Disability is a natural and inevitable element of working life and affects people at every stage of their careers. Disability increases with age and the populations of the UK, USA and Western Europe are aging fast. The needs and expectations of disabled employees should to be considered at every stage of employment, from attraction, training, promotion and development through to retention and retirement.

• Over 45,000 disabled students study at University in the UK every year [i]; 6% of first class honour degrees are gained by students known to have a disability [ii]
• 1 in 8 UK workers have a disability. However many disabled people choose not to declare this to their employers.
• 23.9% of disabled people in work in the UK are in management or professional occupations. [iii]
• 2% of the working age UK population becomes disabled every year - 78% of disabled people acquire their impairment aged 16 or older [iv]
• A number of factors affect the onset of disability. Of the 2% of people who become disabled each year, 15% had an accident in the previous year; 44% have experienced the sudden onset of a health problem; 41% have had intermittent, chronic or unspecified condition which got worse [v]
• 3 million UK employees combine unpaid caring for a disabled person with paid work; 320,000 of these provide over 50 hours of care a week [vi]
• In the UK, between 2000 and 2010 there will be 20% more workers aged 55 and over [vii] - 33% of this group have disabilities [viii]
• In 2010 the majority of the US population will be over 45; [ix] between 2000 and 2020, the proportion of the labour force over 55 is expected to increase from 13% to 20% [x]
• 100,000 people aged over 60 in the UK found a new job in 2005 - a rise of 11%, the biggest ever [xi]; 42% of people aged over 65 have a disability. [xii]
• Europe's over-65 population is expected to double by 2050 to almost 30% of the total population

Engaging with your disabled employees

• Networks for employees with disabilities and others with an interest in disability are a good way to ensure that disabled staff members have an opportunity to provide feedback to the business. Employee groups can represent a significant expert resource for the business, for example through auditing policies and user testing website accessibility
• Employee surveys which ask questions about how employees believe disabled people are treated in the organisation are a useful way to gather feedback
• Consider providing intranet pages on disability, including information on policies, initiatives and sources of help for employees with disabilities
• Build feedback opportunities into Occupational health and reasonable adjustment processes

Useful links

Civil Service Disability Network

Sources

1. [i] Table 11b - First year UK domiciled HE students by qualification aim(#12), mode of study, gender and disability 2003/04
2. [ii] National Disability Team.
3. [iii] Labour Force Survey, Spring 2005
4. [iv] Family Resource Survey, 1996/1997 (Tanya Burchardt, 'Social Exclusion and the onset of disability', Joseph Rowntree, November 2003)
5. [v] Tanya Burchardt, ‘Social exclusion and the onset of disability, Joseph Rowntree, November 2003.
6. [vi] 'We care. Do you?', ACE National Action for Carers and Employment, 2005
7. [vii] Government actuary department, 2004
8. [viii] Labour Force Survey, Spring 2005
9. [ix] - Mitra Toosi, "A century of change: The US Labor Force, 1950 - 2050, Monthly Labor Review, May 2000 (quoted in Microsoft & Forrester report)
10. [x]Over 20 years, between 2000 and 2020 the over - 55 labor force in the US will increase 50%, from 13% of the total labor force to 20%. (Toosi, 2002) (quoted in Microsoft & Forrester report)
11. [xi] Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005, Office of National Statistics
12. [xii] Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005, Office of National Statistics