Celebrating Disability Blog

Disability Awareness Week Celebrations Are Over: What Next?

Every year, we observe Disability Awareness Day (26th July), Disability History Month (14th November to 20thDecember), Disability Pride Month (throughout July), Inclusion Week (15th to 21st September), and International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3rd December). How are we all reflecting on what these events truly represent? And thus, are we reducing the risk of these being just for the sake of events?

When planning your workplace disability awareness day, it can be difficult to consider what to do. We work with many organisations that, amongst their disability awareness month celebrations, have many events. These can include talks, lunches, and network inaugurations. We have been part of many of these events! And they are always great. The most successful are the ones where the workplace considers why it is celebrating the day, month, or week.

Engagement numbers depend on the time taken to consider and plan the event. I’ve hosted events with over 100 participants, and stayed to answer questions after the event had ended.

I have also been a guest speaker at events where 15 people attended, and there were no questions.

Celebrating Disability talks often explore topics in sufficient detail, sometimes eliminating the need for additional questions. When the invitation is too close to the event, participants do not have time to consider what they will learn.

Understanding what you aim to achieve.

Understanding what you want to achieve from your disability awareness day event is key to its success. It’s a good opportunity to champion and celebrate disability. It can be a quick win if you’re unsure what to do that specific month. However, when you truly take the time to consider the benefits of having this event, you can come up with something that reflects what you are trying to articulate to participants.

The most successful events can be hosted during a disability awareness month or outside of that time. The key to success is always when the person hosting the event understands what their goal is. When they understand this, this can translate into a higher turnout on the day. Along with higher levels of engagement and participation throughout the event. Lastly, actionable takeaways that can be implemented back into the workplace.

When hosting a talk with an external guest speaker, most organisations invite the whole workforce. This means people from every department and a diverse range of roles will be attending. This is great because it outlines and demonstrates that disability inclusion is everyone’s business.  In order to engage such a diverse range of people and interests, it is important to develop content that is relevant to everyone. This keeps all participants engaged and ensures the ability to action ideas that are raised within the talk.

Ensure disability awareness remains a priority

Disability awareness days, disability awareness months, and disability awareness weeks are great for having a central focus to bring everything together. However, if a disability awareness event is only put on because the month has arrived, this will not achieve any disability inclusion goals.

Disability awareness and inclusion in the workplace must remain a priority 365 days; 12 months a year. Disabled people are not going anywhere. The easiest way to articulate this to your participants, members of your disability network, your disabled customers, and your workforce is to have this central event as part of a wider focus and effort to develop your disability inclusive culture.

For example, if you are hosting a disability awareness event to celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, this could be the centre point of everything you have been working towards so far that year. It can be an opportunity to celebrate your successes and to understand from your workforce what work still needs to be done.

When my associates and I are invited into a workplace as guest speakers, we use interactive tools such as Slido. This enables us to understand the engagement levels of the participants as we deliver the talk. It also enables the organisation we are being hosted by to understand how engaged its workforce is and what they think of its inclusive culture.

Doing this also helps you align your goals with what is genuinely needed. It can help you set them for the year ahead and support you when presenting that all-important business case to HR, EDI, or learning and development for your budget for the upcoming year.

Using your disability awareness month event to articulate how much you value disabled employees and colleagues

If you are starting your disability inclusion journey or just setting up your first disability inclusion network, this is a great opportunity to articulate how much you value disabled employees and colleagues.  It will be imperative that you continue this narrative by hosting events and implementing solutions for a disability inclusive workplace. You can do this by actioning suggested solutions that come from your disability guest speaker and the participants who are attending your events.

Tips to consider when planning your event for disability awareness week

To end, here is a summary of the four tips I would give when planning your disability awareness week event. These should enable you to host a successful event that will engage participants now and into the future.

Consider your reasons for the event.

It’s fine to put on an event for the sake of an event. If you take the time to consider your reasons for putting on the event and what you plan to achieve as a result, this can mean a higher turnout, more engagement, and an opportunity to work towards some of your pre-existing goals.

Align pre-existing goals.

Many of our clients who come to us for disability awareness day events are leaders of the disability networks or ERGs within their companies. Often, these networks have pre-existing goals that they are trying to achieve within the year. Considering what you want to achieve with your disability awareness month event will help you match and achieve some of these annual goals.

Book in advance.

So many organisations call Celebrating Disability weeks before they want to do the event. This necessitates a rush job. It does not give enough time for any real planning to ensure goals can be met. Invitations have to be rushed, meaning that many employees do not get a chance to attend because their calendars are already booked up.

The further in advance you can book the event, the more time we will have to work with you to put on an event that truly hits.

Research the theme.

Some disability awareness months have campaigns that focus on a specific theme. This is especially true of Disability History Month, which has a different theme each year.

Research this theme to see if it coincides with your goals. If you haven’t already set them, this could be a good opportunity for some inspiration.

What’s next? Let’s plan it.

Disability awareness months can be powerful starting points, but inclusion doesn’t stop when the calendar page turns. The best way to keep the momentum going is by setting intentional, achievable goals.

Head to our resources section to download tools to help shape your next steps. Or get in touch if you’d like to talk through your next event, training, or strategy. Planning now means you’ll be ready and impactful when the time comes.

How To Write A Training Session That Makes An Impact

How many times have you attended or hosted a training session and walked away unable to articulate the outcome?

If your answer is at least once, you are not alone. It’s a common problem. Training is often developed without a clear purpose. It’s not good enough to say “disability awareness training”. You need to know what the training is for, why now, and who it’s being delivered to. This is where writing an effective training session plan starts, by asking three key questions:

  1. What am I trying to achieve? 
  2. What are people going to leave the session knowing more about? 
  3. What are they going to do because of the session?

I heard somebody liken not setting goals to being lost at sea in a thick fog. And this is so accurate. If you don’t set goals, how do you know where you’re going? How do you know when you’ve got there? How do you know what worked and what didn’t?

The same principles need to be applied when planning your effective training session whether you decide that your training session will be about invisible disabilities in the workplace, supporting disabled employees to achieve, how to support disability disclosure at work, or anything else. First, consider why you are doing it. Follow this with what needs to happen for us to know that we’ve achieved, then consider the barriers presently. If you answer these, it will help you move further towards making your disability inclusion training content impactful.

If you prioritise what I have said above, you are well on your way to an impactful and effective training session. However, this is not the only step. For the remainder of this blog, I will discuss five imperative steps that should be followed to ensure the biggest impact.

  1. Understand the problem.
  2. Interaction, engagement, accessibility and inclusion.
  3. Articulate the purpose of the disability inclusion training session.
  4. Enable opportunity for reflection, accountability and action.
  5. Follow up and provide resources.

Understand the problem.

If you’re wondering how to write a training session, understanding the problem is key.  This is intertwined mainly with setting the right goals. 

Understanding the problem is not something you need to do alone. It’s about engaging, communicating, and collaborating with your best resources: your employees and colleagues. Listen to what they’re saying, analyse the data from your feedback surveys or employee surveys, and talk to your employee resource groups, specifically your disability and neurodiversity ERGs, to gather feedback.

Then, take the information to your supplier (if your disability inclusion training session is delivered externally). At Celebrating Disability, we make it our standard process to ask questions that can help you define the problem and what you were trying to achieve. In this blog, you can read more about what you can do to understand the problem and how we can help you figure that out.

Engagement, interaction, accessibility and inclusion.

