable adjustments”.
The ONS found the negative social impacts of the pandemic have been greater for disabled people. Among people who indicated that their wellbeing had been affected by Covid-19, 46% of disabled people said the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health. This compares with 29% for non-disabled people.
We have a long way to go to #BreakTheBias surrounding disability, not just as employers but in the services, we provide and how we provide them.
In Housing we have a greater imperative to act as we provide people’s homes as well as employment. And let’s not forget 8 out of 10 disabled people acquired their disability, so it can affect anyone at any time: anyone of our staff, residents, or customers.?
Infographic from Purple Changing the Conversation
As human beings we have more than one identity, I identify as a daughter, wife, Yorkshire lass, Carer, Christian, Cis gendered, Bisexual, Dyslexic and Disabled. These identities all combine to make me who I am, how I experience the world/workplace, and the privileges I have.
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts?
Aristotle
My experiences of being a young carer, managing diverse teams, being neurodivergent and having invisible disabilities have certainly allowed me to see bias first hand. For example, why does it take a Pandemic for business and the Housing Sector to see the value in flexible working and reasonable adjustments??
Reasonable Adjustments
Pre-pandemic it was nearly always a battle to get agreement for staff to have the reasonable adjustments they needed to enable them to fulfil their role without a detriment to their health. Whether that be through long protracted processes or a belief that the organisation knew better than the employee what they needed. Often a little creative thinking and a flexible interpretation of the policy was all that was required.
As we return to ‘the new normal’ please take a people centric approach, listen to your staff, and really consider why an adjustment cannot be made. If the answer, is we have not made this type of adjustment before, then that is not a good enough reason to deny it.
Invisible Illnesses
Some conditions at the point of diagnosis as considered disabilities such as Cancer, HIV and MS. Other conditions can be considered a disability under the Equality Act 2010 if they have a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. This can include invisible conditions such as asthma, arthritis, lupus, and endometriosis.?
Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women; it takes years to diagnosis and there is no cure. I have lived with this condition for years and often the best you can do is manage the symptoms such as extreme pain which can be as painful as experiencing a heart attack.
When you introduce your menopause policy, extend that to supporting women in what comes before. For example, what is your organisation doing to address period poverty for your staff and residents?
Neurodiversity
Dyslexia is recognised as a disability within the meaning of the legislation because individuals with dyslexia are substantial disadvantage within the workplace when compared to those who are not dyslexic.
My personal journey with dyslexia has been one of shame, before with the help of organisations such as Made by Dyslexia, I embraced it as my superpower.
This shame was reinforced in my early career by a manager who insisted that I write the flipchart in our group and when I fed-back for the group, they proceeded to point out my spelling mistakes in front of the whole conference. From then on, I did not always disclose I was a dyslexic at work as I was worried it would affect my career.
Has your organisation reviewed your policies and processes through a neurodivergent lens if not, why not? You are missing out on a range of in-demand skills.
Physical disabilities
My mum has a physical disability, which means we have always had to carefully plan to go outside to ensure where we were going was accessible, including public transport and other public services.
As employers we have a duty to ensure our workplaces are accessible, however,?if they are accessible, it is often only in certain areas. I knew of one occasion when a colleague arrived at the office and could only go as far as the lobby. Clearly more needs to be done in our workplaces and when building homes as there is a shortage of accessible homes in both the private and social housing sectors.
How is your organisation addressing these issues?
Diverse Teams
The benefit of diverse teams is well documented, and this has been recognised by the Housing Federation in the 2020 Code of Governance.?The code is explicit in the board's role in taking an active lead in committing to equality of opportunity, diversity, and inclusion in all of the organisation’s activities as well as in its own composition.
How does your organisation's board measure up?
With great power comes great responsibility - Various -?St Luke, Theodore Roosevelt, Voltaire, Spiderman
We have the power to change the experience both in the workplace and in people’s homes, I urge you and your organisation to act now and #BreakTheBias.
Service Charge and Section 20 Assistant at Circle Housing
2 年Having spent most of my working life with a hidden disability I did not recognise myself, finding a manager who just got it, even before I mentioned it made a huge difference. Small adjustments that were not obvious, to some that made a huge difference to my mental health and ability to cope. Working with a manager who has the confidence and belief that that you can do so much more, even later in life, was daunting and challenging. It also gave me the courage to fail, and learn from that failure and move on learning and improving. Sadly it too often appears that making accommodations for disabilities is seen either as a burden or treating someone different, rather than getting the most out of an individual and allowing them to get the most out of their working lives. In the first year with that manager my sickness dropped significantly, and has continued to stay much lower. The last two years have been very challenging and rewarding. I love working from home without the physical pain that went with each journey to and from work, earlier changes meant I always had the ability to work from home, the pandemic just encouraged me to buy a desk and set up an home office I could comfortably work from. It also took away the social stress from having to mix with so many people. My manager moved on, with most of the team as we were merged with other teams, and more than once I wondered if I made the right decision. Not having someone who knew when I was starting to get stressed out was hard. The difference this time was rather than giving in to the stress and losing yet another job, I found the courage to reach out and ask for help. In social housing I often hear the terms of social responsibility and improving the lives of our residents, and especially for vulnerable residents. In general my experiences with working for Clarion has been positive, but also appreciate I have worked with some wonderful people. I guess for me the real question is, if you cannot do this for individuals who you see most days and work alongside, how do you expect to do so much more for those you don't?