Disability Disclosure in the Workplace

Understanding disability disclosure in the workplace

Disclosing a disability at any time can be a challenge for disabled people and is a decision that each person must make on their own. Many reasons including past experiences prevent disabled people from feeling confident to disclose. Therefore, when it comes to disclosing a disability at work, it is important that line managers and the organisation understands the factors that go into the decision-making process for a disabled candidate or employee.

When disability disclosure is handled well, it becomes the starting point for ongoing conversations. It gives line managers and employees the opportunity to explore what support might be helpful, identify reasonable adjustments where appropriate and review those adjustments over time as roles, health or circumstances change. Instead of relying on assumptions, organisations can make informed decisions based on open, collaborative conversations.

Successful disability disclosure also helps organisations understand the experiences of their workforce more accurately. While disclosure data alone never tells the whole story, it can help identify trends, highlight where additional support may be needed and demonstrate whether disability inclusion efforts are creating an environment where disabled employees feel safe to share information if they choose to.

What I think this does is complete the journey:

• Support is reviewed over time.
• Support is identified.
• Disclosure happens.
• A conversation follows.
• The organisation learns from the data.

As a result of creating an environment of psychological safety, the organisation will see:

• Higher retention rates.
• Data that will support disability reporting.
• Increased requests for reasonable adjustments.
• Developed disability disability-inclusive community in the workplace.

Our case study on Homes For Students reflects the increase in disability disclosure in the workplace.

Disability disclosure training to enable line manager confidence

At least one in every seven employees in the workplace identifies as a disabled person. It is likely that line managers have disabled people within their teams. These disabled people may not have disclosed a disability yet, but this does not mean that they do not need any support.

Line managers want to support their employees in the best way possible. Understanding why disabled people may not share openly enables line managers to demonstrate a psychologically safe environment to discuss support needs through behaviours and inclusive language.

Disability disclosure in the workplace is imperative for employees and candidates who already identify as disabled. The skills developed during the training session enable line managers to create workplace environments where every employee feels safe discussing the support they need. As a result, any employee who acquires a disability will feel confident to share their support needs.

Encouraging disability disclosure amongst customers

Disabled customers experience the same anxiety when considering whether to disclose a disability to a service. Skills to articulate the inclusive culture of your service will help disabled customers feel confident sharing their access needs.

the tailored focus within this training session will support marketing and front of house departments to:

• Articulate inclusion values publicly
• Ask about disability during applications and registrations
• Demonstrate inclusion through inclusive language
• Confidently support disabled customers and guests