An effective training session doesn’t just talk at people. It involves them. Every trainer has a process and strategy for delivering training sessions. At Celebrating Disability, we deliver training sessions in the way that we would engage with the content ourselves. As a person with a fairly short attention span, I must be actively involved, so our training sessions are completely interactive.

Aside from the reasons I’ve already mentioned, the more interactive your training session is, the better you can gauge how engaged the delegates are with your content. This allows the trainer to adjust their style anytime they notice that the delegates are not connecting. Flexibility like this is not possible when you are simply presenting without allowing time for interaction.

Disability inclusion is still somewhat of a taboo subject. Therefore, the more you can encourage conversation, the better. Delegates can hear from each other that they are not alone in their discomfort when talking about disability. That shared experience will, in itself, provide confidence.

If you do not consider accessibility and inclusion when designing and delivering a training session, engagement and interaction will be a moot point—people won’t be able to engage and interact! This blog outlines how you can ensure that you have provided inclusive and accessible methods of engagement for your delegates or participants.

Articulate the purpose of the disability inclusion training session.

If your session is opt-in, you must present a compelling reason why your employees should attend. This is key to hosting an effective training session that will last. Bearing in mind, they don’t know what you know at this stage: they don’t know that this will help them solve their problems at work. They will just think that this is another thing you are asking them to do on top of their already overloaded priority list.

When we work with organisations, we prove to them time and time again that a little marketing can go a long way to ensuring engagement and participation. Those who don’t believe us soon change their minds when they see the results!

We provide benchmarking data, which also supports employees who have not yet attended to see the benefits, as their colleagues are raving about our sessions!

Even if your training sessions are mandatory, it’s important to provide incentives to help people understand what the session is about. This way, when they enter the session, they will already have the correct mindset needed to engage, challenge themselves, and ultimately learn new skills.

I have seen several methods used for internal communication of training sessions and talks. Including:

  • Providing session overviews and training outcomes,
  • Personalised invitation in inboxes,
  • Adoption of internal communication systems. For example, centralised televisions, posters, and internal newsletters.

Enable opportunity for reflection, accountability and action.

One of the biggest reasons companies miss out on the impact and longevity of the training session they commission is that they don’t do the work to ensure accountability. Therefore, further action is not implemented.

You can spend thousands and thousands of pounds investing in an all-singing, all-dancing training company or e-learning platform that can give you the most innovative engagement tools, the snazziest-looking platform, and the most aesthetically designed slide deck. Still, if there is no follow-up, it will all be wasted!

There are a few other top tips to consider for accountability, reflection and action:

  • Make sure your training provider understands your goals, the current barriers, and what you expect delegates to do, think, and feel after the training session.
  • Carve out time in the training session for delegates to reflect on what they have learnt and how they will implement it.
  • Encourage delegates to set pledges. These can be personal or those for which they will be held accountable.
  • Provide resources for your delegates and line managers. These resources should recap what delegates have learnt and provide an overview for line managers on what delegates have learnt and should, therefore, be able to implement. This will let line managers know how to provide space for the delegates to implement their learning.
  • Consider whether the learning outcomes you set for the training session are achievable. For example, does the delegate have the capacity within their role to achieve what they are going to learn in the training session? Also, be mindful of whether the learning outcomes are achievable in the training timeframe. For example, if it’s a two-hour training session and there are 10 learning outcomes, this may not be realistic. Your training provider should guide you through this.

Follow up and provide resources.

To ensure the optimum return on investment, make the feedback process a lasting action.

Ask for feedback from not only the delegates in the room but also their line managers, their colleagues, and other disabled people around the organisation. You can do this by asking the question outright. You can also set specific KPIs that align with the learning objectives of that training session.

Organisations must go beyond attendance numbers to make training effective in the long term and start measuring outcomes. Research from Accenture’s “Getting to Equal” report shows that companies that embed disability inclusion across all levels – including training, leadership, and culture – see higher innovation, increased productivity, and greater employee retention.

Understand your benchmark and then set milestones.

This will be especially helpful for planning when specific targets should be met. If they do not meet the targets, reassess to find out what has broken along the branch:

  • Does the training need to be redelivered because you have a new cohort of staff?
  • Is it because the resource is not being allocated to staff to enable them to implement the learning outcomes?
  • Is it because you’re learning outcomes were outside the remit of the roles of the delegates?
  • Were the targets set too high in the first place?
  • Or is it something else? 

The important thing is, you need the data to start identifying the problem.

Provide continued resources for all employees who happen to be involved, whether they are line managers, leadership employees, HR, team members, suppliers, or any other stakeholders who impact the strategy being achieved.

If your inclusion training isn’t changing behaviour or culture, it’s time to rethink the approach.
We work with organisations to embed disability inclusion across the full training journey—from goal-setting to measurable outcomes. Check out our case studies for examples of how we worked with other companies to achieve their goals. When you’re ready, let’s talk about what you can achieve. 

Disability History –  Past, Present & Future

Introduction

Did you know that Celebrating Disability is based on the legacy of the disability movement and disability rights in the UK from the early 80s onwards? This bloke explores the history of disability rights and how we all have a responsibility and power to ensure that it continues into the future.

Whether you’re reading this blog as a disabled person or an ally of disability inclusion, our history has helped shape the world we see today. A world where removing barriers for disabled people opens up more opportunity, creativity, and fairness for everyone.

This blog will cover a brief history of modern disability activism from the 1980s to today, looking at the evolving landscape of work, policy, and inclusion. We’ll also examine how activism has adapted under a government whose recent policies threaten to strip disabled people of both independence and opportunity, and what businesses can do to stand in solidarity and support.

A brief history of disability activism in the UK (1980–now)

Understanding the fight for disability rights and activism in the UK means recognising how hard-won progress was—and how employment, independence, and equality have been at the heart of the movement. Here are some key moments that shaped workplace rights and inclusion for disabled people:

1980s – The rise of grassroots activism

Activists formed powerful movements like the British Council of Disabled People (BCODP) and Direct Action Network (DAN), fighting for rights, access, and opportunity, especially around independent living and work.

1981 – The International Year of Disabled Persons

The UN declared 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons, sparking activism in the UK. This moment shifted the conversation away from charity and toward the social model of disability: one that focuses on removing barriers in society, including in employment.

1995 – The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

The DDA marked the first legislation outlawing disability discrimination in employment, education, and services. It had its flaws, but it laid essential groundwork for future progress.

2006 – Equality 2025 Advisory Body

This initiative aimed to embed lived experience in policy making. Though short-lived, it was a step toward greater accountability and representation at the national level. Looking back from 2025, it was a nice idea while it lasted!

2010 – The Equality Act

Replacing the DDA, the Equality Act expanded protections and introduced a legal duty for employers to provide reasonable adjustments, which was a pivotal change for workplace accessibility.

2013 – PIP replaces DLA

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was introduced to support disabled people with daily living and mobility, crucial elements of maintaining employment. While designed to empower independence, its complex assessment process often has the opposite effect (which we’ll speak a bit more on later).

2020s – The fight continues

The government set targets to close the disability employment gap, yet simultaneously cut or underfunded vital support like Access to Work. This contradiction continues to spark criticism and activism from the disabled community.

This isn’t an exhaustive history, by any means – many key wins came from local campaigns and grassroots work, and are still continuing now. But each milestone reflects how the fight for equal work opportunities is ongoing and rooted in lived experience

What drove change

The disability rights movement didn’t wait for permission to exist. It was fuelled by the power of collective voice. Disabled people organised, protested, and demanded recognition through advocacy and direct action.

