Disability and inclusion

Who It's For

Line managers, HR, service designers and senior leaders in councils, the NHS, housing, police, fire and charities in Wales and England.

Overview

This half-day Explore begins with how disability is defined, from UPIAS and the social model to Tom Shakespeare's critique and Disability Wales. It then covers disability at work under the Equality Act 2010, reasonable adjustments and the employment gap, before turning to hidden and fluctuating conditions, spoon theory and the Griffiths case, and neurodiversity through Nancy Doyle's spiky profile. It moves to accessible design, from the curb-cut effect to WCAG, and to inclusive leadership, allyship and Dobbin and Kalev's evidence. It closes with the Windrush, London Fire Brigade and Yorkshire cricket cases.

Aims

This half-day Explore aims to develop leaders who ask what gets in the way, remove barriers quickly and design services that are accessible from the start. It builds the confidence to make disclosure safe, lead inclusive cultures where people speak up and judge progress by outcomes rather than accreditation.

In summary, you will be able to:

1. 1Apply the social model to remove barriers for disabled colleagues and service users.
2. 2Design workplaces and services that suit hidden, fluctuating and neurodivergent experience.
3. 3Lead cultures where disclosure feels safe and inclusion is measured by outcomes.

What you'll develop

Across this Explore, you will develop the ability to:

1. 1Apply the social model question of what gets in the way, allowing for fluctuating impairment and using language that follows the person in front of you.
2. 2Plan and hold an adjustment conversation that removes barriers quickly, records what is agreed in an adjustment passport and is reviewed over time.
3. 3Plan flexible adjustments for fluctuating conditions and fatigue, and manage disability-related absence fairly, including considering adjustments to trigger points.
4. 4Redesign recruitment so that it tests what the job requires, drawing honestly on the SAP, Microsoft and GCHQ hiring programmes.
5. 5Plan accessible communications, meetings and co-production with disabled people, so that services are accessible by design rather than by request.
6. 6Explain why presence is not inclusion, using the diversity bonus, Deloitte's six signature traits and peer-reviewed evidence on inclusive climates and psychological safety.
7. 7Plan honest measurement of representation, experience and outcomes, with named accountability and a grounded response to backlash.
8. 8Analyse a case by asking what the system did, not only what people intended, avoiding both the few bad individuals mistake and the everyone is guilty mistake.