Disability Awareness Events & Webinars
Real-time events to enable participants to continue prioritising disability in the workplace
Real Time Online Webinars
From time to time, Celebrating Disability host disability in the workplace and disability awareness online webinars. These disability inclusion webinars are designed to support businesses and not for profits to concentrate on disability within their organisation. Webinars will be a mixture of interactive, discussion-based webinars and seminars style webinars where there is less interaction. The webinars hosted will feature Celebrating Disability associates. Topics will range from how to prioritise disability in the workplace to a general Q&A session giving you the opportunity to ask any questions relating to the field of disability awareness and disability inclusion in the workplace.
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Online Webinars Versus Face-To-Face Talks & Training
In the post-lockdown era, many workplaces are seeing the benefits of online events and training sessions; enabling many employees to participate and attend from their desk to name just one. However, whilst online events are really helpful, let us not forget that it does not necessarily mean that everything will automatically be inclusive of disabled people; online events bring their own set of potential barriers. Understanding and developing disability awareness for these potential barriers can enable mitigation of these. When commissioning a Celebrating Disability talk, support and advice will be given to ensure everyone can participate and feel included.
You can see below an example of a webinar hosted by Esi. This disability inclusion webinar was hosted on behalf of ParaPride through the Consortium for Stronger LGBT+ Communities. The style of the webinar was a seminar style. This webinar is one hour in length so you may want to watch a section now and return later (unless you have the time right now).
Disability Awareness Webinar
Hosted on behalf of ParaPride
Hosting an Event?
Are you looking for an internal event? Celebrating Disability can support you with that! We can deliver a bespoke talk tailored to your internal employees for a specific event or a group of specific people.
Online Inclusion Webinars
Below you will find a list of webinars that have previously taken place. The links attached to the webinars will take you to the Celebrating Disability YouTube channel where you will be able to watch the recording.
4 Degrees Of Disability – Ask The Experts Webinar
Webinar Style: All Out Q&A
Panelists: Ryan Compton, Sarah Burrell, Roland Chesters, Esi Hardy
A webinar dedicated purely to answering your questions. The four expert panelists will be bringing their experiences both as professionals in the field of disability inclusion and as disabled people with personal experiences themselves. We wanted to create an environment where participants can ask any and all questions relating to disability in the workplace.
Why 4 Degrees Of Disability?
Quite simply, there are four of us and we are all disabled. Between the four of us, we cover a multitude of impairments and impairment groups. Including: physical impairments, sensory, mental health, learning disability, health related disability and speech impairment.
Between the four of us, we also have years of experience in the area of disability inclusion and equality.
There will be some ground rules though:
- Any inappropriate questions will be vetoed
- Panellists have a “Veto Card” for any questions that they choose not to answer
Language, Etiquette & Communication
Webinar Style: Interactive Discussion
Many of the conversations I have with people working in organisations are around the language and communication. The barriers to engaging with disabled people are often around a fear of getting it wrong or insulting a person. This fear often prevents a conversation from starting in the first place and can be the barrier to true engagement.
In this webinar, we will explore what inclusive language is and how to know what is and what is not appropriate. We will also look a little bit at different communication methods and how these methods can be utilised to engage with people in a meaningful way.
Prioritising Disability in the Workplace
Webinar Style: Talk with Q&A
This webinar, hosted by Celebrating Disability will help you structure a plan to continue your disability awareness and inclusion journey whilst working from home.
We will concentrate on four main areas that can be remotely strategised. Offering guidance as to why it is important as well as providing you with practical tips to get you underway.
This webinar is designed to help you think about where to start and how to get going. By the time you are back working in the office, you can be confident that you can competently and successfully attract and retain disabled people within your organisation.
The four main areas we will be covering:
- Accessibility Statements
- Reasonable Adjustment Policy
- Inclusive Recruitment
- Values Towards Disabled People
Inclusive Design (Collaborating with Disabled People)
Webinar Style: Talk with Q&A
Designing your product or service to be inclusive of everyone is always easier when you enlist the support of people that know best. This is especially true for designing products that can be inclusive of disabled people.
Many organisations and businesses fall into the trap of assuming they know what disabled people need. However, this is impossible unless they have lived experience or are utilising the knowledge of disabled people themselves. Designing products and services to be inclusive of disabled people can be applied to many services. For example:
- Front of house customer services
- Designing and developing a product
- Website design and development
- Planning a new space or environment
Collaborating with disabled people takes planning and sometimes specific strategies, in this webinar, we will explore some of the strategies and also discuss the benefits of inclusive design.
General Disability Awareness
Webinar Style: Talk with Q&A
Disability awareness and inclusion is a fairly large topic. It covers many areas and due to disabled people and disability being so broad and unique to individuals, it can at times be difficult to know where to start. This webinar offers an opportunity to have an overview and an insight into disability awareness and why it is so important for business and organisations.
Social Model of Disability
Webinar Style: Talk with Q&A
The social model of disability is a philosophy that many disabled people live by. However, it is more than just a philosophy. It is a way to understand that if we all work together, the world could be more accessible and inclusive for disabled people.
The social model of disability consists of four main elements of which it is believed that society can adapt to be more inclusive of disability:
- The physical environment we live in
- The attitudes of people around us towards disabled people
- How organisations operate and work to include and champion disability
- How the “social” and “structure” “norms” can be adapted to think outside the box and find new ways of working to involve disabled people
By having an insight into this philosophy and where it came from and how it works, you will be able to suggest and implement changes to your workplace and your business or organisation that will support disabled people to feel welcome and valued.
Creating Inclusive & Accessible Events
Webinar Style: Talk with Q&A
If a disabled person doesn’t feel valued and welcome then they are less likely to attend your event or meeting. There are some “easy” and “simple” solutions that will not be difficult to implement. These will help ensure your event is inclusive.
Sometimes it is the most simple solutions that can make a difference to somebody’s experience. However without knowing what the solutions are, they are never obvious.
Developing a Culture of Inclusion
Webinar Style: Talk with Q&A
Do your disabled employees feel as though they are truly included within your workplace culture? Meaning, does every disabled employee feel as though they can fully participate and engage in a way that suits their needs and style? Many of the barriers that prevent disabled employees from feeling truly inclusive within the workplace are subtle but can determine the difference between an engaged employee and then employee who does not feel engaged.
Developing an inclusive workplace is not a quick fix. However, communicating your intentions, where you are starting, why you are doing it and where your desired outcomes are can support engagement, retention and productivity.