Movements like The Disabled People’s Direct Action Network (DAN) brought visibility through civil disobedience, while community groups and charities helped shift public perception. What unified these efforts was a commitment to equity, autonomy, and dignity, especially in the workplace.

Lived experience has always been central to this progress. Policy that works is policy shaped by the people it’s meant to serve. And real inclusion stems from listening and understanding, not assumptions.

Empowerment in a challenging time

Now, here’s where it gets a bit dark.

In a bid to “get Britain working”, the UK government has proposed almost £5 billion in cuts to Personal Independence Payments (also known as PIP). Their logic is that by raising the points required to qualify for these payments, more people with lower support needs will be forced into work, therefore creating a better economy.

What disabled people and organisations like ours are saying is that PIP is simply a tool to help disabled people with their independence, as the name suggests. PIP covers daily living assistance. Whilst the uses of PIP vary from person to person depending on need, the financial support can aid with expenses such as taxis and public transport, food and energy bills, and disability related expenses. Many people who receive PIP can work and maintain a higher quality of life due to these payments, and without them, they may not be able to work. This is why it is so important to consider lived experience in these decisions, which feel absent from these rulings.

According to the government’s own numbers, the PIP fraud rate between 2023 and 2024 was a tiny 0.4%, compared to 12.9% for Universal Credit. PIP is so hard to claim even before these extreme measures, that only a small percentage of those who need it are qualifying anyway. With these cuts, it will become even harder for people who can (in the government’s own words) use a microwave or can’t wash their hair unaided to receive the support they need.

There has been a huge backlash both from the public and other MPs to these cuts, and it’s hard to not feel like we’re going a bit backwards as a society. But it’s important to remember that activism is still alive through means like online protests – our founder Esi attended one of these recently where people wrote their local MP and sent off complaints about the recent cuts simultaneously to send their message and be seen.

Double standards

There’s a clear contradiction at play.

On one hand, the government is applying pressure on disabled people to “get back to work.” On the other, it’s slashing the very programmes that help make that possible, from Access to Work delays and underfunding to employment support schemes that are slowly disappearing.

By raising barriers to financial support while cutting back on employment pathways, the message isn’t that disabled people are welcome at work, it’s that they’re expected to figure it out alone. And for many, without transport, personal assistance, or accessible workplaces, that expectation is unrealistic, or downright unattainable.

What businesses are up against

While awareness of disability inclusion is growing, many businesses, particularly smaller ones, are still navigating how to implement it meaningfully. And often, the challenge isn’t a lack of willingness, but a lack of resources and clarity.

One ongoing barrier is the assumption that “reasonable adjustments” are expensive or complicated. In reality, many are low or no-cost – flexible working hours, clear communication formats, accessible onboarding – and they often benefit the wider team, not just disabled employees.

That said, some adjustments, such as assistive technology, specialist software, or physical adaptations, can present a cost barrier, especially for small or early-stage businesses. Rather than financial incentives for hiring disabled people (which can feel tokenistic or patronising), support should focus on making adjustments more accessible for employers of all sizes. Think offsetting the cost of tech, simplifying grant access, or speeding up support systems like Access to Work.

At a time when disabled people are facing more and more systemic obstacles, from cuts to PIP and other vital supports, it’s essential that workplaces do more than just open the door. They must create environments where disabled people can succeed, thrive, and belong.

That’s where we come in. At Celebrating Disability, we support businesses through our consultancy and disability inclusion training sessions that are tailored to your business, no matter where you’re at in your journey. Whether you’re already disability confident or are taking the first steps, we provide training that builds confidence, breaks down barriers, and creates lasting change. From making your recruitment process more accessible to understanding how to implement meaningful adjustments, we’re here to help!

So, where do we go from here?

If we want lasting change, businesses and policymakers must do more than just acknowledge barriers. They need to actively dismantle them.

This starts with listening to disabled people, not just during Disability History Month or in response to pressure, but as an embedded, ongoing practice. We should be included in the conversation even when it isn’t disability-centric, because we exist 24/7. Inclusive design, education, and long-term investment in accessibility are not bonuses – they’re essential.

We must also build on the progress of previous generations. The gains made since the 1980s were hard-won, and they show us what’s possible when community, activism, and action meet. Today’s businesses have an opportunity to be part of that legacy by choosing sustainable, authentic inclusion over reactive compliance.

Ready to be part of the change?

Whether you’re an individual looking to deepen your understanding or a business ready to take meaningful action, now is the time to invest in real inclusion. At Celebrating Disability, we support organisations of all sizes to embed disability inclusion into workplace culture – not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a catalyst for long-term impact.

👉 Reasonable Adjustments in the Workplace – Understand what reasonable adjustments really mean and how they benefit everyone.
👉 Asking About Disability on a Form – Rethink how you ask the question to foster trust, safety, and inclusion.
👉 Book a free discovery call to explore how we can support your journey.

Progress doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when we choose it.

Embedding Disability Inclusion Initiatives

Embedding disability inclusion into your workplace is not just a policy; it is about people. At Celebrating Disability, we believe in practical, tailored support that enables disabled employees to contribute confidently and feel valued in their work. To make this a reality, people within the workplace need to feel confident, safe, secure, and knowledgeable to make the inclusive culture a reality for everyone.

We understand that disability inclusion learning does not stop at the end of the training session. To truly embed disability inclusion into your workplace, the work must continue to ensure that the delegates and participants have the time, resources, and information needed to practice, learn, and adopt the behaviours needed to be inclusive of disabled people.

We can provide the resources, but having the opportunity to read and use them is different. We know that after delegates leave a disability inclusion training session, they return to their jobs: the pressures, priorities, and objectives don’t necessarily align with what they have learnt within the training session.

Therefore, this blog will explore initiatives and disability inclusion resources that you can implement to support your employees and colleagues in continuing their learning beyond the training, whether you have engaged in a disability inclusion training session, a talk, a gap analysis assessment, some e-learning, or anything else.

Understanding your delegate outcomes will enable them to embed disability inclusion

Step one is to understand the outcomes that your delegates have worked towards within their training session. This may seem obvious, but it’s essential that if colleagues and employees receive the right support in their workplace, their managers and the organisation must understand what they have achieved and what they now have to do to implement their learning.

This does not mean that you have to know everything they now know. However, grasping the overall actions they need to take to achieve their goal will support your employees’ achievement.

When we deliver training, Celebrating Disability provides learning handouts to line managers, enabling them to understand what has taken place within the training session and, therefore, what new knowledge and skills have been gained.

Providing opportunities and time to practice

Providing your employees with the opportunity, time, and space to practice their new skills will help them hone them, ensure they do not forget what they have learnt, and remain confident in their implementation.

This may include:

  • Role-playing opportunities,
  • Drip-fed resources that are provided at intervals after the training session,
  • Dedicated time per month that enables delegates to practice their new skills or to continue their learning,
  • Consultancy or “mentoring” sessions, which enable delegates to ask further questions to embed their new skills.

Utilising internal comms to embed disability inclusion

Many companies have robust internal communication systems, which are underutilised regarding disability inclusion in the workplace. These resources can help colleagues be reminded and encouraged to implement their learning or to join available opportunities.

As an example, nationwide have an internal radio station that is dedicated to sharing new stories amongst employees.

Other examples can include:

  • Employee newsletters,
  • Bulletins,
  • Big screens in offices.

Disability inclusion outcomes in KPIs

Embed disability inclusion outcomes in annual key performance indicators to ensure disability inclusion stays at the top of the agenda. 

