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Why disability awareness does, and should, start in schools

By Business, Disability No Comments

As well as delivering disability awareness training for Enhance the UK, I also give motivational speeches, mainly in schools, for presentation evenings and assemblies.  It is quite possibly my favourite kind of work, as I feel that there, just by being merely present as a 20-something in a wheelchair, I am making a difference.  Disability awareness starts in schools, and this is where we need to focus our efforts, collectively.  This is why:

  • Children listen, and can still develop their own opinions.

Children are by far the most interactive and engaged when it comes to my impairment.  They marvel at my pink and purple spokes, and find all the similarities between my chair and their pram, rather than focusing on the differences between us.  They are still open to new ideas and forming their own opinions.  To me, it is vital that I give them a positive and welcoming view of disability, especially before their parents ‘shoo’ them away!

  • They can teach adults too!

Young people are often the ‘ice breaker’ that enables an older person to become flexible with their own thoughts.  If a child knows how to help a visually impaired person cross the road from what they learnt at school, for example, there is no reason why they can’t educate those around them, too.

  • Preparing for a more inclusive future generation.

The youngest amongst us have the pressure of providing the brightest future they can for all.  That future is one that I want to be accessible, inclusive and welcoming.  Let’s focus on making our school children so disability aware that, finally, it is normalised and accepted.

Emily on a camel being led.

The importance of volunteering: a personal perspective

By Business, Disability, Emily Yates No Comments

I’ve now been volunteering for over ten years, for causes I care deeply about and with friends I’ve made from all over the world.  As a wheelchair user, a huge focus has been on disability awareness and its importance, which has ultimately led me to a brilliant role with Enhance the UK, but still I am often asked why I volunteer when I could be spending that time and energy bettering my bank account.  Granted, I have a mortgage to cover and a car to run, but nothing quite compares to the ‘buzz’ of helping out at a major sporting event, a gig, or cheering others on from marathon sidelines…

A Zebra in africa with a lake in the distance

Volunteering became a meaningful part of my life at the age of 16 when I travelled to southern Africa with the Journey of a Lifetime Trust, a charity that takes young disabled or disadvantaged people literally on a ‘Journey of a Lifetime’ to an exotic location.  We rode elephants in Lesotho, climbed sand dunes in Namibia, and cage-dived with sharks off the coast of Capetown, but we also taught in schools and visited HIV/AIDS clinics.  This made me want to come back home, share a little bit of what I had experienced overseas, and encourage others to look out for opportunities to help others.

Emily snorkelling over coral reefs

I then joined lots of great societies at Queen Mary, University of London, where I studied English Literature.  I also went on a year’s exchange to Melbourne, Australia and helped out in a juvenile prison.  All of these experiences opened my eyes.  I was no longer going through life in search only of my own progression, and ventures that would help me to succeed.  When you unleash that desire to think about and help someone else, and realise that this also helps yourself and makes you a better person, then you’ve unleashed a beautiful potential.  And it’s a potential that everybody has.

Emily Yates at the Rio Paralympics in her uniform

Nothing quite compared, however, to my experience as a Gamesmaker at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.  I made some wonderful friends, got to see the performances of so many incredible athletes, and I even got a personal mention from Sebastian Coe in his Closing Ceremony Speech! I had told him that the Paralympic Games had ‘lifted a cloud of limitation’ for anyone who may have previously been seen as limited, be it through a physical impairment, or even a lack of confidence to follow their dreams. I was lucky enough to also help out at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (a city I totally fell in love with, and where I now live!) and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the incredible Rio, an amazingly vibrant city I consider to be my second home.

Emily with her arms spread openly with a huge bridge in the background over the water

On a broader scale, this is what volunteering does for me.  When asked, I can never ‘put a finger’ on why I do it, but to know that I’ve helped to make something wonderful happen, whether that’s helping a young person with their CV and interview skills, giving an offender hopes and opportunities for when they leave their institution, or being a part of the amazing event that was London 2012: that is one great feeling.

There’s always an opportunity to volunteer with us at Enhance the UK: visit us and see what you think! www.enhancetheuk.org

Interviewing a Deaf person for a job?

By Accessibility, Business, Disability, How to guide, Workplace No Comments

INTERVIEWING A DEAF PERSON FOR A JOB? HERE ARE SOME HELPFUL TIPS

• Don’t spend half the allocated time showing your fingerspelling skills that you learnt from a deaf girl at school when you were seven…. Yes this really does happen and the fake smile we have to put on hurts!

• Please avoid talking too slowly and over enunciating your words … it doesn’t help us understand you and you look just like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit!

• Please look at us when you speak to us. If you’re using a BSL interpreter don’t look at them… Errr hello! We’re over here!! Please look at us when you speak to us, you are interviewing us after all!

• Don’t tell us how amazing we are that we have managed to overcome so many challenges. Ok we know we’re fab, you know we’re fab, so give us the Job! Seriously though it sounds like you pity us and no one wants that.

