The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that 16.1 million people in the UK (24% of the total population) had a disability in the 2022/23 financial year. Yet, despite progress in the DEI space around race, gender and sexual orientation, disability often remains overlooked.

To build truly inclusive workplaces, employers must grasp the full spectrum of disability – including visible and hidden disabilities and neurodiverse experiences. Here’s why this matters.

How is disability defined by law?

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 sets out when someone is considered to have a disability and therefore protected from disability discrimination. The law says that someone is considered to be disabled if they have a ‘physical or mental impairment’ and ‘the impairment ‘has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. Notably, some people who don’t personally identify as disabled may still be legally protected under the Equality Act.

What is disability inclusion?

Disability inclusion acknowledges that disability is multifaceted and impacts people in varied and unique ways. It includes visible disabilities – that can be noticeable through someone’s physical appearance, facial expressions or movements – as well as hidden, non-visible or invisible disabilities, which may not be immediately apparent. These include chronic conditions affecting daily life and neurodiverse conditions like ADHD and dyslexia. Government research estimates that 70-80% of disabilities are invisible, highlighting the need to broaden the understanding of disability in our workplaces.

Factors such as race, gender and socioeconomic status can shape individual experiences and, unfortunately, the discrimination that people may face. Understanding this intersectionality is crucial to help disabled people bring their authentic selves and full potential to the workplace.

The risk of not being a disability inclusive employer

Disability activists often talk about the social model of disability, which argues that people are disabled less by their impairments and more by the systemic social barriers that limit them.

Despite disability at work being a form of diversity, the disabled community can often be neglected. Workplace diversity policies sometimes oversimplify the word disability, focusing on visible conditions while overlooking neurodiverse and invisible disabilities. People Management Magazine reports that more than half (58 percent) of people with invisible disabilities feel they are not prioritised as much as those with other conditions with 50 percent saying the difficulty getting the support they need at work makes the process not worth it. 

This can significantly impact someone’s experience at work. Stigma or dismissive attitudes, like other people viewing invisible disabilities as “not real”, can make individuals feel judged and misunderstood. This might discourage them from disclosing their disability due to fears of discrimination, not being believed or a breach of their confidentiality. Worryingly, this might force them to weigh up the risks of disclosure against their need for support which adds considerable stress. 

It can harm your business, too. Ignoring or failing to support all disabilities can lead to low productivity, burnout, high turnover, increased recruitment costs and potential disability discrimination claims. It also means a missed opportunity to fully engage and empower a significant portion of the workforce and help them reach their full potential.

On the flip side, embracing all disabilities can bring huge benefits to your business. Diverse teams, including neurodiverse members, consistently outperform less diverse ones and creating an inclusive culture boosts morale, retention and overall performance; a win-win. 

How to make your business more inclusive

Here’s some actionable ways to make your business more disability inclusive:

• Education: Develop your organisation’s knowledge and awareness of the broad spectrum of disability, including visible and invisible disabilities, with disability awareness training. Empower confident leaders who know their responsibilities and can support their teams.
• Understand lived experiences: Canvass the views, experiences and feedback from your disabled employees to truly grasp their needs and learn how to make your organisation a more inclusive place for them to work. 
• Support and accessibility: Put multiple, robust mechanisms in place to support disability disclosure so your employees feel safe to discuss their individual needs. This should also include confidential sources including an Employee Assistance Programme and an anonymous hotline, such as Tell Jane’s employee hotline. Provide reasonable adjustments for both visible and invisible disabilities, including assistive technology, breakout rooms and flexible work schedules. 
• Policy and process overhaul: Do a deep dive into your EDI policies, processes and systems across all areas of your business, including recruitment, onboarding, induction and learning to eliminate any exclusionary practices and identify any inclusivity gaps. Measure how effective they are by using focus groups and pulse surveys to seek feedback and ways to improve.
• Empower your ERGs: Invest in your Employee Resources Groups to ensure that disabled employees have the right support and have a safe place to share insights. Consider financial funding if you can and appoint a sponsor from your senior leadership team.

By increasing your organisation’s awareness of disability and building a culture of togetherness and belonging where disabled employees feel supported and valued you can create a truly inclusive workplace where all your employees can thrive – and so will your business.

Tell Jane supports organisations across the UK to build diverse, inclusive and supportive workplaces where every individual feels they belong. Drop us a line at: hello@telljane.co.uk to find out how we can help.