Whilst these should not be taken lightly, they do not have to be 100 miles from what you were hoping your employees could achieve. If done properly, these KPIs should be aligned with your department or teams values and mission in the first place.

They can be based on quantitative data. However, our recommendation is to base these on qualitative data, for example, around reasonable adjustments.  If you spot a decline in the number of requests for reasonable adjustments in certain departments, it may be worth investigating why this is and then adding a KPI against this. Is it because there are no disabled people within that department needing a reasonable adjustment? 

My answer is no, it is more likely that line managers are not feeling confident or do not see it as a priority to engage in conversations around this topic. As this may have been an element of the training session, adding a KPI around the number of conversations a line manager has about reasonable adjustments would be a quick win. This can then be cross-referenced with the satisfaction scores of disabled employees receiving reasonable adjustments.

Bite-size content

Providing opportunities to receive content in bite-sized chunks can ensure the information provided to your employees is digestible and easily accessible, whilst delivering short, sharp, important information on disability inclusion.  This bite-sized material can contain information that you need people to know and be aware of. Whether that be: behaviours that you expect from your employees or provisions and resources that are available to employees and disabled people.

This content could be made available on the intranet and on people’s mobile phones. Recently, I attended the HR Technologies event in London and came across an organisation that provides information in podcast form. This allows listeners to digest the information whilst on a train, in the bath, out for a run, etc. We have unofficially been creating bite-size content since the beginning of Celebrating Disability through our #PartOfMe podcast. You can click here to listen to our episodes.

Tracking and measuring success

While doing all of this, ensure that you have a way to track and measure the success of your disability inclusion resources. That way, you can see what’s working and what isn’t. You can track the uptake and therefore set your expectations accordingly, you can analyse where further information is needed. If you have purchased resources from a third-party provider, tracking your return on investment will also be important.

We believe it’s important to track and measure the success of our services and training sessions. In Celebrating Disability sessions, we benchmark delegates as they enter the session, asking questions related to their confidence and knowledge levels. We ask the same questions at the end of the session to see how those confidence and knowledge levels have grown.

Promoting disability inclusion through resources

Having resources available is only the first step. Real inclusion begins by ensuring they are used effectively and that employees feel comfortable accessing them. Here’s how you can promote inclusion in your organisation:

1. Share disability inclusion resources proactively

Rather than waiting for employees to ask, share information about what’s available as part of your regular communication. This could be during onboarding, in staff handbooks, or in wellbeing newsletters. Resources are effectively useless if nobody knows they exist.

2. Normalise conversations about resources

Encourage managers to have regular check-ins that include open, judgement-free questions about what support people might need. Emphasise that asking for help or adjustments is welcomed, not a burden.

3. Ask anonymously

Not all employees will feel comfortable volunteering exactly what resources they would find helpful, especially if they’re not too sure what exists. Open an anonymous survey, or keep an anonymous suggestions box on the go so you can be aware of what employees would find beneficial.

4. Support with the process

Help employees through the steps. Whether it’s applying for a grant or exploring assistive technology, having someone in-house who understands the process can make a big difference. Provide guidance and assign a point of contact to walk people through it.

5. Create a supportive environment

Inclusion isn’t just about individual adjustments but systems, culture, and attitudes. That’s where Celebrating Disability comes in. We offer:

  • Inclusion consultancy
  • Workplace audits
  • Training sessions for teams and managers. This blog talks about how disability include in training can be utilised to enable confidence amongst line managers and other team members.

Our services help businesses build inclusive structures, recruitment processes and accessible communication strategies. We can also help line managers understand how to support disabled team members in feeling valued, respected, and included.

6. Celebrate success

When adjustments work well, share that success. With the employee’s consent, talk about what was done and how it made a difference. This builds trust and encourages others to come forward.

Final Thoughts

Creating an inclusive workplace isn’t a one-off task — it’s an ongoing commitment. But with the right knowledge, tools, and support, every business can take meaningful steps to support disabled employees and ensure they have what they need to thrive.

There’s a wide array of support out there. However, awareness, understanding, and culture play a huge role in whether these resources are used.

At Celebrating Disability, we help you turn intentions into action. Whether you’re just starting your inclusion journey or looking to strengthen what you already have in place, we can support you in building inclusive systems that benefit everyone.

What will you do?

We have provided you with some information about how to turn your disability inclusion efforts into sustainable change within your business. So it’s over to you, what will you do next? Are you going to implement something that we’ve suggested above? Or do you have another idea? It would be great to hear from you! So, drop us a line, let us know on LinkedIn. And in the meantime, you can look at our Resource Centre, where we have plenty more resources, from podcasts to videos, webinars and documents.

Supporting Employees to Disclose a Disability in the Workplace 

Introduction

Workplace inclusion is gaining more attention, and discussions about disability disclosure are becoming increasingly important. The UK government has proposed the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, which may require businesses with over 250 employees to report how many disabled people they employ. This would be similar to gender pay gap reporting. According to MP Annaliese Dodds:

“The Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers and extend the right to make equal pay claims to ethnic minority and disabled people.”

Unlike gender reporting, a key difference is that 80% of disabled people in the UK have an invisible disability, according to the UK parliament, which they would have to disclose in order to be counted. This is not mandatory, but it does pose an opportunity for employers to set a standard for inclusivity in their practices.

The goal of this bill is to improve transparency, highlight inequalities, and encourage businesses to take steps toward greater inclusion. However, for this to work, employees need to feel safe and supported when sharing their disabilities in the first place.

Many corporations are keen to collect this data, but the reality is many employees often choose not to disclose their disability at work. This can happen for many reasons, including fear of stigma, lack of awareness, and concerns about workplace culture. To create a space where disabled employees feel comfortable sharing their needs, businesses must understand and address these barriers. In this post, we’ll discuss why some employees don’t disclose their disability to employers and how workplaces can foster inclusion so employees feel supported.

Why Don’t Some Employees Disclose a Disability?

Despite the growing emphasis on workplace inclusion, many disabled employees remain hesitant to disclose their condition. Here are some of the key reasons why:

  • Fear of stigma – Many employees worry that disclosing their disability may negatively impact their career progression, job security, or relationships with colleagues and managers, even subconsciously.
  • Exclusionary forms – Standardised forms often fail to account for the full diversity of disabilities, making it difficult for some employees to accurately represent their experiences.
  • Not identifying as disabled – Some people don’t believe they fit the label of ‘disabled’ for many reasons, even if they fall under the umbrella. Neurodivergent employees, those with chronic illnesses or fluctuating impairments may not perceive themselves as disabled due to societal perceptions or a lack of formal diagnosis.
  • Lack of visible inclusion – If employees do not see disability being openly discussed or represented in leadership, they may feel hesitant to disclose their own condition, or not feel the need if they don’t believe any accommodations could be made to help. If disability has never been brought up in the workplace or they have never been asked, it may not have occurred to them to disclose it.

Understanding these concerns is the first step toward change. Businesses must actively challenge stigma, foster open communication, and embed inclusivity into their policies.

How Businesses Can Foster an Inclusive Environment for Disclosure

For employees to feel safe disclosing their disabilities, businesses must actively cultivate a culture of trust and inclusion. Here are some practical ways to achieve this:

– Encourage open conversations – Normalising discussion about disability can help break down stigma. Leadership should lead by example, sharing their own experiences where appropriate and encouraging honest discussions.

– Ensure inclusive policies and processes – Workplace policies should be regularly reviewed to ensure they support disabled employees. This includes making reasonable adjustments easily accessible, ensuring flexible working options, and providing appropriate accommodations.

