Most companies believe that they have a small number of employees with disabilities, but a survey of nearly 28,000 employees in 16 countries found that 25% of people have a disability or health condition that limits a major life activity. BCG concludes that by taking steps to improve the inclusion of employees with disabilities, companies […]

37% of workers with invisible disabilities haven't told their employer about their condition. This is a problem because these workers aren't getting the support they need at work. Invisible disabilities are those that aren't immediately obvious, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, ADHD, mental health conditions and chronic pain. There are a number of reasons why […]

Remote work: not just a pandemic trend, but a reasonable accommodation for disabled employees Before the pandemic, working from home was a common request from disabled employees that employers often refused. However, during the pandemic, many organisations shifted to remote work. Now, some businesses are considering requiring employees to return to the workplace at least […]

April is Autism Awareness Month, the perfect time for meeting professionals to commit to learning more about how a few simple changes can improve the meeting experience for neurodiverse attendees. As the growing interest in workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion expands, meeting professionals are considering how events can be more inclusive for neurodiverse attendees, including […]

Traditional recruitment involves unwritten social rules which are a barrier for autistic candidates, a new report has found. The report, by Auticon, an IT consultancy which exclusively employs people on the autism spectrum, found almost a third (31%) of autistic people said the traditional recruitment process was the most difficult part of their career. Andrea […]

Employment among disabled people in the US rose to 21.3% in 2022. The embrace of remote work spurred by the pandemic helped the US employment rate for people with disabilities to reach an all-time high last year. The percentage of disabled people who were employed rose to 21.3 per cent in 2022, according to data released Thursday by the […]

Government efforts to boost Britain’s workforce should focus on supporting more mothers into work, and helping older workers and those with a disability stay in work, rather than persuading the large Covid cohort of older workers to ‘unretire’, according to new Resolution Foundation research published. The issue of workforce participation has come to a head […]

Many blind and partially-sighted people are having job offers withdrawn because of delays in getting an assessment for the government’s Access to Work scheme, according to a sight loss charity. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) claimed that it takes on average five to six months from initial application to assessment under the […]

After having been cast aside for years, equality of gender, race, and sexuality have risen up the ranks of importance to become issues that are addressed in the boardroom. Yet one category is strikingly absent: disability inclusion. Perhaps this is because disability comes in many forms, and as a result necessitates a multi-layered, thorough approach. […]

Hays’ Sandra Henke explores how embracing intersectionality can help employers improve the experience of all employees. Diversity is not a linear issue. As companies seek to be representative of the communities they operate in and that make up their workforce, many still consider their diversity efforts in distinct, singular characteristics. For example, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality […]

Google has opened its first research and development centre in the UK dedicated to creating technology to help people with disabilities. The Accessibility Discovery Centre in London will not only be used for research and product development, Google said, but also has a space for learning, with interactive and learning zones also in place for those who visit. The […]

Women returners are a huge benefit for businesses, it's foolish to overlook them. Time and time again I hear leaders spurt baseless notions that spread like wildfire. None quite as damaging as this; the belief that women who take a career break are not fit to re-enter the workforce. Deeply embedded misconceptions and falsehoods have […]

In the expansion of diversity efforts at work, one term is seemingly everywhere: caregiver. A recent survey by workplace equity platform Syndio finds that workers with caregiving responsibilities are the fastest-growing category of employee identity groups, with 12% of companies tracking them as such. Like so many current workplace trends, this, too, is rooted in the […]

The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales (LBFEW) will allocate £5.5m to small charities led by and working for Black, Asian and minority ethnic and D/deaf and disabled communities over three years. In its 4 year strategy, the independent charitable foundation announced that it will make grants worth £75,000 available to small, local and […]

In 2021, 77% of workers with disabilities said their employer has done a better job supporting them since the pandemic started. Now, companies are building on that support, with significant increases in leadership and boardroom diversity, according to the  2022 Disability Equality Index report from Disability:IN, a global organization advocating for disability inclusion in the workplace.  “People now […]

Experts urge employers to think about how they attract and retain disabled staff, warning that ‘stigma, misunderstanding and knowledge gaps’ remain. The majority of the UK’s top listed companies do not offer initiatives to support disabled and neurodiverse employees, a report has found. The study by Agility in Mind, which looked at the reports of […]

Are companies acknowledging diversity but failing to advocate any meaningful actions? Read article here ->

In AppleTV's animated children’s series Pinecone & Pony, characters are designed to subvert and defy expectations. “You think a wizard has to look like Gandalf the Grey, but we wanted to show that, no, a wizard could look more like this. Or you see the really beefy muscular guy in the first episode wearing a flower […]

The government has achieved its goal of seeing 1m more disabled people in employment well in advance of its 2027 target, but a disability group says more needs to be done to close the employment gap. The number of disabled people in work in Jan to March 2022 was 4.8m, an increase of 460k since […]

The Biden administration and US Department of Justice have warned employers using AI software for recruitment purposes to take extra steps to support disabled job applicants or they risk violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, employers must provide adequate accommodations to all qualified disabled job seekers so they can fairly take part in […]

Kotsur, who has been acting in films for more than two decades, won acclaim for his role in Coda, swiftly becoming an awards season favourite following its release on Apple TV+ in August 2021.The 53-year-old actor, who has been deaf since birth, previously won awards at the Baftas, Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards. […]

Facial analysis technology is sometimes used in recruitment, but people with autism at work and other types of neurodivergence say it can be biased against them. Have you ever applied for a job and found that, before you get offered an interview with a real person, you have to answer pre-recorded questions into your webcam? It’s designed to […]

Seeing ourselves on screen can affect cultural change. Media needs diversity. A new World Economic Forum and Accenture report shows 59% of people who identify as a minority tend to engage with brands more frequently if they are inclusive of diverse views. The media and entertainment industry has a strong influence on society and the power to shape worldviews. […]

Social media agency We Are Social has surveyed users of social reading platform Wattpad and found 87% believe media and advertising needs to be inclusive in its representation of diverse and minority identities. The sample group of over 1,000 members of Wattpad’s online community ’Gen Z Storytellers’ is predominantly female and with a greater proportional representation of […]

Our workplaces continue to evolve as we face the challenges brought by the ongoing effects of the pandemic, and as leaders, we have had to adapt to operational and employee experience challenges and continue to create workplaces that work for everyone, especially for people with disabilities. For this reason, Meg O'Connell, CEO of Global Disability Inclusion writes […]