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Employ Disabled Staff

There’s a motto in the disabled community: ‘nothing about us without us’ – and for good reason. You can’t implement good access provisions if you don’t engage with and understand disabled people’s experiences and needs. It will also make disabled people wary of your organisation if you don’t have any disabled staff. It’s a legal right for disabled people to be supported in employment so there’s no excuse to not have a diverse team that reflects society.

Facts

From the Diversity Survey of the Publishers Workforce, 2021:

  • 13% of respondents said they were disabled or had a chronic illness in 2021

  • In comparison, one in five (20%) of the UK working age population are disabled, and one in three (33%) have a chronic illness (ONS 2021 Annual Population Survey)

From Access Denied, 2021:

  • 36.1% of disabled publishing employees have found a publishing industry or work event inaccessible

  • 40% of disabled publishing job seekers have found a publishing industry event inaccessible

Best-Practice Checklist

“The arts are for everyone, so arts jobs should be for everyone too. It is crucially important for employees of literary organisations to reflect the UK population, including disabled people, so they have a better understanding of the audiences they serve. In most cases, access issues don’t stem from people actively wanting to exclude disabled people, but instead come from organisers not realising certain access needs exist. Not every disabled person will understand the needs of every other disabled person but having diverse voices in every decision-making room will ensure different perspectives are taken into account.”
– Cat Mitchell

  1. Employ Disabled Staff

    It’s imperative that you employ disabled staff. Listen to their experience and recommendations. However, it’s important to note that disabled staff are not experts on disability, and it shouldn’t be assumed that they are or that they should be expected to do an access role on top of their own work.

    Make sure they’re supported and that you accommodate their access needs. Advertise clearly that you are actively seeking disabled employees and that you will meet their needs.

    Reference: Jamie Hale

  2. Flexible Working And Working From Home (WFH)

    Facilitate flexible working hours and give the option for staff to work from home (which also means you're not tied by geography). In the report ‘Beyond Lockdown – Does working from home work for you?’ a quarter of those surveyed preferred working from home, and more than half prefer the control over their environment (e.g. temperature, natural light and fewer interruptions). Those with invisible illnesses and/or mental health struggles were among those keen for WFH to be offered as an option by all employers in the future.

  3. A Dedicated Access Officer

    Have a dedicated Access Officer who can liaise across teams to ensure consistent communication and provisions. Make sure their needs are met and actively seek and encourage disabled people for this role. They must have appropriate qualifications, experience, and/or expertise in assessing event access – being disabled doesn’t automatically give someone the knowledge and skills to be an access officer.

  4. Train Staff On Disability And Accessibility

    Training staff at every level on this is incredibly important. Having an understanding of access and disability justice at the heart of your organisation will make a huge difference.

  5. Access Consultants

    Hire access consultants, whether it’s for a one-off assessment or ongoing consultations.

    “We would highly recommend employing an access consultant who is themselves a disabled person. Our access consultant works 10 hours a month for us and has propelled our organisation forwards considerably in terms of increasing access.”
    – Arvon
    See the Access Consultants and Training Providers section of our Resources page for a list of some good training providers and access consultants.