– Review data collection methods – Disability disclosure forms should be clear, inclusive, and reflective of a wide range of disabilities. Providing an option for employees to elaborate on their needs, rather than simply selecting from a checklist, can make a significant difference. Be transparent on why you’re collecting the data and that disclosure does not mean ‘coming out’ as disabled to everyone in the company.

– Train managers and HR teams – Line managers play a crucial role in shaping workplace culture. Training on disability inclusion can help them feel more confident in discussing reasonable adjustments, addressing unconscious biases, and creating a more welcoming environment.

– Create visible representation – Showcasing disability inclusion within company communications, leadership, and employee networks can help employees feel seen and supported. Employee resource groups and mentoring programmes can also be valuable in fostering a sense of community.

The Impact of Disability Inclusion Training  

Homes for Students, one of the UK’s largest student accommodation providers, recognised that while its employees were open to diversity, many lacked confidence in discussing and supporting disability at work. To change this, they partnered with Celebrating Disability to deliver interactive training. These sessions increased understanding, tackled misconceptions, and equipped managers with the tools to create a more inclusive workplace.  

The results were clear. After the training, the company saw a 90% rise in staff sharing their disabilities. Employees felt more comfortable discussing their needs, and managers gained a better understanding of how to support them.  

Key lessons from this partnership include:

– Recognising that disability goes beyond visible conditions

– Using inclusive language and communication

– Implementing reasonable adjustments with confidence

– Understanding the role of education in changing workplace culture  

This case study shows the real benefits of investing in disability inclusion. When businesses take proactive steps, they create workplaces where employees feel valued and supported. Our training helped Homes for Students make this change, and the results speak for themselves. 

[Read the full study]

The Takeaway  

Encouraging disability disclosure in the workplace is about more than just meeting reporting requirements. It’s about fostering a culture where employees feel valued, respected, and supported to be open. Businesses that take the time to understand the barriers to disclosure and actively work to address them will not only create a more inclusive environment but will also benefit from a more engaged and diverse workforce.

At the end of the day, disclosing a disability is a very personal decision for an employee, and not one that can be rushed or forced. However, with these practices, there’s a good chance that employees will feel more able to disclose their disability if the framework is there to support them.

At Celebrating Disability, we specialise in helping businesses develop inclusive workplace cultures where disabled employees feel empowered to be their authentic selves. Through tailored training sessions like the one we provided for Homes for Students, we provide businesses with the knowledge and tools they need to embed disability inclusion at every level.

Would your organisation benefit from similar training? Not sure where to start? Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you build a truly inclusive workplace.

Website Accessibility: Why It Matters And What You Can Do

Website accessibility might be something you’ve briefly heard about, or it could be something you’re not aware of at all. Either way, you’re in the majority, but the importance of the topic cannot be overstated. In this post, we’ll cover what it is, why it’s so important to your business, and ways you can start making your website more accessible right now.

What Is Website Accessibility

Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, had this to say about his creation:

“The power of the Web is in its universality.

Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”

That quote sums up website accessibility. It ensures that people of all abilities, including disabled people, can access websites and digital content. Everyone should be able to perceive, understand, interact with, and navigate online information.

Website accessibility covers a wide range of disabilities, including auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilities. However, its benefits go beyond that. It also supports people with temporary barriers, such as a broken arm, situational limitations like holding a baby or dealing with screen glare, and even those using mobile devices on a slow connection.

Why Website Accessibility Matters

24% of the UK population has a disability, so you’d think businesses would be doing all they can to support such a large group of people. Unfortunately, this is not the case. More often than not, websites are built in ways that do not accommodate people who rely on screen readers, tabbed navigation, or simply an intuitive and understandable interface.

In fact, an incredible 96% of websites are deemed inaccessible. As you’d expect, this has a big impact on businesses. It costs UK businesses over £17 billion each year, while 7 in 10 disabled customers said they would leave websites that are inaccessible. Additionally, 86% of disabled people said they paid more for a product or service from an accessible website.

Simply put, we should be doing better. Not only is it the right thing to do ethically, but it also makes clear business sense to prioritise website accessibility. Fortunately, making improvements is easier than many businesses think.

What Can I Start Doing Right Now?

While some aspects of website accessibility depend on your website builder or developer, it’s important to remember that accessibility is a shared responsibility. Everyone involved in managing your website has a role to play, and there are practical steps you can take right now to make your site more accessible.

Add Alternative Text to Images

If you’re using a CMS, website builder, or even uploading an image on social media, you’ve probably seen an “alt text” field. Many people ignore this, but it’s crucial for users who rely on screen readers. Alt text describes an image to those who may have difficulty seeing it, allowing them to understand important vis0ual context.

For guidance on writing effective alt text, check out this resource: W3C Alt Text Decision Tree

Use Plain Language

Have you ever landed on a webpage and felt completely lost within the first minute? Overly complex wording, long-winded sentences, and poorly structured information can make content difficult to understand.

Using clear, simple language benefits everyone, including people with cognitive disabilities or lower reading literacy. It also makes your content easier to digest and helps position your business as more inclusive.

Does Your Form Have Labels?

Here’s a quick accessibility check: if you have a contact form on your site, go to the page and click on a label. If it highlights the corresponding input field, your form is likely accessible. If it doesn’t, people using screen readers won’t know what each input field is for.

If your label is inside the input field and disappears when typing, it means there’s no proper label set up at all. This creates accessibility issues for people who rely on screen readers.

The Tab Test

Here’s another simple check: can you navigate your website using only the Tab key? Try pressing Tab to move through links, buttons, and the menu. Can you see a clear visual indicator showing where you are?

If you can’t navigate properly or there’s no visible focus indicator, your site has accessibility issues. This makes it difficult for keyboard users, including those with motor impairments, to use your website.

Consider Accessibility

As we mentioned earlier, accessibility needs to be factored in at every stage of a project—design, development, and ongoing maintenance. Always check with your developer what they do to ensure your website is accessible. Even better, ask them about WCAG compliance. If they haven’t heard of it, that’s probably a red flag.

Before committing to a web design agency, you can run their website through the WAVE Chrome extension. This tool highlights accessibility errors, including contrast issues. While it’s useful for spotting technical problems, keep in mind that it doesn’t catch every accessibility issue.

What Should My Developer Be Doing?

While you don’t need to understand all the technical details, it’s useful to know a few key checks to ensure your developer is building your site correctly—or at least to question their approach.

One important factor is semantic coding. Simply put, this means using the right elements for the right purpose. For example, navigation menus should be wrapped in a <nav> tag, and headings should follow a logical order—your main heading should be an H1, followed by H2s, then H3s, and so on.

A neat way to check this yourself is by right-clicking on a webpage and selecting “Inspect” (or pressing Ctrl + Shift + I on Windows or Cmd + Option + I on Mac). This will open the browser’s developer tools, where you can see the code behind each element. If you notice text styled to look like a heading but marked up as a <div> instead of an H1-H6, or navigation links that aren’t inside a <nav> tag, this could indicate accessibility issues.

Having some awareness of these best practices is helpful, but the most important step is to choose a web design business that truly understands website accessibility.

Your Next Website Accessibility Steps

For businesses, embracing accessibility and inclusivity can be a game changer. From a website accessibility standpoint, you now have some actionable steps to take. You should understand the importance and business case for accessibility, know some practical tests you can run, and start factoring accessibility into everything you do online.

