Written evidence from Name Withheld (DEG0059)

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 in 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 in work? Or what would you change about existing support on offer?

The right to flexible working should be a given for disabled people. Having been denied the opportunity to go from working 5 days per week to 4 days per week by the Headteacher (I'm a disabled teacher) last year, my mental and physical health got progressively worse and now I am in my 6th month of long-term sick leave. I am confident that if my needs were listened to and honoured by enabling me to work 4 days per week, I would still be in work.

I feel that my employer could have been much more supportive. I have recently left hospital after a 5-week stay. I had major surgery and nearly lost my life. Not once have I had so much as a 'get well soon' message, there's just been no contact whatsoever. And yet, it is usual practice to send a get well card signed by all staff, a separate card signed by students and a gift if an employee is off sick for any reason. Immediately before going on sick leave, management had been intensively bullying me, and I experienced autistic burnout as a result of the ongoing harassment from my line manager by email, phonecall and text message whilst I was off sick. It's almost as if they hold the view that I am currently out of the picture, so job done.

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

I think that mandatory, annual diversity, inclusivity and equality training for all employees (delivered by an external professional) is needed so that employees have regular opportunities to talk about disability in the workplace (still very much a taboo subject). I think it would be most helpful for such training to be delivered by disabled people, and that employees have opportunities to communicate with actual disabled people.

A quality mark to indicate disability-friendly employers, and a minimum level of understanding about a range of disabilities and how best to manage people with those disabilities for all managers would also be good steps.

Finally, I think it is important to send out the signal that disability discrimination will not be tolerated. A new, clear way to report cases of disability discrimination, which will be robustly investigated by an impartial body is essential. In schools, for example, it is all too easy for rogue headteachers to get away with bullying of and discrimination towards disabled people. If this is illegal under the Equality Act 2010, there must be ways for them to be held accountable (as opposed to it being covered up - this is easily done when all members of the board of governors - who headteachers are allegedly accountable to - have personal connections with the headteacher, and the headteacher is able to recruit governors).

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