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Speak to a specialistAdapting the Workplace for People with Disabilities
Disability in the workplace and equality has been an extremely hot topic over the past couple of years, with equal pay for both men and women taking centre stage, along with issues such as race and religious relations and employers attitudes towards sexuality and age.
Life can be very challenging in the workplace for people with disabilities in the UK. In decades gone by, those with disabilities may have really struggled because the workplace was not adapted to their needs, making it was difficult to get around. In some cases, areas of the workplace may have been inaccessible. In addition, there were no special facilities catering to those with disabilities, simply because there were no stringent regulations in place.
Reasonable Adjustments
The phrase ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ has been a couple of buzzwords over the past decade or so, and many people seem to overlook what it actually means. It’s a common misconception that employees and business must – by law – make their properties fully accessible to persons with a disability. The truth, however, is that reasonable adjustments should be made where appropriate and where possible. So, to give an example, if your business is situated within an old (and often protected) building, then there is a high chance that adjustments such as installing a lift, may be completely impossible.
Always a great experience when I am dealing with the staff at Gore IDA Pharmacy. The representative at Adapt Medical is fantastic, had to get custom compression stockings & a walker and was treated with professionalism and dignity.University of Toronto
There are; however, some adjustments that definitely could be made to deal with disability in the workplace, such as an adjustable desk for wheelchair users to fit to their perfect height in order to position their wheelchair comfortably. There are also a whole bunch of different aids that can be implemented for a disabled person to use within the workplace – including items such as a voice dictator for when inputting text onto a computer, or adjustable keyboards for those with wrist problems. The possibilities are nigh on endless, and so adjustments can always be made to a certain degree.
Training for staff members
It may be necessary to give staff members training and recommendations on how to behave around a person with a disability. As crazy as it may sound, many people get things wrong when approached by someone in a wheelchair – such as bending over or crouching down to get down to eye level with the person in a wheelchair. This can often appear to be quite patronising, and subtle training/advice would help to overcome such instances.
- Reasonable Adjustments
- Training for staff members articles relating to these
- Right to an interview up on a personal basis
- Right to an interview Employment and Disability
There are many other instances that could need to be ironed out within the workplace – and there’s a ton of articles relating to these scenarios which can be found online. Perhaps all it would take would be for staff members to take a look at such publications – so they’re more clued up on a personal basis.
Right to an interview
In the UK at least, there is a law which dictates that all persons with a disability should be granted a chance at an interview, if their qualifications and experience matches the requirements of the employer. This initiative was designed to help more disabled individuals reach the interview stage of a job application – but the law is often misconstrued by disabled individuals as a ‘free pass’ to an interview – whereas the reality is the disabled individual still needs to meet all other job requirements to be able to have a chance to automatically qualify for interview.
| Active life and leisure | Reasonable Adjustments |
|---|---|
| This initiative was designed to help more disabled individuals reach. | If you enjoyed this blog post and found it informative |
| Perhaps all it would take would be for staff members to take | There are also a whole bunch of different aids |
In the UK at least, there is a law which dictates that all persons with a disability should be granted a chance at an interview, if their qualifications and experience matches the requirements of the employer. This initiative was designed to help more disabled individuals reach the interview stage of a job application – but the law is often misconstrued by disabled individuals as a ‘free pass’ to an interview – whereas the reality is the disabled individual still needs to meet all other job requirements to be able to have a chance to automatically qualify for interview.
- Initiative was designed to help more disabled
- Invacare’s Passionate People blog site
- Fully accessible to persons with a disability
- Qualifications and experience matches
If you enjoyed this blog post and found it informative, you can take a look at a multitude of different blog posts by heading on over to Invacare’s Passionate People blog site and choosing from any of the hundreds of posts published there. Posts such as “Employment and Disability: Aids,Schemes and Contacts for the World of Work” – may be of real use to you!
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