The sooner you start improving your website’s accessibility, the more people you can reach and support. Take that first step today—whether it’s running a quick accessibility check or having a conversation with your web developer

Advocating for Disability Inclusion in a Changing DEI Landscape

For years, businesses have embraced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a way to build fairer, more innovative workplaces. At its best, DEI fosters environments where all employees – regardless of background, identity, or ability – have the opportunity to contribute and succeed.

But recently, the conversation around DEI has shifted. In the US., we’re seeing a growing backlash, with some companies scaling back their initiatives due to legal, political, or financial pressures. Critics argue that DEI has become performative, overly bureaucratic, or even counterproductive when reduced to a numbers game.

This shift raises important questions: What does DEI actually mean? Where has it gone wrong? And how can we ensure that inclusion – especially for disabled employees –  remains a priority, even as the DEI label becomes more contentious?

To answer these, let’s start by breaking down what DEI is really about.

What DEI Really Means

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been a widely used framework for building fairer, more representative workplaces. At its core:

  • Diversity refers to the range of identities and experiences people bring to a team across race, gender, disability, age, and more.
  • Equity ensures that individuals have the tailored support they need to succeed, acknowledging that not everyone starts from the same place.
  • Inclusion creates environments where all employees feel valued, heard, and empowered to contribute.

When done well, DEI is not just about hiring more diverse candidates or meeting quotas. It’s about fostering a workplace where everyone, regardless of background or ability, has equal access to opportunities.

Yet, in many cases, diversity, equity and inclusion has been reduced to a box-ticking exercise. When seen as performative or bureaucratic, it can create resistance rather than positive change. And in the US., that resistance is growing.

The Current DEI Backlash in the U.S. (A Brief, Non-Political Overview)

Over the past year, there has been a noticeable shift in how DEI is perceived—particularly in the U.S. The current administration has made it clear that the era of DEI in its current state is over, even going so far as to claim “DEI is dead” after the executive order was made.

Some high-profile companies, including Google, have scaled back or even scrapped DEI initiatives following this, and legal challenges have led to debates over the future of workplace diversity programs.

Some of the key reasons for this shift include:

  • Legal scrutiny – Certain DEI programs have been challenged for being exclusionary or biased.
  • Budget cuts – Economic pressures have led to downsizing, with DEI roles often among the first to go.
  • Public perception – Some see DEI as divisive or unfair, particularly when it is viewed as a quota-driven effort rather than a meaningful approach to inclusion.

For those working in disability inclusion, this shift presents a challenge. Disability has often been overlooked in DEI conversations, despite over 1.3 billion people worldwide, around 16% of the world’s population, having a disability, according to the World Health Organization. If companies move away from DEI altogether, will disability inclusion efforts also be abandoned?

The good news is that we don’t need to rely on the label of ‘DEI’ to make the case for disability inclusion.

How to Advocate for Disability Inclusion (Without Calling It DEI)

If DEI as a term is becoming politically charged, we need to rethink how we talk about disability inclusion, focusing on practical, solution-oriented approaches that resonate across all business priorities.

1. Frame Disability Inclusion as Accessibility and Business Strategy

Rather than positioning disability inclusion as a DEI initiative, align it with accessibility, productivity, and talent retention.

  • Companies that embrace accessibility see higher employee engagement and innovation, according to Modern Health.
  • Inclusive workplaces help businesses attract and retain top talent, particularly as younger generations prioritise accessibility in their job searches.
  • Creating accessible products and services expands market reach, benefiting both customers and employees.

By shifting the focus from DEI terminology to business success and compliance, disability inclusion becomes a practical necessity, not just a moral imperative.

In the UK., businesses have legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010, which protects disabled employees from discrimination. Similarly, in the US., the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates reasonable accommodations in the workplace.

Even if companies are stepping back from DEI, compliance is non-negotiable. Businesses that fail to meet accessibility standards risk legal consequences and reputational damage.

When advocating for disability inclusion, emphasise:

  • Legal risk reduction – Ensuring compliance protects companies from lawsuits and penalties.
  • Cost-effectiveness – Implementing accessibility measures early is cheaper than retrofitting solutions later.
  • Corporate reputation – Consumers and employees value businesses that prioritise accessibility and fairness.

3. Promote Disability Inclusion as a Workplace Productivity Booster

One major misconception about workplace accommodations is that they are expensive or burdensome. In reality, most disability accommodations cost nothing or very little – and they often benefit all employees.

For example:

  • Flexible work arrangements help disabled employees, parents, and those with mental health challenges.
  • Assistive technology improves efficiency for some neurodivergent employees and enhances usability for everyone.
  • Clear communication strategies support employees with disabilities while improving overall workplace collaboration.

By demonstrating how accessibility boosts productivity, businesses will be more likely to invest in inclusive practices—regardless of whether they label it as DEI.

4. Lead with Inclusive Leadership and Employee Wellbeing

Instead of framing disability inclusion as part of DEI, position it as part of good leadership and employee wellbeing.

  • Train managers on how to support disabled employees effectively.
  • Encourage Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that focus on disability advocacy in a way that aligns with business goals.
  • Integrate accessibility into workplace culture – making it a standard practice rather than a special initiative.

When inclusion is embedded in leadership and wellbeing strategies, it becomes a natural part of workplace culture—rather than a separate “DEI program” that could be cut.

The Takeaway

The current changes in the US. DEI landscape highlight the need for a new way of advocating for disability inclusion—one that moves beyond labels and focuses on practical impact.

By framing disability inclusion as a business strength, a compliance necessity, and a driver of workplace productivity, we can ensure that accessibility remains a priority – regardless of shifting corporate attitudes toward DEI.

Disability inclusion isn’t a political issue. It’s a workplace reality. And when done right, it benefits everyone.

At Celebrating Disability, we’re passionate about DEI, no matter the label it falls under. If your business could benefit from event speaking to raise awareness, awareness training to implement change, or disability consultancy to develop strategy, we’re here to help. Click here to find out how we can support your DEI journey to continue.

Fostering Inclusion in the Workplace: Empowering Employees to Create Accessible Environments

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]

Inclusion for all in the workplace is paramount, this is equally true for disability inclusion in the workplace. Although many companies already have dedicated DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) teams to foster inclusion and help employees feel empowered in the workplace, progress still needs to be made to ensure everyone has the ability to thrive, no matter who they are.

Many middle and line managers struggle to know what to do to further promote inclusivity, especially when budgets are stretched and decisions around disability are out of their control. This blog post will break down that misconception and demonstrate exactly what you can do in your workplace, no matter your role. Inclusivity benefits everyone, and everyone can do their bit.

But quickly: what does disability inclusion in the workplace look like? It’s a place where…

  • Employees feel comfortable disclosing their disability (if they choose to do so).
  • Barriers are removed for disabled employees to work to their full potential.
  • Disabled employees feel supported and included.
  • The workplace culture is friendly, open to change, and evolving.

Why Disability Inclusion in the Workplace Matters

According to the UK government, more than 10 million working-age adults in the UK are either disabled or have a long-term health condition. Over half of these individuals are currently in the workplace, yet many more are eager to showcase their unique skills and talents but lack the necessary support to do so. For the 5.53 million disabled people already in work, numerous barriers still exist, making it difficult to access the support they need to reach their full potential.

Challenges faced by disabled employees and customers:

Disability inclusion often brings to mind larger, physical changes like implementing access for wheelchair users through ramps or lifts. These are obviously very important, but inclusion is much broader and covers a range of topics.

Here’s a quick list of possible barriers that disabled people may face in the workplace:

Physical Barriers: Inaccessible facilities, such as toilets, kitchens, or entrances without ramps or lifts.

