employment advice for people with disabilities

8/7/2019 Employment Advice for People with Disabilities

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Employment Advice, Rights &

Responsibilities

Dan McIntyre

Registered Charity Number 1111826National Headquarters

Ashwellthorpe, NorwichNR16 1EX


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Contents

Applying for a job when (and if) to disclose yourdisability

CV tips

Interview tipsReasonable adjustments

Discrimination

About Dan McIntyre


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As people with disabilities there are certain issues to considerwhen applying for a job. One of the most worrying for somepeople is when to disclose that they have a disability to apotential employer and in some cases even whether theyshould disclose their disability.

In some cases the decisions on whether and when to discloseare already made for you. In particular the wording of anapplication form can be important. For example, if theapplication form asks if you have a disability as defined bythe Disability Discrimination Act then you must answerhonestly if your disability is defined in the DisabilityDiscrimination Act. An employer can take disciplinary actionagainst an employee who has made a false declaration if itlater comes to light. In addition if you answer No to thisquestion you do not have any protection under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act and you also forfeit the rightto ask for Reasonable Adjustments.

If however the application form asks if you consider yourself to have a disability or something similar then you have a

choice to make over whether to disclose or not.

When making this decision there are several things toconsider:

1 As mentioned above, you may forfeit your rights to ask forReasonable Adjustments, which could make your job moredifficult than it needs to be.

2 If you do not consider that your disability will impact on

your ability to perform the job then you could quitelegitimately answer No to this question.

3 If you state that you do not consider yourself to have adisability the potential employer may not know or think tomake allowances for any needs at interview stage.

This list is by no means exhaustive and your personalcircumstances may give you different considerations.

Applying for a job when (and if) todisclose yourdisability


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Your CV is the document you use to sell yourself to a potentialemployer. It is worth keeping this in mind when writing yourCV.

With regard to people with disabilities the choice is yourswhether or not to include details of your disability on your CV.

If you do decide to include details they are best kept brief andleft to the last page of your CV. This gives the employer thechance to be impressed by your qualifications, work historyand/or experience first. As much as we wish it werent so it isa fact that many employers view candidates with disabilitiesas a risk in terms of employment.

As a general rule your CV is best kept to less than 4 pages of A4. The employer does not need to know your life history,they will initially be more interested in what you can offerthem at work.

So, what details DO need to be included in your CV? Thebasics are:

1 Your name. Both your full name and, if appropriate, anyname you prefer to be known by, usually in brackets. For

example my full name is Daniel Anderson-McIntyre but Iprefer to be addressed as Dan. On the top of my CV I havethis written as Daniel Anderson-McIntyre (Dan).

2 Your address. This is so the employer knows where tocontact you.

3 Your telephone number. For the same reason as above. If you have a mobile number and feel comfortable doing so itmight be best to use this. This enables the employer tocontact you even if youre out and about. How would you feelif you found you had missed out on an interview or job offerbecause the employer called your home and you werent in?

4 Your employment history (if you have one). Not just a listof where you have worked and when but include details of your responsibilities, any achievements and anycommendations.

5 Your education and qualification details. For youngerpeople this might only mean GCSE or NVQ details whereas for

CV tips


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So, your application and CV have done the trick and youvebeen asked to attend an interview. Congratulations!

Most people, after the initial thrill of being invited tointerview, go into a bit of a panic. While this is natural it is notentirely helpful.

An interview in its simplest form is a meeting, a chance notonly for the employer to meet you but for you to meet theemployer. Keep that in mind and use the interview as achance to find out if the job and workplace is what youthought it was and whether it will be right for you and itshould be less nerve racking. Something else to bear in mindis that most people conducting interviews have had little or notraining and are just as likely to be nervous as you are, we areall human.

It should go without saying that you need to dress smartly,though in practical terms this can present difficultiesdepending on your disability. For example, being a wheelchairuser, I cannot wear suit jackets so when going to an interview Itend to wear smart trousers, a shirt and tie.

It is usually a good idea to take a pen (and spare!), anotebook, spare copy of your CV and a list of questions to askwhen you go to an interview. That way you have equipmentto make notes, any questions you need answers to are therein front of you and you have your CV to refer to whenanswering questions or discussing previous jobs or education

because you can pretty much guarantee your mind will goblank at the crucial moment!

But what is one of the most important things you need to doonce you have been invited to interview? Before the dayitself? Prepare! Check out the company, find out if you canwho the interviewer will be and where they fit into thecompany, make notes of anything you find interesting theinterviewer will be impressed if you can discuss in detailsomething the company is working on and your level of preparation.

Demonstrate that you are interested in the job and the

company and work out what you can offer them, can you look

Interview tips


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at things in a different way to most people? Find differentsolutions to problems? Can you offer the company somethingextra than what they are asking for?

When speaking during the interview be confident. Answerquestions honestly and directly and try to keep eye contactwith the interviewer.

