Disability History Month
Disability History Month is an important date in the Union’s calendar
Raising awareness
Disability History Month takes place each year, running from 14 November to 20 December.
It gives us another opportunity to:
- Raise awareness of the unequal position of disabled people in society and press for change.
- Develop an understanding of the historical roots of inequality and to highlight disabled people’s struggles for equality and inclusion.
- Raise awareness of the importance of the ‘social model’ of disability in achieving disability equality.
- Raise awareness of disabled members’ rights at work enshrined within the Equality Act 2010 and the Disability Discrimination Act in Northern Ireland.
You can find out more information at https://ukdhm.org/
This year Usdaw is asking reps who want to get involved in promoting Disability History Month to raise awareness in their workplace of the rights members with hidden disabilities or impairments.
Not all disability is visible
What is a hidden disability?
When they think of disability, a lot of people still picture someone with a walking stick, a guide dog or a wheelchair. But, in reality, people with visible impairments are in the minority. The vast majority of disabled people have a hidden disability.
A hidden, or non-visible, impairment is simply a disability that might not be immediately obvious to someone who isn’t aware of that person’s circumstances. This could be, for example, a learning disability, some cancers, mental health problems, MS or asthma.
You can’t tell just by looking at someone whether they have a disability or not.
We know that this can lead to problems at work if a member with a hidden disability needs support. Managers may reply that the member ‘doesn’t look disabled’ and use that as a reason not to support them.
Reps should be aware that members with hidden impairments or disabilities are entitled to the same legal protection against discrimination and rights to reasonable adjustments as those with ‘visible’ impairments.
Reasonable adjustments are key to supporting disabled workers to get on in work, but many employers are unaware of, or ignore, the rights of disabled workers under the Equality Act (Disability Discrimination Act in Northern Ireland).
Want to get involved?
You could display our poster on your workplace noticeboard, order our range of leaflets on supporting disabled members or go one step further and set up a hidden disability campaign stand in your workplace.
Find out more about the ways to get involved.
The social vs the medical model of disability
For some time now, disabled people have emphasised that it is not so much their disability that prevents them from fully participating in society but, instead, it is the way in which society fails to make adjustments for their disability.
This emphasis on changing the barriers put up by society, rather than seeing the disabled person as the “problem”, is known as the “social model of disability”. In other words, disabled people are people with impairments/health conditions who are disabled by discrimination, exclusion, prejudice and negative attitudes towards disability. Their impairment is not the problem.
The “medical model” attributes the problems resulting from a disability to medical conditions alone. It concentrates on a person’s impairment. Rather than focusing on the barriers society throws up that prevents disabled people from participating equally, the “medical model” focuses on what disabled people should do to adapt to fit into the world as it is. If they are unable to adapt, the medical model accepts their exclusion.
For example, while a mobility difficulty can have an adverse effect on a person’s ability to walk, the fact that the transport system is inaccessible to them has a far greater effect on their ability to get around.
TUC Webinar - Negotiating for Reasonable Adjustments, 27 November
Reasonable adjustments are changes an employer is required to make to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to a worker’s disability. But what is defined as ‘reasonable’ and what else should union reps know?
Join the TUC during Disability History Month for this webinar to find out what reps need to know about negotiating for reasonable adjustments.
Find out more and register here.