Digital Barriers: Tools and documents that are incompatible with assistive technologies, or lack captions and alternative text.

Communication Barriers: Limited access to alternative communication formats or follow-up materials.

Policy Gaps: Insufficient flexible working options or unclear processes for requesting adjustments.Social Barriers: Stigma, exclusion from activities, or fear of discussing accessibility needs.

Practical Steps for Middle and Line Managers to Foster Inclusion

1. Foster open communication:

  • Create a safe, supportive environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their accessibility needs. Encourage employees to be open about their needs whilst still being respectful.
  • Make conversations about accommodations a regular part of workplace dialogue to reduce stigma.

2. Review internal practices:

  • Ensure meeting materials, documents, and communications are accessible. Encourage the use of tools or conduct an internal document audit (a service we offer) to ensure accessibility compliance.
  • Embed accessibility into everyday workflows, ensuring it becomes an ongoing practice rather than a passing trend. Keep review.

3. Small adjustments, big impact:

  • Offer small but impactful adjustments, such as adjustable desks (if possible), alternative text for images, and captions for videos. These ‘quick wins’ can significantly improve accessibility.
  • Use clear and simple language in all communications to improve understanding.
  • Over email, make sure text is in a standard font (such as Arial, unless specified otherwise) and is formatted in a way that isn’t overly complex.
  • Promote hybrid working options and flexible schedules where feasible.

4. Lead by example:

  • Demonstrate a personal commitment to inclusion by practising what you promote.
  • Share your own journey to becoming more inclusive and inspire others to follow.

Empowering Employees to Take Action

Creating allies across the workforce:

  • Encourage participation in disability inclusion workshops or offer training sessions tailored to your team’s needs (we’re happy to help—get in touch!).
  • Establish peer-support networks where employees can connect and support one another, fostering a sense of belonging.

Highlighting resources:

Provide employees with resources to create accessible documents and direct them to HR or accessibility teams for further support.

Fostering Disability Inclusion in the Workplace: The Role of Senior Management

While middle and line managers play a crucial role in fostering inclusion day-to-day, higher management can amplify this change company-wide. Here’s how executives can make a lasting impact:

1. Invest in Inclusion Audits and Training

Executives can lead the way by commissioning inclusion audits and organising tailored training for their teams. These audits can identify barriers in current practices, policies, and both internal and external documentation, providing a clear roadmap for improvement. Training empowers employees to adopt inclusive practices, ensuring inclusivity becomes embedded in the company culture.

At Celebrating Disability, we offer tailored accessibility audits and bespoke training sessions to help organisations identify and address gaps. Booking a consultation is a practical first step towards creating a workplace where everyone can thrive.

2. Create Inclusive Policies

Senior leaders can set the standard for inclusion by implementing policies that support disabled employees and customers alike. This includes implementing clear processes for requesting reasonable adjustments, embedding accessibility into recruitment, and ensuring flexible working options are standard.

When executives lead with inclusivity, it signals to the entire organisation that disability inclusion is a priority. By modelling this commitment, they create a ripple effect, inspiring employees at every level to embrace and support a more inclusive culture.

This section highlights actionable steps for higher management while naturally promoting your company’s services. It positions executives as key players in driving change without overshadowing the contributions of middle and line managers.

The Takeaway

• Middle and line managers can foster inclusion through meaningful, everyday actions.

• Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility—employees at all levels can champion it.

• Fostering inclusion is essential, and with the right tools, training, and mindset, it’s achievable for everyone.

For middle managers and employees: Share tips with your team, identify one change you can make this week, and start conversations about inclusion.

For executives and decision-makers: Book a consultation or training session with Celebrating Disability to explore how we can help you create a more inclusive workplace.

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column] [/et_pb_row] [/et_pb_section]

Driving Disability Workplace Inclusion with AI and Technology

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology is reshaping nearly every aspect of our lives. From the way we communicate to how we work, these advancements hold the promise of making the world more connected, efficient, and innovative. Disability inclusion is no exception to this, especially in the workplace.

AI and technology have opened new doors for accessibility, enabling disabled people to participate more fully in the workplaces and, in some scenarios, in social environments. However, as with any powerful tool, they come with their own set of challenges. While they can drive inclusion, they can also inadvertently create new barriers if not implemented thoughtfully.

In this blog post, we’ll explore both the opportunities and challenges of using AI and technology for workplace inclusion. From success stories to cautionary tales, our goal is to provide an unbiased view of how businesses can harness the power of technology to foster inclusivity for all.

AI & Technology: The Pros

AI and technology are making significant strides in breaking down barriers for disabled people. At the same time, creating natural disability workplace inclusion that can become business as usual. Here are just a few examples:

Screen Readers and Text-to-Speech Tools

Tools like JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) empower visually impaired users to navigate websites, software, and documents seamlessly. These technologies translate digital text into speech or braille, enabling greater independence in the workplace.

Technologies like these are why adding alternative text on photos (for example, on a LinkedIn post) is so important. Screen readers will otherwise be unable to translate the photo into words, but in future, maybe artificial intelligence will be able to decipher a photo’s contents for this purpose too!

Voice Recognition Software

AI-powered tools like Dragon NaturallySpeaking allow individuals with mobility impairments to control computers and create documents using only their voice. This technology enhances productivity and enables employees to perform tasks they might otherwise find difficult or impossible.

The AI that is built into most technology, like Siri on iPhone or Alexa on Amazon devices, is incredibly helpful in navigating everyday tasks. Examples include sending an email or managing volume levels. These systems have grown to understand different accents, commands, and even shortcuts. These have become essential to helping disabled employees communicate and execute tasks more efficiently. Celebrating Disability’s founder, Esi, displays the following on her email signature:

Access requirements: I use Siri to type emails; sometimes, he does not hear me correctly. If you encounter grammatical errors, this may be why.

In many ways, great tech such as this is like having another team member!

Virtual Meeting Captioning Tools

Platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams now offer AI-driven live captioning, making virtual meetings more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, as well as auditory processing disorders that can sometimes be found in neurodivergent people. These features help ensure that remote work environments are inclusive for all team members.

Although many automatic captions on video platforms like YouTube and news websites are still far from perfect, AI is becoming more sophisticated by the day at transcribing content so more people can enjoy captions on a recorded webinar or live call. More examples that naturally create disability workplace inclusion for everyone.

AI in Recruitment

Companies are beginning to use AI to make hiring processes more accessible. For example, AI-driven platforms can screen CVs or cover letters in ways that reduce unconscious bias, ensuring candidates are evaluated based on their qualifications rather than stereotypes.

Recruiters have a duty to use this technology responsibly, including making sure that the AI itself is not programmed with bias and only screens candidates based on ability and takes into consideration any reasonable adjustments. The UK government has even published a guide to AI in recruitment to steer employers in the right direction.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to assistive technology in the workplace. Click here to check out a previous blog post that covers even more types of tech.

AI & Technology: The Cons

Despite these advancements, there are challenges to using AI and technology in accessibility:

Bias in AI Models

Many AI models are trained on datasets that lack diversity, leading to biases that can exclude or disadvantage disabled people. Bias in AI developers can also create models that unconsciously have prejudice built in, even if ‘trained’ to be impartial.

Many AI systems are being trained constantly to try to reduce this kind of bias or stereotype, but unfortunately, some large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Claude are already live, so any issues in the system can be accessed or exploited by users.