If you have are a wheelchair, crutch or stick user theinterviewer may ask about your disability. Any questionsasked should be purely in the spirit of working out what help,support or adaptations may be necessary to enable you tosucceed in the job and should not be invasive or derogatory.If you do not feel comfortable answering a question, forexample if it is very personal or probing, then politely refuseand give reasons if you can. The interviewer should respectyour decision.

Be aware that either before, during or after the interviewthere may be some free time where you are left in a room orcanteen area either alone or as part of a group. Somecompanies use these breaks as part of the assessmentprocess, where several candidates may be left together to

have coffee or lunch, or a candidate may be placed in a settingwhere existing employees are present. Keep in the back of your mind that you may be being observed from a distance orthat the people you are mingling with may be asked for theirviews afterwards. It can be a good idea to ask existingemployees about the company and their opinions of workingthere, join in conversations and be careful what you say. Beon your best behaviour basically.


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Reasonable adjustments are changes that can be made toyour workplace, job or equipment to make working life easierand more fair for disabled people.

The Equality Act requires employers to make changes to helpdisabled people work. These are known as 'reasonableadjustments' and can include:

making changes to the building or premises where the personworks.

changing the way in which work is done.

providing equipment that will help the person do their job.

Most adjustments don't cost anything at all - just a change inattitude. For others that do involve a cost, the GovernmentAccess to Work scheme might be able to help.

Examples of reasonable adjustments in employment

An office lowers shelves and door handles so that anemployee who uses a wheelchair can reach them. All staff arealso told to ensure that boxes, bags and bins are not left inwalkways where they might get in the way of the wheelchairuser. This means that the office generally looks tidier andthere is less risk of anyone tripping over things left lyingaround.

A small law firm employs a secretary who has arthritis in herhands which means she has difficulty typing. Voice activatedsoftware is installed on her computer which means she canproduce accurate word processed letters and agreementsquickly without having to type.

A shop allows an assistant who takes medication that makesher drowsy in the mornings to start work and leave work anhour later than the other assistant. This means that the shopis able to stay open later and serve customers on their wayhome at the end of the day.

A caf employs a kitchen porter with a learning disability. Theowner of the caf makes sure that he gets information abouthealth and safety and food hygiene in Easy Read which issimple language with pictures and that everything is explained

Reasonableadjustments


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to him in person as well to ensure he understands it. The EasyRead information and explanations also help other workerswho don't speak English as a first language.

What is reasonable?

An employer on has to make adjustments that are reasonable.When deciding if the adjustment is reasonable they shouldconsider:

how effective it will be in helping the person do their job.

whether it is practical to make the adjustment.

how much disruption, if any, will be caused to the business or

other people.

how much, if anything, the adjustment will cost and howmuch money you have.

whether you can get help with making the adjustment andtowards its cost from a scheme like Access to Work.

The most important thing to remember is that treatingeveryone the same does not mean that you are treating

everyone fairly. The Equality Act requires people to be treateddifferently according to their needs by making reasonableadjustments for them.


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Under the Equality Act it is unlawful for an employer to treat adisabled job applicant, or an employee, less favourably, simplybecause of their disability, i.e. worse than someone withoutthat disability when all surrounding circumstances including

the abilities of the disabled person, are the same. This type of direct discrimination is unlawful and cannot be justified.

It is also unlawful for an employer to treat a disabled personless favourably for a reason related to their disability unlessthe treatment can be justified. Less favourable treatment canonly be justified if there is a material (i.e. relevant to thespecific circumstances of the particular case) and substantialreason for it.

It is also unlawful for an employer to harass an employeebecause of their disability. An employer also has a duty underthe Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments to prevent adisabled employee from being placed at a substantialdisadvantage by any physical feature of the premises, or byany provision, criteria or practice of the employer.

The duty applies to all aspect of employment, includingrecruitment and selection, training, transfer, career

development and retention.

If you feel you have been discriminated against for a reasonrelated to your disability you can find information and contactthe Citizens Advice Bureau athttp://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_rights/civil_rights/disability_discrimination.htm

Or the Equality and Human Rights Council athttp://www.equalityhumanrights.com/

Discrimination


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Dan McIntyre lives in Liversedge, West Yorkshire with hisFiancee Yvonne and 3 children.

Dan has experience in writing CVs and matching peoples skillsand knowledge with available jobs and has worked for theJobCentre as well as a training company working withunemployed people helping them identify suitable work andtraining opportunities and in a benefit office.

Dan holds a degree in IT having studied with the OpenUniversity as well as ITIL version 3 certification and a level 2NVQ in Administration.

Dan has also written car reviews and articles for Disabled

Motoring UK magazine and is currently working on his firstnovel, with a working title of The Descent.

Dan can be contacted on 07920 844 269 or using the emailaddress [email protected]

About Dan McIntyre
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Thank you and I hope you enjoyed the presentation. Pleasefeel free to send feedback via email [email protected] and please be honest if I didntcover something you would like to have seen or you feel

something could have been better please let me know. Itsonly when I know what needs improving that I can work on it.

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