For more information about our disability awareness training please visit enhancetheuk.org, follow us on twitter @enhancetheuk and find us on all social media channels – just search for Enhance the UK!

Meetings and Wheelchair Users… Five Things You Should Know

By Accessibility, Business, Disability, How to guide, Workplace One Comment

1. The correct venue is vital…. Inviting a wheelchair user to a business meeting? Think about where might suit them. It’ll need to be step-free, and if your office is on the 4th floor without a lift, the meeting will be a flop before it’s begun!

2. Parking and Public transport … are also very important. Regardless of where you meet, make sure that there’s accessible parking and/or an accessible tube station or bus stop nearby. If all else fails, offer the person an accessible taxi.

3. Accessible Bathrooms …. Everyone gets nervous before a meeting or interview, and there’s NOTHING worse than being unable to relieve yourself because you can’t even swing a cat in the tiny toilet cubicle.

4. Allow time … We live in a very fast world, where deals are made and meetings are over within minutes. Try and leave a bit more time in your diary for a disabled person. It’s nothing to do with sympathy; it will just allow them time to get a coffee, freshen up and settle without feeling it’s a race!

5. Just ask!… Anything you’re unsure of, just ask! Chances are, the wheelchair user will be able to tell you everything you need to know, so you can prepare for the perfect meeting. Good luck!

For more information about our disability awareness training please visit enhancetheuk.org, follow us on twitter @enhancetheuk and find us on all social media channels – just search for Enhance the UK!

How can we bridge the disability employment gap in the UK?

By Business, Disability, How to guide, News, Workplace No Comments

By Gary Mazin

There has been a lot of press coverage recently about how the Government is falling behind its own targets to have more than 60% of disabled people in work by the end of the decade.

The number of people with disabilities in work is low. Less than half of working age people with disabilities in the UK are in employment, compared to 76% of non-disabled adults. This gap equates to two million disabled people, currently excluded from employment. Why does this gap exist, and how can it be closed?

This is no surprise to me unfortunately, as from my own personal experience I have found that many people and organisations have no intention or wish to employ disabled people. Obviously they will never openly admit this, but from someone who has had their ear to many senior managers in organisations large and small the truth is often more brutal.

Why am I not surprised you might ask? Well I spent more than 10 years working in the recruitment industry, supplying people into the media and creative sector from all ages and levels of experience.

And I have a disability.

So with the combination of the two, I’ve seen how when you look at the recruitment process, disabled people are still being excluded from the system in many ways.

My disability is degenerative and I spent most of my 20s and early 30s hiding my disability from as many people as possible. I did tell my managers and close colleagues, and kept it hidden as much as possible. My reasons were quite simple. As soon as I told someone that I was partially sighted with hearing loss, I could see the immediate reaction and it was rarely positive.

Most of the time people just looked like a rabbit in the headlights and didn’t know what to say apart from “I’m sorry”. You can see their inner monologue shouting at them to ‘act naturally’ or ‘don’t say anything stupid’. By this point I’ve realised that our work relationship has changed, and unfortunately I was never confident or experienced enough to know how to handle these situations myself at the time. There is no training manual given to people with a disability on how to deal with embarrassing or awkward conversations.

I was one of the fortunate people that have a disability and have been mostly in employment for the past 20 years of my life. But the reality is that less than 50% of people who have a disability in the UK are employed. So what can we do? The government seem to think they have a solution, but at the moment it’s not working quickly or effectively enough, as the recent statistics show.
In my opinion a lot of the failings start with poor communication and a lack of understanding. Sure there are more and more organisations that are fulfilling the two tick kite marking system (where they guarantee that an applicant with a disability will get an interview, as long as they meet the standard criteria). This system works for larger organisations usually within the public sector, but there are many many private companies who do not employ this strategy or have any reason to.
When I was working in recruitment I spent a lot of my time helping candidates improve their chances of getting the job they wanted. This was through guidance with their CV, giving them interview tips and techniques as well as general information and help. Having a disability myself I noticed that I was always more astute and aware if someone had a disability or impairment. I found that in most cases people with a disability didn’t know how to broach the subject when applying for a job.
Do they put something on their CV? This is generally seen as the human shop window and people find it very hard to write about themselves, let alone know how they would broach the subject of a disability.

Then there’s the question of whether they tell the company before they have an interview so that the organisation can make reasonable adjustments if needed. The whole area is a minefield and often makes the person with a disability feel more isolated and highlighting their difference even more. I’m sure there were a lot of candidates who had some impairment but was keeping it secret, like I did for so long.

Unfortunately many organisations do not do themselves credit when it comes to the point of encouraging people with a disability to apply for a job. It’s normal for an employer not to have met someone in a wheelchair or a guide dog owner within their work day to day life. They see plenty of information if they’ve watched the Paralympics or seen a cute guide dog programme on the TV. Although one in five people do have a disability, the reality is that you just don’t see enough disabled people in the workplace.

