Written evidence from Name Withheld (GEG0051)

I am responding to your call for evidence through Scope, the disability equality charity. I want to share my experiences of the barriers I've faced getting into work and what can be improved to help disabled people in the future.

I've answered two questions below as part of your call for evidence.

What extra support would you benefit from to get into work?

I am in work

Looking to the future, what does the Government need to improve on to help disabled people get into, stay and progress in work?

They need to ensure that application processes do not discriminate against disabled candidates. For example one company graduate scheme had a personality test with over 100 questions. It included health questions such as “do people around you consider you to have high energy” and “do you have a positive outlook on life”. As a candidate with severe depression I felt this was a real intrusion on my life and that my honest answers would put me at a disadvantage. As I felt these questions were illegal and intrusive I lied on them and subsequently advanced to the next stage of the process, yet when I did not engage with that stage the company called me to ask if I was still interested. I said no, they clearly did not value me in any way. My disability is not my personality and my disability is not something I should be tested on when applying for a job, it is disgusting

The disability employment gap has been stuck close to 30 percent for over a decade, and the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic has seen disabled people falling out of work faster than non-disabled people. 

Scope wants the Government to deliver on its pledge to tackle the disability employment gap. The Government must use the opportunity of the forthcoming National Strategy for Disabled People to set out plans to close the gap.

I hope that the evidence I have provided, alongside research from Scope will prove useful to the committee.

December 2020