Accessibility Gaps in Technology

While some tools are designed with accessibility in mind, many are not. For example, software platforms may lack compatibility with screen readers, or voice-activated systems may struggle to understand users with speech impairments. These issues may not be considered until after the initial rollout and are often an afterthought, leaving many users unable to use platforms without automatic captioning or screen reader compatibility.

Many sites’ stylisation may also prove difficult to access. Certain typing quirks, lack of alt text on photos, emoji spam, and unwarranted pop-ups may prevent a screen reader from doing its job properly, meaning the site is deemed inaccessible.

Inadvertent Barriers

The rapid development of AI often prioritises innovation over inclusivity. As a result, technologies are sometimes rolled out without considering how they might impact disabled users. This highlights the importance of involving disabled people in the design and testing phases of technology development.

All new technology releases have an unfortunate grace period during which any errors or bugs are ironed out. This period may mean frustration for all users, but disabled workers are unable to work at their best or at all. Whilst it is amazing that such technology exists, disabled people often rely on it to perform at the highest quality, so it is paramount that these issues are fixed before release.

Best Practices for Businesses

To truly harness the power of AI and technology for inclusion, businesses must adopt a thoughtful approach. Here are some practical steps to get started:

  1. Evaluate Accessibility from the Start

When adopting new technologies, consider accessibility a core requirement—not a ‘nice to have’—for both employees and possible customers. Ask vendors about their accessibility features and test the tools with disabled users.

  1. Engage Disabled People in Tech Design

Involve disabled employees and consultants in the design and implementation of technology. Their firsthand experience can help identify potential barriers and ensure the tools work for everyone.

  1. Invest in Training

Provide training for your teams on how to use accessible technologies effectively. Educate employees on how these tools benefit everyone, fostering a culture of inclusion.

  1. Regularly Review and Update

Accessibility is an ongoing process. Regularly assess your tools and processes to ensure they continue to meet the needs of all employees.

  1. Partner with Experts

Celebrating Disability can provide guidance on the best way to move forward. From audits to review your business’s practices to training sessions on accessibility, you can be sure to benefit from our expert advice to ensure you’re on the right track.

Conclusion

AI and technology have the potential to revolutionise workplace inclusion, but their success depends on how thoughtfully they’re implemented. By prioritising accessibility and involving disabled people in the process, businesses can unlock the full potential of these tools to create truly inclusive environments.

Are you ready to embrace the future of workplace inclusion? Celebrating Disability is here to help. Book a consultation with us today to learn how we can guide your team in adopting inclusive technologies and fostering a workplace where everyone can thrive

Training Employees To Be Inclusive Of Disabled People

Training employees to be inclusive of disabled people is essential for creating workplaces where everyone feels valued, supported, and able to thrive. Using the principle of inclusive design, disability inclusion training can shape cultures by prioritising equity and fostering belonging. Understanding the distinction between accessibility and inclusion is critical to this effort, as highlighted by Celebrating Disability: accessibility ensures physical or logistical access, but inclusion makes individuals feel welcome and valued.  Celebrating Disability’s Accessibility versus Inclusion video demonstrates this theory.

Beyond Accessibility: Creating a Culture of Inclusion  

Accessibility is a foundation. It provides the tools, resources, and structures disabled employees need to participate. Examples include ramps, hearing loops, or screen readers. However, inclusion is about attitudes, behaviours, and culture. Inclusion ensures that employees don’t just participate but feel valued.  

For example, consider a workplace that provides a quiet room for employees who need sensory breaks. That’s accessible. However, if colleagues stigmatise or question the use of that space, the environment is not inclusive. True inclusion requires creating a workplace culture where adjustments and those like these are normalised and understood as essential.  

Why It Matters  

Exclusion, whether intentional or not, has significant consequences. A disabled person might navigate physical barriers in the workplace, but without inclusive behaviours, they are unlikely to feel they belong. For example, if a team meeting allows attendees to move around to aid focus but doesn’t pause discussions to include everyone, someone with ADHD may feel marginalised.  

How Celebrating Disability Can Help  

Creating inclusive workplaces is a journey, and you don’t need to have all the answers at once. What matters most is your intent and willingness to learn. Celebrating Disability offers training beyond compliance to explore real-world strategies for embedding inclusive attitudes and behaviours in your workplace.  

Beginning with a conversation to understand your goals for disability inclusion in your organisation, Celebrating Disability provide tailored resources to ensure solutions offered are tangible and realistic to your working environment.

Training Employees to be Inclusive of Disabled People with Celebrating Disability

Like your disabled employees, your organisation is unique. Therefore, all our training sessions are delivered to be unique to your specific challenges and structure. We want to understand your goals for disability inclusion and the current barriers to creating an inclusive culture. This way, we can ensure that when we develop content, it answers your burning questions.

Whilst training employees to be inclusive of disabled people, it’s important to understand that disability is an evocative subject for some. Our approach must be mindful and respectful. We strive to create an environment where everyone feels confident and psychologically safe to not only challenge their own thinking but also to question the ideas presented. This openness allows for the implementation of ideas both immediately and over the long term.

While we use PowerPoint slides to cement our content, trainers do not rely on PowerPoint slides to carry the sessions. Instead, all trainers ensure that sessions are engaging and interactive. Keeping our sessions to a maximum of 20 delegates helps us achieve this.

We also understand that not everybody in the room will disclose any support needs they may have. Therefore, we ensure content is delivered with inclusion and accessibility as a priority. For example, all slides are read out loud. Delegates have options of how they participate and engage in our sessions. To read more about how we ensure inclusion and accessibility during events, please click here.

As a user-led organisation, when training to be inclusive of disabled people, we always deliver with lived experience of disability. Our trainers have a diverse range of impairments. Personalised experience of disability is utilised in training sessions to support concepts and solutions that are tangible and relevant to people in the room. On top of this, all trainers have an active background in the workplace and, therefore, can bring lived experience coupled with professional experience to ensure any solutions and concepts offered are realistic.

Tracking Growth

Along with many organisations we work with, Celebrating Disability finds it important to track the learning growth of people who have attended our training sessions. We do this for many reasons. Primarily, we want to provide clients and delegates in the room with a tool to tangibly articulate and understand the journey of learning they have achieved. Clients will also have a resource to see what they have achieved and where they still need to go on their journey.

We also want to ensure that our content is relevant and helpful. This enables us to make improvements easily and constantly.

Therefore, we provide benchmarking data. At the beginning of the training session, we provide delegates with a short survey to complete. The anonymous survey understands knowledge and confidence levels before any information is delivered. We encourage delegates to take the same survey at the end of the training session. This way, we can track their growth whilst engaging with us. On average, people’s learning level has developed at about 31%. We don’t expect anyone to enter our training sessions without knowledge of the subject. And, although we are very good at what we do, we cannot expect people to leave the room knowing everything after a three-hour period. Therefore, this rate is quite good!

Did you know that only an average of 9% of UK businesses prioritise disability inclusion? There are probably many reasons for this. One of the reasons is that disability inclusion is multilayered. Many find it overwhelming and do not know where to start. An integral part of our service is to support our clients to consider what they want to achieve and why they want to achieve it. This, as a result, informs the strategy. To read more about how we support you to consider your goals and reach your outcomes, click the link below to download our white paper.

Download White Paper PDF

Disability inclusion is not just about meeting legal obligations—it’s about creating a workplace culture where everyone feels they can succeed. Get in touch with Celebrating Disability today to discuss tailored training that will enable you to make disability inclusion a reality.  

Let’s Talk About Inclusion

We’d love to hear from you.

Start a Conversation
Celebrating Disability
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.