One particular example springs to mind where I was helping a media organisation hire a typesetter to help design their newsletters. I had a very strong candidate apply who met all the criteria of the job and had all the experience required, it helped that she had a warm and friendly personality. She had a visual impairment and needed a screen magnifier.
After speaking to the client they made the reasonable adjustments and she had the interview and took the test on the magnified screen. I was hopeful that she was a strong candidate as in my mind she did everything required. The feedback I received about her really shook me to the core:
“Lovely girl, but I really can’t be doing with all the hassle of employing someone like that. They’re just too much trouble.”

This came from a manager of an organisation with over 1.000 employees in one office alone. How could I respond to that? I was completely flabbergasted and somewhat aghast, especially as they were my client and I had built up an excellent relationship with them. I just didn’t know how to reply. I received an official email half an hour later which explained that the reason they didn’t want to take her application any further was because they didn’t feel she was “a good team fit” and that she didn’t have quite enough experience of working on one piece of software (she did).

When it came to passing my feedback onto the candidate, I decided to try and be honest without intentionally upsetting her. Once I explained about how they just didn’t think she’d be a fit within the team she sighed and said “It’s because of my eyesight isn’t it?” I was crestfallen for her, having had my own knockbacks and rejections due to having a disability I totally understood her resignation of it being about her disability and not her ability to do the job.

The fact remains that the company officially didn’t hire her because of fair reasons, but I know the truth which was quite simply discrimination. During my tenure as a recruitment consultant it became clear to me that discrimination in many forms was still very apparent, and often not subtly hidden. Particularly with regards to disability. I don’t want to generalise but Scope conducted a survey where they discovered that 67% of people actively avoid approaching someone with a disability as they’re afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing. It’s not difficult to transfer that to the workplace and discover that many people quite simply are scared of disability, or the unknown.

Since I’ve started as a Disability Awareness Trainer it’s made me even more aware how far we have to go with regards to breaking down these barriers of communication. Until disabled people are fully welcomed socially and with open and honest communication there will still be a real problem bridging this disability employment gap. I’d like to hope that organisations will start to look at their internal teams and think about whether they’re doing enough to be inclusive. A good start is making sure that all Managers and HR staff know the best way to communicate with someone with a disability. Making the organisations self-aware and looking at how they can improve accessibility, whether it be socially, or physically. Once these barriers start to come down, then we can look at how companies can encourage more disabled people to apply. Until we start being more honest and open about our inexperience and lack of communication skills, this gap will never disappear.

Enhance the UK run disability awareness training workshops that can help your organisation become more accessible and equip your staff with knowledge and skills that will help them communicate better with deaf and disabled people. For more information visit www.enhancetheuk.org

Interviewing a deaf person for a job?

By Business, Disability, How to guide, Workplace No Comments

Do you work in HR? Are you interviewing a deaf person for a job? Read our tips

• Don’t spend half the allocated time showing your fingerspelling skills that you learnt from a deaf girl at school when you were seven…. Yes this really does happen and the fake smile we have to put on hurts!

• Please avoid talking too slowly and over enunciating your words … it doesn’t help us understand you and you look just like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit!

• Please look at us when you speak to us. If you’re using a BSL interpreter don’t look at them… Errr hello! We’re over here!! Please look at us when you speak to us, you are interviewing us after all!

• Don’t tell us how amazing we are that we have managed to overcome so many challenges. Ok we know we’re fab, you know we’re fab, so give us the Job! Seriously though it sounds like you pity us and no one wants that.

For more information about our disability awareness training please visit enhancetheuk.org, follow us on twitter @enhancetheuk and find us on all social media channels – just search for Enhance the UK!

Planning a trip in your wheelchair? Read our top tips for a wheelie good time

By Accessibility, Disability, Emily Yates, How to guide, Lifestyle No Comments

Five Tips for Wheelie Great Travel

1. Never underestimate the power of planning…. Not all hotels on the Internet really are as wheelchair friendly as they say they are. Do your research and pick up the phone if necessary.

2.Knowing the local lingo always helps … even if it’s the odd ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, or being able to direct a taxi driver ‘left’ or ‘right’, this will make you friends, save you time and money!

3.Checking out transport is a priority …. There are many places that have accessible attraction and accommodations but appalling transport systems. Budget for private drivers or cabs if necessary!

4.Help is more available that you may think … When alone, trying to navigate strange roads, signs and attractions in my wheelchair, I’ve often been inundated with people offering to help me and show me around. Less accessible places can definitely create lasting friendships.

5.Make sure you’re aware of any perks that may come your way… Whether you’re going to a cinema or theme park, alone or with company, it’s very rare that concessions are not available wherever you are in the world. Make sure you use them!!

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